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Essay3 FEG2000

The main grammatical differences between English and Japanese

Aiko YAA!A"A

a#yamanaka$%cl#ac#%k

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



&#'ntrod%ction

(ince ' came to )ondon* ' ha+e kept saying that Japanese is completely different

from English# The difference between them e+en led me st%dying )ing%istics* so '

always ha+e feeling that ' want to know the cr%cial things which affect o%r way of

thinking#

Altho%gh there are many differences which m%st be compared* it is better to

choose basic grammatical topics which ' can analyse at this stage# (o* firstly* ' will

introd%ce the word order of Japanese and some particles# (econdly ' will de+elop the

word order into a negati+e sentence and a ,%estion# Ando finally ' will concl%de the

characteristics of the word order of Japanese which can be fo%nd in other feat%res#

2#Japanese word order is (#-#.# whereas English word order is (#.#-#

Japanese word order of normal sentence is different from English one#

Japanese

/ a t a s h i w a 1 o r g a 1 g e n g o g a k % w o 1 b e n k y o % s % r % # ( 0 .

' p a 1 ) i n g % i s t i c s p a 1 s t % d y # & 1

' p a 1 ) i n g % i s t i c s p a 1 s t % d y # 2 1

s

o

o

s

There are two ways to draw diagrams# 'n eample &1* the articles are treated as

independent words# 'n eample 21*#the articles are interpreted as apart of no%ns#

s%bect or obect1 Eample &1 is s%pposed to be appropriate beca%se the particles

&



ha+e same role as prepositions* b%t eample 21 may be clearer than &1 in order to

compare English eample shown below#

English

' s t % d y ) i n g % i s t i c s #

( . -

' s t % d y ) i n g % i s t i c s # a 1

s o

Yet* this Japanese sentence is also grammatical altho%gh this word order is not

same as eample &1 or 21#

Japanese

G e n g o g a k % w o 1 w a t a s h i w a 1 o r g a 1 b e n k y o % s % r %

) i n g % i s t i c s p a 1 ' p a 1 s t % d y # 3 1

o

s

4ere* we ha+e completely echanged (#-#.# order which is not %n%s%al nor

pec%liar both in writing in con+ersation#

3#5ose the word order really matter6 The roles of particles#

To tell the tr%th* we Japanese can %nderstand these sentences witho%t diffic%lties#

Japanese

7 e n k y o % s % r % w a t a s h i w a 1 o r g a 1 g e n g o g a k % w o 1

. ( -

( t % d y ' p a 1 ) i n g % i s t i c s p a 1 8 1

s

o

2



/ a t a s h i w a 1 o r g a 1 b e n k y o % s % r % g e n g o g a k % w o 1

( . 0

' p a 1 s t % d y ) i n g % i s t i c s p a 1 9 1

s o

(entences like 81 and 91 can be %ngrammatical beca%se they +iolate the basic

order that the +erb is always the ending# The reason why these eceptions are also

acceptable is not the matter of the word order* b%t the r%le of the articles s%ch as ga1*

wa1 andwo1#The way we Japanese can %nderstand sentences is thanks to the

eistence of these articles rather than the word order# (o we can %se eample 31

which has an obect :)ing%istics: at the beginning in order to emphasise which

s%bect in this case not a s%bect for grammar#1 ' st%dy is# 't can be possible that the

eample 31 is parallel to topicalised sentence like this eample#

English

) i n g % i s t i c s ' s t % d y # ) i n g % i s t i c s - ( .

) i n g % i s t i c s ' s t % d y # ) i n g % i s t i c s b 1

os

This sentence is the res%lt of the mo+ement in terms of synta# (o this point may

be different from Japanese eample 31 which is originally -#(#.# order#

!ow before ' mo+e to net stage* ' m%st eplain how to operate Japanese articles

by showing acti+e passi+e eamples#

3



Japanese

" a r e w a 1 o r g a 1 k a n o o w o 1 a i s % r % ( - .

