Dependency and Japanese Socialization: Psychoanalytic and Anthropological Investigations in Amae

Glossary of Japanese Terms

Glossary of Japanese Terms Regina J. Garrick This glossary provides operational definitions of Japanese terms, expressions , and words that appear in the text. A few words and expressions from other languages are also included. Conventional definitions of Japanese words have been obtained from Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary and Iwanami Shoten's Kojien. Additional contributions from outside arbiters have been included to enhance the colloquial or technical extensions of these definitions. The modified Hepburn system of romanization has been followed throughout this work. The following is not meant to be an exhaustive description of Japanesepronunciation, but merely a brief guide. Unlike English, the pronunciation of Japanese words is uniform, with relatively few orthographic changes in standard, colloquial speech. Vowels are pronounced as in Italian or Spanish: "a" is pronounced "ah" as in "dot"; "e" is pronounced "eh" as in "met"; "i" is pronounced "ee" as in "peek"; "o" is pronounced "oh"; and "u" is pronounced "oo" as in "coop." When vowel clusters occur in a word, the vowel sounds are not merged (dipthongized ). Instead, each vowel sound retains its original value in both pronunciation and duration ("beat"). When two identical vowels occur consecutively , the sound is simply extended in duration, and is indicated by a macron above the vowel (as in shuchu meaning "concentration"; dojo meaning "sympathy"). The extended duration of a vowel (or of a glottal Dr. Garrick acquired her experience with colloquial Japanese during an eight-year residence in several regions of Japan. She completed graduate programs at the University of Illinois (Asian Studies) and the University of California, Berkeley (Anthropology ) before receiving a Ph.D. in Public Health/Mental Health at the University of Tokyo. She is a former student of Professors Takeo Doi and Takemitsu Hemmi. 373 374 / Glossary of Japanese Terms stop between two consonants) also affects meaning. For example, kiite (pronounced "kee-eet-eh") means "listen," kite ("kee-teh") means "come," while kitte ("keet-teh") means "stamp," O-ba-san ("oh-bah-sahn") means "aunt," and o-baa-san ("oh-baah-sahn") means "grandmother." Most consonants are pronounced like their counterparts in English, with a few exceptions. Consonant clusters are treated as a single phoneme, such as "shi," "chi," "tsu." The cadence of spoken Japanese is distinctly different than pronounciation in Romance languages. As Lange (1988) indicates, the Japanese phonic equivalent of "syllable" in English is called a mora, which is not merely a unit of sound (phoneme) but also a unit of timing (or metering), more like a "beat" in musical composition. People may speak quickly or slowly, but within a given stream of speech each mora will occupy the same length of time. This is true regardlessof the type or numberof sounds which make up each mora. (Roland Lange 1988, vii) In standard Japanese (or Tokyo dialect), words are pronounced with a pitch accent, rather than with a stress accent as in English. The proper name "Yamashita" is divided into four equal syllables ("Yah-mah-sheetah "), each of which receives the same amount of stress accent, but different relative pitch. Mastering this metered equalization may be difficult for English-speaking students, who are inclined to place emphasis on one (or two) syllables in standard pronunciation (e.g., the tendency to say "Yamah '-shee-ta" or "Ya-mah-shee'-ta"). Glossary aijo: Love, of the general and platonic sort rather than the sexual or romantic kind; affection, devotion Ainu: Name of a small, indigenous Caucasoid population, now largely intermingled with Japanese and located in Hokkaido aizuchi: Literally, to alternate strikes with a hammer or mallet; the ryhthmic, vocal interjections of a listener indicating accord and understanding of a speaker's conversation alus: Javaneseword (See Geertz 1976) collectively meaning "pure," refined, exquisite, civilized—describing ideal adaptation within the culture amae: The need to be responded to, taken care of, and cherished; the mutually interactive attitude or behavior whereby one seeks and (ideally ) receives the indulgence of another amaekko: (amaenbo, colloquial) A child who clings to its mother seeking her nurturant response; a child whose behavior may be perceived as "cuddly," demanding, or "spoiled"; a "big baby"; a child or person who actively seeks the indulgence (attention, care, protection, support, and/ or services) of another Glossary of JapaneseTerms / 375 amaeru: To seek the indulgence of another; to presume and rely upon the cherishment and security provided by another amaesaseru: To gratify the dependency needs for nurturance and cherishment of another; to confer...