Curricular Outcome Analysis

皆さん、Welcome Back!

So, I didn't keep up with my studies as much as I wanted to--but I have a good excuse: teaching full-time summer classes and taking a grad class at the same time. But I digress. My apologies to those who have faithfully been following my work.

Two days ago, I cracked open my book and decided to review from Chapter 1. After studying the grammar section of my textbook, I decided to review the dialogues. Interestingly enough, I discovered that the outcomes for the chapter were hidden directly in the conversation. Some of these were covered in the grammar, but others may have been more subtle or simple to address. So, I would like to share the dialogue and the underlying outcomes that the teacher would hope the students learn.

Dialogue 1
メアリー：すみません。今何時ですか。
たけし：十二時半です。
メアリー：ありがとございます。
たけし：いいえ。

Dialogue 2
たけし：あの、留学生ですか。
メアリー：ええ、アリゾナ大学の学生です。
たけし：そうですか。せんこうはなんですか。
メアリー：日本語です。今二年生です。

You may note, that I have selected kanji whenever able. The book only uses hiragana for simplicity of pronunciation and to reinforce previously learned hiragana.

So now, let's deconstruct these dialogues and see what all we can learn.

Outcome #1 How to get attention
                    Notice that each dialogue begins with an attention-getting word
                    すみません is, of course, the polite way of getting attention. It is similar to "Excuse me". In the second dialogue, あの is used. This word is almost like a verbal pause, but it can be used to indicate you have something to say.

Outcome #2 Asking the time
                    This question is straightforward in any language, and it often lacks variation. The Japanese 今何時ですか  is "What time is it, now?" Technically we could remove the "now", 今, but otherwise you will pretty much always ask the same question.

Outcome #3 Telling time
                     Only one example is given in the dialogue, 十二時半です, meaning "It's 12:30". However, this hints at learning how in the chapter.

Outcome #4 Giving thanks
                     The polite form, ありがとございます, is used in this dialogue; it is important at this point to be polite.

Outcome #5 Replying to thanks
                     In response いいえ is used. It translates literally to "no", but it is used to say "no problem" or "it was nothing".
 
Outcome #6 N + copula sentence structure
                     Both dialogue show nouns followed by です which is the copula (like [be] in english).

Outcome #7 N + copula question structure
                    Here the questions  ですか, which are yes-no questions, always follow the structure of a noun with the copula (です) and the question marker か .

Outcome #8 yes/no
                    Both "yes", ええ , and "no" are used in these conversations. While "no" (いいえ) is used as a variant meaning, the teacher will still remind the students (if need be).

Outcome #9 possessives
                    One possessive is used (アリゾナ大学＊の＊学生です), and the grammar is taught in the unit.

Outcome #10 Questions end in periods
                      Careful noticing will reveal that questions always end in a period (。) rather than a question mark (?).

So, as you can see, these two short dialogues are embued with a number of goals that are set for the chapter. Of course, the chapter will expand upon it. However, "noticing" the grammar and structures can help improve the learning process.

You might want to examine your textbook dialogues. What new structures are used? These are the things your teacher will want you to learn.

じゃあ、また。

Don't Rest Too Long

皆さん、こんにちは！

Well, finals at Ball State just ended last week, and after all the studying and hardwork needed to pass the class is over, a break is definitely due. I've been resting since Thursday afternoon. I've filled my hours with games, pleasure reading, housework, being a family man, and way too much internet (and not the educational type, either--mostly Facebook and YouTube).  But now, it is time to get off my laurals, and get back into the joys of learning Japanese.

Most people will tell you, "if you don't use it, you lose it"--which is layman terms for entrophy. As a linguist who believes that language is intergrated into our physical neural system, entrophy is a problem. Without the consistent repair involved in practice and learning, our understanding begins to breakdown and degrade.

So, let's do some spucing up of our Japanese, and review some of what we (should) have learned. One thing I struggled with was differences in present and past short form verbs. So, let's look at the differences; then we can look at some applications of these verb forms.

Verbs

Affirmative

Present Short Form→ same as dictionary form

Past Short Form→ based on て-form; て=>た、で=>だ

Negative

Present Short Form→

[regular ru]  remove る、add ない

[regular u] -u- syllable becomes -a- syllable*, add ない  (*う becomes わ)

[irregular] する→ しない、くる→ こない、ある→ ない

Past Short Form→

base on Present Short Form Negative; remove い from ない；add かった

Dictionary Form	Present Short Affirmative	Present Short Negative	Past Short Affirmative	Past Short Negative
ねる	ねる	ねない	ねた	ねなかった
よむ	よむ	よまない	よんだ	よまなかった
うたう	うたう	うたわない	うたった	うたわなかった
くる	くる	こない	きた	こなかった

Applications

1) The Short Forms are used in informal speech, that is casual conversation with someone close to you.

A: きのう、ほんをよんだ？          (kinou, hon-o yonda?)   [Did you read the book, yesterday?]
B: ううん、よまなかった。。。  (uun, yomanakatta...)     [No, I didn't...]


2) quoted speech

トムさんは、便居するといっていませんでした。
(tomu-san-wa, benkyou-suru-itteimasen-deshita.)
[Thom said that he didn't study.]

3) Using the verb 思う (to think）.

私は何もないと思います。
(watashi-wa nanimo nai-to omoimasu)
[I think I don't have anything.]

4) Requesting others NOT to do something

今おさけをのまないください。
(ima osake-o nomanai-kudasai)
[Please don't drink alcohol right now.]

There are other functions of the short forms--for example, check out my recent post about Japanese relative clauses, if you need some practice. And, as always, I look forward to any imput that will help me correct examples that I have used here today. Please contact me via Facebook or Twitter.

