Comparing Syllabaries

こんにちは！

Actually, I should say こんばんは since it is getting kinda late here in Muncie, Indiana. However, as I was preparing books to return to the library, I could not help but hang onto the library's copy of Beginning Cherokee by Ruth Bradley Holmes and Betty Sharp Smith. Before I discovered the joys of Japanese, I was enamored by this interestingly developed system of writing known as Syllabary. Mind you, these are not the only two syllabaries in existence. However, they are two of only a handful that have been known to exist (for more information, check out the Omniglot website here).

Cherokee, or ᏣᎳᎩ (Tsalagi), is definitely not the same as Japanese by any means. Nonetheless, curiousity won me over, and I decided to compare the two syllabaries. The following chart uses the Cherokee syllabary (for Cherokee only, click here) with matching hiragana.

(Note: The red characters/phonemes are non-existant in Japanese)

	/a/	/e/	/i/	/o/	/u/	/ə̃/
-	Ꭰ あ	Ꭱ え	Ꭲ い	Ꭳ お	Ꭴ う	Ꭵ
g	Ꭶ (ga) が Ꭷ (ka) か	Ꭸ げ	Ꭹ ぎ	Ꭺ ご	Ꭻ ぐ	Ꭼ
h	Ꭽ は	Ꭾ へ	Ꭿ ひ	Ꮀ ほ	Ꮁ	Ꮂ
l	Ꮃ ら	Ꮄ れ	Ꮅ り	Ꮆ ろ	Ꮇ る	Ꮈ
m	Ꮉ ま	Ꮊ め	Ꮋ み	Ꮌ も	Ꮍ む
n	Ꮎ (na) な Ꮏ (hna) Ꮐ (nah)	Ꮑ ね	Ꮒ に	Ꮓ の	Ꮔ ぬ	Ꮕ
kw	Ꮖ	Ꮗ	Ꮘ	Ꮙ	Ꮚ	Ꮛ
s	Ꮜ (sa) さ Ꮝ (s)	Ꮞ せ	Ꮟ	Ꮠ そ	Ꮡ す	Ꮢ
d	Ꮣ (da) だ Ꮤ (ta) た	Ꮥ (de) で Ꮦ (te) て	Ꮧ (di) Ꮨ (ti)	Ꮩ ど	Ꮪ	Ꮫ
tl	Ꮬ (dla) Ꮭ (tla)	Ꮮ	Ꮯ	Ꮰ	Ꮱ	Ꮲ
ts	Ꮳ	Ꮴ	Ꮵ	Ꮶ	Ꮷ つ	Ꮸ
w /ɰ/	Ꮹ わ	Ꮺ	Ꮻ	Ꮼ を	Ꮽ	Ꮾ
y /j/	Ꮿ や	Ᏸ	Ᏹ	Ᏺ よ	Ᏻ ゆ	Ᏼ

First off, the Cherokee have an extra vowel, often romanized as v, which is a nasalized central vowel. Personally, it reminds me of the v in Chinese romanization; however the Chinese sound is /ü/, while the Cherokee sound is /ə̃/. Also, Cherokee has the /tl/ sound which can be found in a number of American languages. Although, it is interesting to note that this has not been classified as necessarily the same sound that one may find in languages like Nahuatl--any Americanist out there, please let me know. Another sound that is not given the same status in Japanese as in Cherokee is the /kw/; is くぁpronounced the same as Ꮖ, or is it totally different? 

Looking from the Japanese perspective, it is noticable that the lack of some voiceless consonant sounds, means that some hiragana characters are not shown in the chart above, including: き、く、け、こ、and と. Also, there is a noticable lack of glides that play a major role in the Japanese syllabary, such as きょ、ちゃ、みゅ, etc. Although, it may be that glides exist in the Cherokee language--I honestly haven't studied it that much. (But I would love to in the future!)

I'm going to call it a night and leave off at this point. I hope that I have piqued your interest, or, at the very least, taught you something totally new. 

Either way...さよなら！

Feedback Questionnaire

こんにちは！

I am looking for feedback from you wonderful readers. I am seeing this blog grow, and I would like to know how to make it better. So here is the first annual Whisper Japanese Feedback Questionnaire. Please complete the survey and let me know what you think. I appreciate your help and opinions!

What happened?

こんにちは！

きのう、にほんごをべんきょうしました。
昨日、日本語を勉強しました。

That is: Yesterday, I studied Japanese.

Yes, I said "studied"--past tense! While this is still a basic and limited form, it doubles the types of thoughts that I am able to convey in Japanese. Here is the basic conjugation:

copula

present affirmative:     desu           　   　 です
present negative:        janaidesu　　    　じゃないです

past affirmative:          deshita　　　　   でした
past negative:             janakattadesu　　 じゃなかったです

U-verbs

present affirmative:      u->i + masu                   ＋ます
present negative:          u->i + masen   　          ＋ません

past affirmative:          u->i + mashita                 ＋ました
past negative:              u->i + masendeshita　　＋ませんでした

RU-verbs

present affirmative:    drop -る    +masu　　　　　＋ます
present negative:        drop -る   +masen　　　　　＋ません

past affirmative:          drop -る    +mashita　　　　＋ました
past negative:              drop -る    +masendeshita　　＋ませんでした

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Now, let's have some fun with this, jisho, google translate, and our imagination. I dedicate this first sentence to a stranger that I once met on the Ball State University shuttle bus. She had an amazing collection of languages in her own personal phrasebook. On one page, she had the same sentence written in somewhere around 50 languages:

私は屁をしました。
watashiwa he-o shimashita. (I farted.)

