Most Basic Morphology

When thinking like a linguist, it is important to pay attention to patterns. Moreover, like any scientist (which linguists are), it is important to explore hypotheses that strike you. This is the process of independent learning--the scientific method.

• Observe:

In Japanese class, two of the first words that we learned were:

こんにちは -- "konnichiwa", a common greeting that laypeople have likely heard of. Literally meaning Good Day.

こんばんは -- "konbanwa", a less-known greeting for evenings, literally Good Evening.

A couple of weeks later, we are taught the basic sentence structure. One of the key grammatical rules is that, at least in basic sentences, the subject/topic of a sentence is marked, or followed, by は, "wa".

The part that intrigued me was the fact that は is normally pronounced as "ha". However, in these two greetings and following the subject of a sentence, the pronunciation changes. Is there a connection?

• Question/Hypothesis:

My gut instinct told me that this was probably the same は. So, I had to explore. Without this question, "are they the same?", and without my hypothesis, "I think they are the same". I would have no direction to go in. Rather than only following along in class, it is important for students to create their own questions and explore their own interests. As a linguist, this is what interest me.

• Research/Experiment:

Being a beginner in Japanese, the research needed to explore my hypothesis was rather simple--but it depended greatly on my understanding of language, grammar, and meaning.

These two greetings were taught as Good Afternoon and Good Evening. The first thing I notice is that the words begin similarly. Not only do they both end in は, but they also both begin with こん, "kon". Thus, I am given a new hypothesis: こん means good. How do I find out? Why, a dictionary of course!

I have chosen the online dictionary of Denshi Jisho (but please feel free to suggest better ones online). http://jisho.org .

• Analyze Data:

Starting with the English. I find that good is こう. This word is similar to こん. I put it aside for the moment.＊

Then I moved to the Japanese. にち means day--along with a slew of other uses. ばん comes up as night. Moreover, when I try to type the words alone, the hiragana wants to transform the words in to 日 and 晩, respectively--which are the Chinese characters, or Kanji, for day and night. Therefore, I have a close connection on good, and the words day and night have been confirmed. 

• Draw Conclusions:

The evidence seems to indicate that two words that we were taught are subjects for the sentences It is a good day/evening. It is very common for everyday expressions to be shorted. Just as when you respond to greetings by saying "hi", "good", etc, the simplified form is well understood. Nonetheless, it carries with it grammatical information that can be useful to all beginners.

• Don't Stop

Just because I may have answered one question, I have learned to ask another. Why did good change? I have my hypotheses--but that will be another post.

さよなら！

＊Looking up こん provides many meanings, but none of them are relevant here.