Borrowing and Sound Changes Pt2 Clarifications and /b/ -- /h/ (and more)

皆さん、こんにちは！

Clarifications:

Thanks to some awesome readers in the Omniglot Facebook Group (particularly, Sojeong Min), I was  directed to William H. Baxter's work in historical Chinese phonology. It has been hypothesized that the Chinese /r/ and the Japanese /ni/ were, in Middle Chinese, something akin to /nj/. Others noted that /r/ may be a misleading symbol, as the sound is more similar to /z/ than the English "r" sound--which is an absolutely great point. Therefore, thank you commenters!

Let this serve as a caveat that I am comparing current Mandarin and Japanese sounds, but I am not asserting what proto-sounds may have existed. While I do have some limited experience and enjoyment of historical linguistics, this is not a field that I would ever claim expertise. Moreover, my hypotheses are me testing my own linguistic skills. I don't mind being wrong if I am able to learn something new.

_________________________________

Today, I would like to look at another group of sounds.

• ba          hachi
• bai         haku
• ban        han
• bei         hoku
• ben        hon
• bing       byoo

Wow! What a cornicopia of linguistic information! Do you see the same patterns that I am seeing?

First and foremost, as the title says, there is a clear connection between the Chinese /b/ and the Japanese /h/. In five of the six examples, we see this difference. Interestingly enough, there is still one  in which there is both /b/ sounds used. What makes this one different?

Well, if the first place that I like to look at are the sounds before and after the sound in question. As these are all word initial, there is only one way to go...to the vowels. If you pronounce the sounds /a/ and /o/, you will notice that both are made with the tongue low in the mouth. At the same time, the sound /i/ brings the tongue up nearer the roof of the mouth. And there we notice a clear distinction.

/b/-->/h/, #_V[low]  This may be translated to mean, the Chinese /b/ is a Japanese /h/ when it is word-initial and followed by a low vowel. 

Also, it can be noted that /ba/ is related to /ha/ while /be/ is related to /ho/. The Chinese /bi/ is the Japanese /by/. Can we find other examples to support this hypothesis?

Interestingly enough, I cannot verify the /bi/ & /by/ connection. Look  at these examples:

• 便 --  bian (pian)            bin, ben
• 彬蔚 -- binwei                hin'utsu

Clearly, this hypothesis needs refinement. What about the other two hypotheses?

• 笆     ba        mase

• 把持  bachi    haji

• 把    ba         ba/pa

Well, this one does get complicated. The bisyllabic /bachi/ very clearly relates to the Japanese /haji/. However the other examples do not follow the pattern. This will require more in depth research.

• 崩壊   benghuai       hookai
• 奔流   benliu            honryoo

This hypothesis has the best legs. What more can we find in these examples? Here is your chance to offer suggestions and help me correct any mistakes.

ありがとうございます！じゃあまた！

Borrowing and Sound Change Pt 1 /r/ --> /ni/

こんにちは！

I am proud to finally have taken the time to explore the sound changes that exist between Japanese and their Chinese borrowings. Since the beginning of my studies, I have noticed a number of similarities between certain Chinese words and the corresponding Japanese pronunciations. Therefore, I will be working on a series of posts related to what I have discovered in relation to sound changes that have occured in the history of Sino-Japanese language contact.

Before we begin please take note: I am only referring to borrowings. The Japanese had their own language before contact with the Chinese and Korean cultures. You might be able to find evidence that goes against mine--please share what you know or find, so I can better hypothesize my theories. Moreover, as many kanji have more than one pronunciation--the "Japanese" and the "Chinese"--I am simply looking at those words and pronunciations which might show evidence of borrowing. I hope this does not skew or bias my discoveries, but, again, please share your comments with me.

The first thing I wish to look at was an oddity that I had noticed in the number system. Previous learning of (very, very) basic Korean had introduced me to the idea that these languages share numbers, much like the Romance languages have similar numbers. Considering China's historical economic dominance in the region, it makes sense that these numbers would share a common origin. This is similar to the Germanic languages maintaining some of the numbers of the Romance languages. The economic relations set certain languages in a prestigious position, and the other cultures adopted the numbering systems for trade. Evidence? Unfortunately, at this point, I am merely speculated based on the evidence before me.

No matter the similarities, one number in particular drove me crazy--I could not figure out where the number came from. Let's look at the series 1-5.