Some other interesting and useful phrases might be:

私は村上春樹の本を読みました。
watashiwa murakami-haruki-no-hon-o yomimashita. (I read Haruki Murakami's book.*)

私はお酒を飲みました。
watashiwa osake-o nomimashita. (I drank sake/alcohol.)

私はおなたの妻にキスしました。
watashiwa onata-no-tsuma-ni kisu-o shimashita. (I kissed your wife.)

So, hope you have enjoyed and/or learned something! Please comment or email me at mcalister.thom@gmail.com to let me know your sentences or to help me make corrections.

さよなら！

P.S. I am currently reading Sputnik Sweetheart right now, and I am already enamored by his writing.

Where is it?

こんにちは！

So this week my Japanese class was taught a new structure--prepositions of location and the existential structure (in English, we use "there is/are..."). An interesting note is that in Japanese, different verb forms are used depending on animacy. Animacy refers to whether or not a word refers to a living (animate) object or a non-living (inanimate) object. Here are some fun examples of both forms, along with other sentences using prepositions.

Technically speaking, these are not prepositions. Prepositions come before (pre) the noun. In Japanese, the words appear after the noun, and are called "postpositions". Adpositions (prepositions AND postpositions) are grammatical aspects of every language. Chinese also uses postpositions (冰箱里 bingxiangli "in the fridge; lit. fridge-in") just like Japanese--even though most of the other aspects of grammar are very different.

Animate

There is a ghost over there.  
あそこに御化けがおります。　    　asokoni obakega orimasu.

There is cat on a unicorn.    
ねこがウニコーンのうえおります。nekoga unikoonnoue orimasu.

There is a pig in the sky.      
豚が空の中おります。　　　　　　butaga soranonaka orimasu.

Inanimate

There is a hamburger in my mouth.
ハンバーグが私の口の中います。　hanbaagaga watashinokuchinonaka imasu

There is a book under the bed.
本が臥所の下います。　　　　　　yonga fushitonoshita imasu.

There is a car on the roof.
車が屋根の上います。　　　　　   shaga yanenoue imasu.

Other sentences

I am on a boat.
私はボートの上です。　　　　　  watashiwa bootonoue desu.

What is on my head?
なにが私の頭の上です。　　　　　nanga watashinoatamanoue desu.



What are some fun sentences that you can think of? Is animacy grammatically important in your language? Have fun making sentences!

さよなら！

P.S. I am sure that I am making mistakes. Please feel free to correct me--that's how I learn. Experimenting with new knowledge can help one improve more quickly.

How are you feeling?

こんにちは！

I have been playing with the basic grammar structures, and I have noticed that adjectives are tricky.

Before, I showed in a previous post how one simple structure could be used for an infinite number of possible utterances.

わたしはせんせいです。
私は先生です。

Name + noun + desu.

I am a teacher.

So, my question was, could I use this structure more? Like when we write in English:

*? Name + adjective + desu.

That * has a special meaning in linguistics...It means it is ungrammatical. Let's look at some translations:

1) I am happy.                                私は幸せです。         (watashiwa shaiwase desu.)

2) I am sad.                                    私は悲しい。             (watashiwa kanashii)

3) I am bored.                                私は退屈だ。              (watashiwa taikutsuda)

4) I am cold.                                  私は寒いです。          (watashiwa samui desu)

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So, it is clear that a similar structure is possible as we see in examples #1 and #4. (Confirmed by my wonderful Japanese professor.) Interestingly, not all translations use "desu". When inquiring about why, it appears that these translations are more informal. Logically, this makes sense because these are negative emotions--moments when formality may be pushed aside to make one's point. The "desu" structure is possible, but not used by Google translate because of pragmatic and semantic issues.

Thus here is a new structure that you can play with! Let me know how you feel in the comments below. Please email me at mcalister.thom@gmail.com if the comments are not working. (I may need to troubleshoot the comments section. Please let me know.)

さよなら！

Lost and Found

こんにちは！

Around 2006, I was teaching English to a wonderful, studious, and generous Japanese man living in Beijing. One day, he gave me a copy of a book--translated into English--from a famous Japanese writer. I loved the book, and it hold a place of high esteem, in my opinion, with the likes of Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Fantastical Realism is by far my favorite genre. The Latin American writers have made an artform of this genre, but the Japanese seem to have embodied it in their literary canon as well as their pop culture (i.e., manga & anime).

Today, I rediscovered that author. The book is The Sailor Who Fell Out Of Grace With The Sea (ごごのえいこう --午後の曳航) by Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫). It has been many years since I have read it, but it captured my imagination. 

I just wanted to take a moment to praise this novel, as well as the works of other famous Japanese authors, like Banana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな) and Hakuri Murakami (村上 春樹). Please take a moment to look into Japanese literature if you are interested in seeing whole new words open before your eyes.

Also (!) please feel free to leave comments about your favorite Japanese writers, poets, and playwrights. And, as always,...

さよなら！