Making Sense of Japanese Grammar

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Part 1. Grammatical Categories and the Basic Architecture of a Sentence 1 1 The subject corresponds to an item around which an event evolves 3 2 Use the verb at the end! 5 3 An explicit subject is optional 6 4 Pay attention to the last part of a sentence 7 5 There are three types of verb-like constituents 9 6 The noun in the sentence gakusei-desu is not the subject! 11 7 Japanese speakers avoid certain pronouns 13 8 You cannot always guess the grammatical category of a Japanese form from the grammatical category of its English counterpart 15 9 Dictionary forms of all Japanese adjectives end with -ii, -ai, -oi, or -ui 16 10 “Noun” is an open category in Japanese 17 11 Use the same word order for questions. Attach -ka to a statement to turn it into a question 19 12 Do not hesitate to use the same verb over and over again 22 13 Japanese particles are postpositions 23 14 Classification of particles 25 Part 2. Phrase Particles: Marking the Functions of Noun Phrases in a Sentence 29 15 A phrase particle determines the function of the noun 31 16 The particle -wa identifies what the sentence is about and urges the listener to pay attention to the part that follows 33 17 The particle -mo adds the preceding noun phrase to a list of objects 36 18 Use of -wa and -mo presupposes a contextual set 38 19 -ga is the subject marker; -o is the direct object marker 40 20 -ga and -o mark a fresh participant; -wa marks a familiar participant already anchored in a context 43 21 Do not attach -wa to interrogative WH-phrases 46 v 22 Only one direct object particle -o appears per verb 48 23 The subject and the direct object are the primary grammatical categories 50 24 Two types of locational particles: -de and -ni 53 25 Three reasons not to use phrase particles 57 26 “Exceptional” uses of -ga 60 27 Grammatical reasons for alternations of particles 64 28 The person marked with the particle -ni is an active participant in an interaction 66 29 The person marked with the particle -to is a “reciprocal” participant in an interaction 71 30 Certain auxiliary verbs take the non-subject participant particle -ni 73 31 The auxiliary verb -morau comes with -ni; the auxiliary verbs -ageru and -kureru do not 76 32 Another consequence of the double-o constraint 79 33 Phrase particles are powerful! 80 Part 3. Expanding Noun Phrases 83 34 The particle -no between two nouns turns the first noun into a modifier 85 35 A noun modified by an adjective functions like a noun 87 36 The modifier consistently precedes the modified 88 37 Spatial relationships are expressed with stacked nouns 90 38 The particle -no mediates a wide range of relationships. Mekishiko-jin-no tomodachi, for instance, means either “a friend of a Mexican” or “a friend who is Mexican” 92 39 The particle -to connects noun phrases representing separate objects 94 40 Na-nouns behave like nouns, but they have “fuzzy” meanings 96 41 To say something more complex, use complex noun phrases 99 42 The head noun of a complex noun phrase carries with it only the particle which marks its function in a larger sphere 101 43 Japanese does not employ WH-phrases for creating complex noun phrases 103 44 Mekishiko-jin-no tomodachi “a Mexican friend” is a complex noun phrase 105 45 Atarashii tomodachi “a new friend” is also a kind of complex noun phrase 107 46 One more way to create a complex noun phrase 109 47 No is for a familiar event; koto is for an abstract idea 111 Part 4. Tense and Events 115 48 There are only two tenses in Japanese: non-past and past 117 vi 49 Special use of past tense forms 119 50 Te-forms connect very closely related events 121 51 Tense markers separate events 124 52 Events are tied with varying degrees of cohesion inside a sentence 129 53 Two perspectives for tense inside a subordinate clause 133 54 The main clause perspective means involvement 137 55 The speaker’s perspective means incidental connection, speaker’s recollection, or speaker’s reasoning 140 Part 5. Miscellaneous Topics 143 56 Hai and ee mean “I agree” or “I hear you”; iie...