Building Word Power in Japanese: Using Kanji Prefixes and Suffixes - Softcover

Vance, Timothy J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4770027990 ISBN 13: 9784770027993

Publisher: Kodansha USA, 2002

Synopsis

Having grasped the rudiments of Japanese grammar, what the student needs next are more words, more phrases, more turns of phrase. In short, more ways to get across the ideas that can be expressed so easily in English but for which the student simply doesn't have the requisite Japanese vocabulary.

One answer to this problem is found in affixes - nifty little prefixes and suffixes, written with a single kanji, that can be attached to ordinary words to create new ones. They function much like Latin-derived prefixes and suffixes do in English. Just as you can attach "anti-" to almost any noun to create a new one (e.g., anti-American), you can attach its Japanese equivalent in the same way (e.g., han-amerika). Once you know this, you can "anti" and han yourself left and right and, for the most part, be understood.

Thus, without going through the laborious process of slowly acquiring these useful affixes through many hours of reading, you can quickly build a larger vocabulary and expand your range of speech and your ability to comprehend. Even for those who have good many kanji under their belt, this is a great time saver. For those whose kanji is rather minimal or nonexistent, it provides a means of picking up words that would ordinarily be far beyond their reach, for they can learn these prefixes and suffixes as sounds.

In short, it is as though you only knew the word "simple" and then one day acquired "simplify," "simplistic," and "simpleton." And, perhaps more importantly, this approach allows you not only to learn words that are in the dictionaries but to actually create new words to suit what you want to say, just as you would do in English. The Japanese themselves are constantly doing this, and you have to know what is going on in order to keep up. Whether for your active or passive vocabulary, the use of kanji prefixes and suffixes is one area that should not be ignored.

There are 13 kanji prefixes and 50 kanji suffixes in this book.

About this title

About the Author

TIMOTHY J. VANCE is professor and department head of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. He is author of An Introduction to Japanese Phonology (Suny Series in Linguistics, 1988).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prefixes

Here are three kanji prefixes from the book: Cho, meaning "super-," "ultra-," "supra-";

Dai, meaning "great"; and

Fu, meaning "un-," "non-," "dis-."

[The kanji and other Japanese script in the book are represented here by X's. The macrons in the original text are not given here.]

.

X CHO Approximate English Equivalents: super-, ultra-; supra-.

A word formed with cho- most commonly denotes an extreme degree or extreme example of what is denoted by the base (examples 1, 2, 3, 4). In other cases, however, a word formed with cho- means "transcending" what is denoted by the base (example 5).

(1) xxx cho-dendo "superconduction." BASE: xx dendo "conduction." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cho-dendo ga chumoku sareru yo ni natta. Superconduction has come to attract attention.

(2) xxxxxx cho-derakkusu (na) "superdeluxe." BASE: xxxxx derakkusu (na) "deluxe."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hawai ni cho-derakkusu na hoteru ga taterareta. Superdeluxe hotels were built in Hawaii.

(3) xxx cho-man'in (no) "crowded beyond capacity." BASE: xx man'in (no) "crowded to capacity." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Kanojo wa maiasa, cho-man'in no densha ni noru. Every morning she rides a train packed to overflowing.

(4) xxx cho-taikoku "superpower." BASE: xx taikoku "powerful country."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sekai no cho-taikoku to iwareru no wa Soren to Amerika da. The countries said to be global superpowers are the Soviet Union and the United States.

(5) xxx cho-toha (no) "nonpartisan." BASE: xx toha "faction, party." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cho-toha no iin-kai ga dekita. A nonpartisan committee was formed.

xx ichiryu (no) "first-rate." xxx cho-ichiryu (no) "ultra-first-rate."

xxxx kokka-shugi "nationalism."

xxxxx cho-kokka-shugi "ultra-nationalism."

xxxx supiido "speed." xxxxx cho-supiido "super-speed."

xx noryoku "ability." xxx cho-noryoku "supernatural power."

.

X DAI Approximate English Equivalent: great.

The semantic effect of adding dai- to a base is similar to the effect in English of modifying a word with "great" or "greatly." The semantic range of dai- is roughly "large, serious, extreme, excellent, grand." With few exceptions, the base is a noun or a nominal adjective, and the word with dai- falls in the same category. The range of use of dai- overlaps with that of x- mei- (not included), but mei- is added only to noun bases.

(1) xxx dai-hantai "strong opposition." BASE: xx hantai "opposition." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Haha wa musume no kekkon ni dai-hantai datta. The mother was strongly opposed to her daughter's marriage.