じゃまた！

Finally!

こんにちは！

With only two weeks left in Ball State's Spring semester, I am looking forward to some down-time that will allow me to go back and strengthen what I have learned in the past year. I am already amazed at how much I have learned over these two semesters! What seemed like an unsurmountable task of simply learning hiragana has become second nature--although, my tongue is still rebelling against the language; as with Mandarin, I'll eventually adapt.

But I want to share one more lesson before the semester ends.

As a linguist, one of my favorite areas is syntax--which is basically the investigation of grammatical structures. My personal favorite structure is the relative clause (a.k.a. the adjective clause). In English, we use relativizers (like "who", "whom", "whose", "that" and "which") to help further describe or define a noun in a sentence.

Ex: The girl who is dancing....
      The book that I read....
      A man whose bald head is blinding me....

I have done a bit of research in relative clauses because the concepts used can be expressed in a number of ways.

Ex. The girl who is dancing....= The girl dancing.... = The dancing girl....=The young female dancer

To move away from English, I have studied relative clauses in other languages, particulary Mandarin. From my colleagues and research, I have learned that Korean and Chinese both use a prepostional relative clause/adjective structure.  So, now, I have learned that Japanese does too. Here's the basic structure with some examples:

[short form*]  [noun]

ピアノをひいている人      piano-o hiiteeru hito                the person who is playing piano....
美味しい魚　　　　　      oishii sakana**                        the fish that is delicious...
                                                                                               the fish that was delicious...





* Note that the short form is sometimes in the "ている" form to distinguish the action or state as being current.

** Note: "The delicious fish" and "The fish that is delicious" are translated the same! (For now...from my amatuer perspective. Could this be a "general"/"specific" issue--like English articles the, a, an?

Please forgive my haste and poor limited example...でも、昼ご飯を食べるのがいります！

じゃあ、また！

Informality

こんにちは！

Recently, in Japanese class, we have been learning about "short forms", which are used in informal conversation and some embedded structures. Let's sit back, kick our feet up, relax, and take a look at the basic grammar of these types of utterances.


1) です noun indentification.
EX. I am a teacher.  sensei desu.       先生です。
In the case of nouns that are followed by です, these forms are used:

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	先生だ。	先生じゃない。
Past	先生だった。	せんせいじゃなかった。

2) い-adjectives
EX. It is fun.     tanoshii desu.         楽しいです。
In the case of basic い-adjectives sentences, these forms are used:

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	楽しい。	楽しくない。
Past	楽しかった。	楽しくなかった。

3) な-adjectives
EX. It is convenient.   benri desu.     便利です。
In the case of basic な-adjectives sentences, these forms are used:

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	便利だ。	便利じゃない。
Past	便利だった。	便利じゃなかった。

4) る-verbs
EX. Tomorrow, it begins.    ashita, hajimemasu.     明日、始めます。
In the case of sentences using る-verbs, these forms are used:

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	明日、始める。	明日、始めない。
Past	昨日、始めた。	昨日、始めなかった。

5) う-verbs
EX.  I drink tea.    ocha-o nomimas.    お茶を飲みます。
In the case of sentences using う-verbs, these forms are used:

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	お茶を飲む。	お茶を飲まない。
Past	お茶を飲んだ	お茶を飲まなかった。

Practice these forms with a close friend.

While I have not explained the pattern, see if you can notice what changes are occuring. Pattern recognition is key to language learning. On my next post, I will explain the rules more explicitly.

Until then...

さよなら！

Depth of Historical Change

こんにちは！

Just to close off my discussion of phonological change, I would like to provide you with what I have learned thanks to Sojeong Min and Joseph Maza--Omniglot fan Club members who both really knew their stuff! 

Maza provided one truly insightful comment: "The modern Mandarin pronunciation may not be a good gauge since Mandarin has made many innovations that more conservative languages such and Cantonese do not have."

He also informed me that: "the 'ha' series was the 'ɸa' series: [h] -> [ɸ]."

Min brought up the influence of tone, saying: "Generally speaking, letters whose Mandarin reading start with b or f and have the first (high level 55) or the third tone (dipping 214) correspond to Japanese h, while those with the second (mid-rising 35) or the fourth tone (high-falling 51) correspond to both Japanese h and b."

Min provided examples to help clarify: 

           般 Mandarin ban1 /p-/ :: Japanese han (< fan)

          兵 Mandarin bing1 /p-/ :: Japanese hyou~hei (< fyau~fei)

Further, Min provided an explanation behind these processes.

"There were Middle Chinese phonemes /p/, /b/, and /ph/. Japanese borrowed each as /f/, /b/, and /f/ respectively.
 In Middle Chinese, there were three tones called level (平), rising (上), and departing (去). Level tone starting with /p/ or /ph/ became the Mandarin first tone (55), while level tone starting with /b/ became the second tone (35). Rising tone starting with /p/ or /ph/ became the third tone (214), and rising tone starting with /b/ and departing tone starting with any of the three consonants became the fourth tone (51).
/p/ and /b/ followed by /j/ became /f/ and /v/ respectively. Both of them are reflected in Mandarin as Pinyin f. Later, /p/ and /b/ merged to become a single phoneme that is represented as Pinyin b. However, the former distinction of /p/ and /b/ is left in the tones. This is an example of what is sometimes called 'cheshirization'.
"

I want to give Maza and Min a big ありがとうございます！for participating in the discussion. I would love to hear from more of my readers. Practice, discussion, hypotheosizing, and sharing knowledge are all keys to learning! And I hope we are all learning something new.

I'll be back for more practice in the near future.

さよなら！