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Katakana - A Jump-Start on the Way to Learning Japanese Steven A. Jones

Linguistics • Study of languages – Syntax – Semantics – Phonetics • Not just someone who speaks many languages • My (noncontiguous) Undergraduate Minor

My Experience with Japanese • Term paper in my “Introduction to Syntax” course. • Kyoto Conference ~ 1 week (bought book on Japanese). • Research experience ~ 2 weeks at Kawasaki Medical Center. • Studied from Hamako Ito Chapman’s books & tapes.

Foreign Travel • Strategies for travel to foreign countries 1. Idealistic: Take 2 years to learn a language and then go to that country. 2. Realistic: 2 weeks before departure, try to learn how to say “good morning. ” 3. Fatalistic: Face it. It’s hopeless. 4. Nihilistic: Travel to England

Unique Elements of Japanese • Indirect – Wakatusi, Anata – No verb conjugations – “Perhaps you like to take train? ” • Stress is by tone, not loudness – Sometimes semantic – Several levels of tone • Particles: – Are wa ginkoo no mae ni ooki tatemono desu. – Sake o nomu ka?

Unique Elements of Japanese • Verb tenses – present & future generally the same – Adjectives can have a past tense (ano ookikatta tatemono [that “used to be big” building] • Colors (as modifiers) can be nouns or adjectives

Unique Elements of Japanese Politeness levels • Kudasai (sake o kudasai) – Literally “give [in polite form] sake” – Translated as “I would like some sake please. ” • Desu, imasu, irasiamasu (“to be, ” sort of) • Your house (otaku), vs. my house (uchi) – Otaku wa shiroi. ([your] mansion is white) – Uchi wa shiroi. ([my] shack is white) – Otaku wa doo desu ka? (How are things at your beautiful home? ) – Uchi ni i’i desu. (Things are fine at my crappy little shack)

Japanese Writing • Borrowed Kanji from China • No Kanji characters for particles • Use phonetic “alphabet” for particles and other uses (Hiragana). • Also use Katakana – Same sounds as Hiragana – Used for brand names and foreign words – Guess what: English is foreign to Japanese – Sort of like italic is to us

Katakana Characters a vowel k s t n h m y r w i アa カ ka サ sa タ ta ナ na ハ ha マ ma ヤ ya ラ ra ワ wa イi キ ki シ shi チ chi ニ ni ヒ hi ミ mi リ ri u e ウu エe ク ku ケ ke ス su セ se ツ tsu テ te ヌ nu ネ ne フ fu ヘ he ム mu メ me ユ yu ル ru レ re o オo コ ko ソ so ト to ノ no ン n ホ ho モ mo ヨ yo ロ ro ヲ wo

The Katakana Symbols • 46 “consonnant-vowel” combinations • 5 “vowels” a, i, u, e, o • “consonants” beginning with “k”, “t”, “s”, “h”, “n”, “m”, “r” • “ya, ” “yu, ” “yo, ” “wa, ” “wo” • Also have an “explosive h” (°) (パ =pa), and voiced versions (``) of k (=g), t (=d), s (=z or j), and p (バ =ba)

The Katakana Symbols (Continued) • Generally, if you have a consonant you need to have a vowel. • “n” can stand alone. • Can have long vowels (literally long, in time) – E. g. Carter Ka-a-ta (カータ) • The “r” in “ra” is halfway between “r” and “l”.

Modified Katakana Characters a i u e o k g カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ ko ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go s z サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo t d タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to ダ da ヂ di ヅ du デ de ド do h b p ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po

Japanese vs English Sounds • Roughly 19 letters rather than 26, so we win, right? • But we do not really need “c, ” “q” or “w. ” – Selery – Uimin – Kuik • And face it, “y” is a bit iffy as well. • Leaves 22 vs 19

Japanese vs English Sounds What’s Missing? • No distinction between “r” and “l” • “h” and “f” are mixed together – Fa and hu are not natural for Japanese – Fu and ha are natural for them • “z” and “j” are mixed together • No “v” sound (brŭd bursty)

Japanese vs English Sounds Where we win out is with the vowel sounds, which are (let’s face it) messed up anyway in English • • Water/otter/daughter Dumb/kingdom He, tea, ski, mystery Woman/Women

Odd Japanese Syllables • In standard tables of Hiragana/Katakana: – Ta chi tsu te to (not ti or tu) – Sa shi su se so (not si) – Ha hi fu he ho (not hu) • Possible Explanations – They knew westerners would try to speak the language and wanted to trip us up. – There is a physiological explanation (yeah, right).

Odd Syllables (continued) • Clue: Hito (man) often sounds more like “shi-to” rather than “hi-to. ” • Thought: Maybe Japanese people do not think of syllables as consonant-vowel pairs. • Experiment: Place your mouth in the “vowel” position and then try to pronounce the consonant.

Syllables as Units • Try: – a…ka; i…ki; u…ku; e…ke; o…ko. (control) – a…ha; i…hi; u…hu; e…he; o…ho • Hi is not exactly “shi”, but it’s not exactly “hi” either. • Hu definitely sounds more like “fu. ” – a…sa; i…si; u…su; e…se; o…so. – a…ta; i…ti; u…tu; e…te; o…to.

Katakana Examples • • ガソリン Ga so ri n ロタリクラブ Ro ta ri ku ra bu コンクリト Ko n ku ri to ライス Ra i su (or gohan) ツパゲッチ Tsu pa getsu chi カワサキ Ka wa sa ki ニーサン Ni–sa n コンピユユ co n piyu ta

Hiragana Characters a vowel k s t n h m y r w i アあカかサさタたナなハはマまヤやラらワわイいキきシしチちニにヒひミみ u ウうクくスすツつヌぬフふムむユゆリりルる e エえケけセせテてネねヘへメめ o オおコこソそトとノのンんホほモもヨよレれロろヲを

Why Learn Hiragana? • In Kyoto can read: – – Street Names Subway station names Particles and other odd words you might pick up Karaoke (カラオケ) • Can at least sound out a Japanese word, even if you do not know what it means • May help you if you go to a karaoke bar • Trust me, it will really impress your Japanese host

Verb Tense • Japanese does not generally distinguish between present and future tense. – Sake o nomu (I, you, somebody) (drinks, is drinking, will drink) sake. – Sake o nomu ka? (Are you drinking, will you drink) sake?

“Passive” Tense • Japanese does have a special verb tense, called the “passive” tense. • This tense loosely translates to “such-andsuch happened, and it annoyed me. ” • A better name for this tense might be the “passive aggressive tense. ”

Passive Tense Say you are in a restaurant and the waiter spills mizu soup on your jacket • American Response: You idiot! You spilled mizu soup all over my jacket! • Japanese Response: Ah. The jacket has become dampend by some mizu soup. Consider that to a Japanese speaker, the Japanese wording is equally as strong.

Questions?