(2) xxxxxx dai-homuran "long home run." BASE: xxxxx homuran "home run." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tanaka-senshu wa hyakuyonju-metoru ijo no dai-homuran o utta. Tanaka hit a tremendous home run of over 140 meters.

(3) xxx dai-kozui "great flood." BASE: xx kozui "flood." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Senkyuhyaku-sanjusan-nen no dai-kozui de takusan no hito ga shinda. Many people died in the great flood of 1933.

(4) xxx dai-ryuko "great popularity." BASE: xx ryuko "popularity." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Furafupu wa Nihon de mo Amerika de mo dai-ryuko shita. The hula hoop was enormously popular both in Japan and in the United States.

(5) xxx dai-sakka "great writer." BASE: xx sakka "writer." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dikenzu wa jukyu-seiki no dai-sakka datta. Dickens was a great writer of the 19th century.

xx hosaku "good harvest." xxx dai-hosaku "extremely good harvest."

xx haiboku "defeat." xxx dai-haiboku "great defeat."

xx kyoko "panic." xxx dai-kyoko "great panic."

xx seiko "success." xxx ) dai-seiko "great success."

.

X FU Approximate English Equivalents: un-, non-, dis-.

A word formed with fu- involves a negation of what is denoted by the base. The base may be either a noun or an adjectival noun, and when the base is a noun, the word with fu- may be a noun (examples 4, 7) or, more commonly, an adjectival noun (examples 1, 2, 5, 6, 8). In some cases, a word with fu- can function as either: xxx fu-keiki / ~ (na) "(economic) depression / (economically) depressed." In range of use, fu- overlaps with x- hi- (q.v.) and x- mu- (q.v.); for details, see Aihara (1986) and Martin (1975: 388-391, 763-765). Words with fu- tend to involve an unfavorable evaluation (Zimmer 1964: 75), and unlike hi- and mu-, fu- can mean "bad" (example 7). There are a few words formed with etymologically related x- bu- instead of fu-: xxx bu-shitsuke (na) (ill-mannered).

(I) xxx fu-antei (na) "unstable." BASE: xx antei "stability." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Gyogyo wa totemo fu-antei na shokugyo da. The fishing industry is a very unstable business.

(2) xxx fu-eisei (na) "unsanitary." BASE: xx eisei "sanitation." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fu-eisei na no de, sono resutoran ni wa ikitaku nai. I don't want to go to that restaurant because it's unsanitary.

(3) xxx fu-hitsuyo (na) "unnecessary." BASE: xx hitsuyo / ~ (na) "necessity / necessary." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Kare no hanashi wa itsu mo fu-hitsuyo ni komakai. What he says is always unnecessarily detailed.

(4) xxx fu-itchi "disagreement." BASE: xx itchi "agreement." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Iken no fu-itchi o osorete wa ikenai. You should not fear differences of opinion.

(5) xxx fu-kisoku (na) "irregular." BASE: xx kisoku "rule." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Eigo ni wa fu-kisoku na doshi ga takusan aru. In English there are many irregular verbs.

(6) xxx fu-nare (na) "unaccustomed." BASE: xx nare "getting accustomed." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chugoku-jin no kanojo wa, mada Nihon no seikatsu ni fu-nare da. A Chinese, she is still unaccustomed to Japanese life.

(7) xxx fu-seiseki "poor showing." BASE: xx seiseki "showing, results." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Nihon-chiimu wa konkai no shiai mo fu-seiseki ni owatta. The Japanese team made a poor showing in this match also.

(8) xxx fu-shizen (na) "unnatural." BASE: xx shizen / ~ (na) "nature / natural." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fu-shizen na kotoba-zukai wa sakeru beki da. Unnatural language should be avoided.

(9) xxx fu-tekito (na) "inappropriate." BASE: xx tekito (na) "appropriate." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Kojin-teki na kiji wa kono zasshi ni fu-tekito da. Articles of a personal nature are inappropriate to this magazine.

(10) xxx fu-tomei (na) "opaque." BASE: xx tomei (na) "transparent." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Atarashii seisaku wa kokumin ni wa mattaku fu-tomei datta. The new political policy was completely opaque to the people.

xx gokaku "passing, success." xxx fu-gokaku "flunking, failure."

xx jubun (na) "sufficient." xxx fu-jubun (na) "insufficient."

xx kano (na) "possible." xxx fu-kano (na) "impossible."

xx sanka "participation." xxx fu-sanka "nonparticipation."

Edition details

• Publisher: Kodansha USA
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 4770027990
• ISBN 13: 9784770027993
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128