1. 一          yi           ichi
2. 二          er           ni
3. 三          san         san
4. 四          si            shi (yo/yon)
5. 五         wu           go

Now, if you look closely, 1, 3, and 4 seem to be clearly related. We'll talk about 5 on another day because, surprisingly enough, there is something going on there. The number that bothered me the most has always been 2. What is the relationship between er and ni? Well, let's look at some other words from the textbook that I am learning from:

• 二             er             ni
• 人             ren           nin
• 日             ri              ni
• 入             ru             nyuu

What do we have here? A pattern. A very specific pattern. It seems in each case, the Chinese /r/ sound was transformed into a に /ni/. Notice also that /ru/ combines the に /ni/ and the う /uu/ to create にゅう /nyuu/. This is only a small sample, but I feel that if we looked, we could find more. How about the Chinese work 肉 /rou/? What is the Japanese word? 

• 肉　（にく）niku

And again, we see the /r/ at the beginning of /rou/ become the /ni/ as before. Can you find more evidence? Can you provide evidence against this hypothesis? I look forward to hearing from you.

さよなら！

Take a little break

こんにちは！


While I am working on a lot of little things in preparation for midterms, Spring Break, and a slew of other things, I decided to share a little of my second love (gaming) with my first love (languages). Japanese culture--particularly the older times long, long ago--have been the focal point for a number of games. So, I'd like to share it with you.

1) Tsuro （つろ）通路
Tsuro, "the way of the path", is a fun abstract strategy game that I personally own. Many people enjoy it due to the simple rules, quick gameplay, and unintended endings.

Image thanks to this webpage!

In the game, you lay tiles down and move you piece along the path that you create. As time goes by, the different paths connect and overlap and loop back around in all directions. The last one that has not crashed into another player or off the board is the winner. 

2) Samurai Sword
This game is developed under the "BANG" system, but instead of wild west characters, we are treated to a theme of honorable samurai protecting the shogun from sneaky ninjas and a backstabbing ronin. My gaming group loves this games because it accomodates our usual seven-player size. Humourously, the cards, are not in English and Japanese, but English and Italian instead!

Thanks to The Dice Tower/Miami Dice for this image

3) Tokaido 東海道
This is a beautiful and fun-looking game that I am personally hoping to get one day. It is a game of catching-up and experiencing the journey. You can find reviews and play-throughs online. What I like most is that the words are using the japanese pronunciation on the cards.

Image originally found here.

There are other fun games that have Japanese themes, like Yedo, Shogun, many others. I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Japan-inspired games.

よくガームをします！         (yoku geemu-o shimasu)         I always play games!

And, according to Google Translate, Will Wheaton would say:

より多くのゲームをプレイ！ (Yori ōku no gēmu o purei!)   Play more games!

Until next time...

さよなら！

Let's get out of this slump!

皆さん、こんにちは！

So, it's been awhile since I posted (over a week). It's the slump of being a full-time teacher, doc student, and family man. With waves of responsibility, I'm pushing other necessaties aside to have a little active fun--with this new blog post. I've been working passively a great deal; I have a new obsession with Hell Girl: Two Mirrors...　「いっぺん、死んで見る。」I just love how she delivers that line!

But, I digress, "let's" have some fun with Japanese grammar structures. Specifically, "let's" look at how to say "let's" in Japanese. This is done with a simple verb ending: ましょう

Here are some examples:

Let's watch "Hell Girl".         「地獄少女」をみましょう。　　　　　　　"Jigoku Shoojo"-o mimashoo.
Let's drink sake.                      お酒を飲みましょう。　 　　　　　osake-o nomimashoo.
Let's take a shower together.     一緒にシャワー をあびましょう。    isshoni shawaa-o abimashoo.
Let's turn the lights off.         　電気を消しましょう。　　　　　　denki-o keshimashoo.
Let's sing!            　　　　　歌いましょう。　　　　　　　　　 utaimashoo

By adding the question particle  か(ka), the meaning slightly shifts to asking "shall we...?" When this came up in class, I was very interested in comparing it to the ending  ませんか(masenka). However, this is slightly different as well.

...ましょう 　　　　Let's....
...ましょうか              Shall we...?
...ませんか                 Would you like to...?

While pragmatically-speaking, these phrases are very similar, one can easily notice that "Shall we...?" is more inclusive than "Would you like to...?" For example:

Shall we drink coffee?                     コーヘーを飲みましょうか。　   kohe-o nomimashoo
Would you like to drink coffee?   　コーへーを飲みませんか。   kohe-o nomimasenka

In the first, we are both enjoying the activity. On the other hand, in the second, I am inviting you to drink coffee (while I drink something else or nothing at all). While these are not necessarily different in use, the subtleties of the meanings are there. The first seems more like, "let's go out and drink coffee, okay?" while the second seems more like, "I can give you coffee if that is your wish."

Well, that was a wonderful way to kill time. Let's do it again soon! 

さよなら！

Collaboration Invitation

皆さん、こんにちは！

Collaboration is an integral part of learning. So, I have been thinking how we might collaborate. Here's the idea. In many of the Facebook groups that I have joined, there are occasional posts with vocabulary or culture. Therefore, I decided to start a "日本語 Japanese Sharing" Padlet Wall. If you are unfamiliar with Padlet, it is a website where you can create "walls" to post a variety of items on. You can link websites, post .docs and .pdfs and other files, even record messages to leave on the wall. So I want to invite everyone to join in on posting anything that will help others learn Japanese.

The wall is below. You can also visit Padlet directly at this URL http://padlet.com/wall/8n8t5e76j9 . I look forward to others sharing in the collaborative spirit of social learning.

Created with Padlet

Many Uses of て

皆さん、こんにちは！

After taking an aside to talk about immersion, I'd like to get back to playing with grammar. In class, we've recently learned about the て-form. Depending on what follows, this suffix can be used for a variety of purposes. Most commonly, you may have heard people in anime say "待って！" (matte), which means "Wait!". Often it is followed by ください (kudasai), meaning "please" Maybe your teacher has told the class to "聞いてください！" (kiite), which means "Please listen!".

Besides simply being commands, the て-form can be used to:

1) ask permission

     This form uses the ending -てもいいですか. Essentially you are asking "is it okay..." (いいですか) to perform an action.

Ex.
一緒にお風呂にはいてもいいですか。(isshoni ofuruni haitemo iidesuka)
                                                                  May we bathe together?

お金を借りてもいいですか。(okane-o karitemo iidesuka)
                                                          May I borrow money?


2) to prohibit an action

     This function is noted by the ending -てはいけません. Basically this is a way to tell someone not to do something.

Ex.
死んではいけません。(shinde haike masen.)
                                        You must not die!

入ってはいけません。 (hatte haike masen.)
                                          You must not enter!

3) to represent the same tense as next verb

     This is referred to a "Transfer of Features" by our esteemed professor. Apparently, when a verb is conjugated, it marks the end of a sentence. Therefore, to connect two verbs in the same sentence, we use the て-form to note the internal verb is not the final verb in the utterance.

Ex. 私はコーヒーを飲んで、本をよみました。(watashiwa koohii-o nonte, hon-o yonmimasen.)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　I drank coffee and read a book.

I just recently recieved a new Japanese grammar, and I hope to share some of that information with you in future posts. Until next time...

さよなら！

Immersion

皆さん、こんにちは！

Yesterday, my university was honored by the visit of a delegation from 愛知 (Aichi)--the Aichi University of Education (AUE). The purpose of the presentation was to promote the long-standing partnership between Ball State and AUE and the exchange student program. Given the opportunity to study in a foreign country, is it worth it? Is immersion necessary for fluency? Well, let's look at these two different questions.

First, the linguistic inquiry: is immersion necessary? Sources say "no"--according to a recent TEDx talk by Chris Lonsdale.

I am skeptical. Lonsdale's claims are directly related to one's own definition of fluency and what it means to "know" a language. After years of study of a variety of languages, I still feel a tinge of guilt when I say that I can speak Mandarin. My ability is very limited to personal interactions and everyday use. I feel that in a professional environment, I am quite useless. Not to mention the fact that I am functionally illiterate in Chinese--I can read signs, some menus, some forms...but I cannot write much beyond "一个人". Of course, I am quite able to chitchat with any Mandarin speaker with some confidence. So, would you describe me as fluent? I see fluency as a perfectionistic goal--rather than the actual spectrum of language abilities that non-native and native speakers alike could be placed. I long liked to have my students compare their own native Chinese to writers like Li Bai; just as an English-speaker may be compared to Shakespeare. Unrealistic? Maybe...So, this concept of fluency will need to be examined more closely.

As for the other question: Is study abroad, particularly for second language acquisition, worth it? Abso-freakin'-lutely! As someone who has completed two undergrad study abroad programs and worked in three different countries after graduation...well, maybe I am a bit bias. Sure, I can self-study Greek at home with books and audio files--but nothing compared to that moment when I met a group of Greek business travellers who departed with a smiling collective "καλοωρατηι (Kalo-vrathi) !" Why are you studying the language? If your purpose is communicative, then it would simply be illogical not to study abroad. If you hope to teach the language and culture to others, then you need to experience firsthand because, otherwise, you are simply teaching second-hand information. So, any of you young, free, independant students out there--take the leap to travel to the land of your second language...and Enjoy!

さよなら！