4 e h e r l o + e s ; 1

" a n o o w a 1 o r g a 1 k a r e n i 1 a i s a r e r % ( A g e n t . p a s s i+ e 1

( h e h i m b y i s l o + e d < 1

" a r e n i 1 k a n o o w a 1 o r g a 1 a i s a r e r % A g e n t ( . p a s s i+ e 1

7 y h i m s h e i s l o + e d = 1

a c t i + e

p a s s i + e

p a s s i + e

They may look complicated* b%t they are coherent if we foc%s on these articles#

For eample* the article wa1 or ga1 is always %st after the s%bect whoe+er the

person is# (imilarly* the article wo1 always follow the obect* the article ni1 is always

%st after the agent#

'n addition* the relationship between eample ;1 and <1 is acti+e and passi+e*

and the word order is the basic pattern that there is the s%bect at the beginning# -n

the other hand* the relationship between eample <1 and =1 is that they are consisted

eactly same words* incl%ding combination of words and particles* b%t ordered

differently# !eedless to say* they both are translated into same passi+e English

sentence : (he is lo+ed by him#:

After all Japanese no%ns* in this case prono%ns do not change their form

according to their position beca%se they can be con+inced with different types of

particles eplained abo+e#

'n contrast* English prono%ns change their form depend on the position# For

instance* :she: in a s%bect position t%rns into :her: when it is in a obect position#

The former is called nominati+e* the latter is called obecti+e#

8



8#7asic pattern of negati+e sentence and ,%estion#

There are the eamples of negati+e sentence and ,%estion#

Japanese

/ a s h i w a 1 g e n g o g a k % w o 1 b e n k y o % s h i n a i

( - .

' ) i n g % i s t i c s s t % d y n o t > 1

o

s

English

' d o n o t s t % d y ) i n g % i s t ic s # c 1

s

Japanese

A n a t a w a 1 g e n g o g a k % w o 1 b e n k y o % s % r % k a 1

( - .

Y o % ) i n g % i s t ic s s t % d y , 1 & 0 1

os

English

5 o y o % s t % d y ) i n g % i s t ic s 6 d 1

. ? f ( . ? n -

'n negati+e sentence* there are cr%cial difference between Japanese and English#

The word which stand for negati+e :not: in English* :nai: in Japanese are located

opposite position# English :not: is before the +erb* while Japanese :nai: is after the

+erb#

9



'n ,%estion* there are also distinction between these two lang%ages# The word

which can signal %s as a ,%estion :do: in English* :ka: in Japanese are added at the

beginning in eample d1 and at the ending in eample &01# 'n eample &01 the

+ertical arrow may be for the +erb :st%dy:* b%t ' treat :ka: as an particle beca%se an

article affect the main word in this case +erb1# The other reason why the +ertical

arrow points the particle :ka: is to contrast English eampled1#

9# /ord order again# The ending is the most important#

As was mentioned earlier* Japanese word order can be +ery fleible thanks to the

articles# Yet* the word order is one of the most significant characteristics of Japanese#

'f we look at eample >>1 and &01* when do we recognise the fact that they are

negati+e or ,%estion sentence6 (o %st before the final word* we cannot know whether

the sentence is normal* ,%estion or negati+e#

'n contrast* in English we co%ld know that the sentence is ,%estion at the

beginning in eample d1# /e co%ld also hear negati+e word :not: relati+ely earlier at

least before the main +erb :st%dy:1 in eample c1#

;#(%bordinate cla%se res%lt and reason

(ince we ha+e eamined single sentences so far* ' will eplain abo%t the

relationship between a main cla%se and a s%bordinate cla%se# These are eamples of

them#

;





Yet* it may depend on the hearer# 'f the hearer who is heard eample &&1 is

somebody in my school* he or she may want to know how ' feel rather than the reason

beca%se e+erybody already know today is the end of term#

<# Boncl%sion

'n pre+io%s eamples* ' foc%sed on the characteristics of Japanese that

important words s%ch as :not: in negati+e* and :ka: in ,%estion are always the ending#

oreo+er* a res%lt is also the ending# These feat%res so%nd negati+e# (ince ' rethink

abo%t this characteristics* ' can find positi+e effects of them#

Firstly* the ending can be memorable in con+ersations# (econdly* beca%se of this

feat%re* Japanese people are patient to listen by the ending# 'n other words* Japanese

people appreciate what other people say# This does not mean that English people do

not so#1

'n contrast English is m%ch more con+enient and determined from the

beginning* so that is why English is s%pposed to be s%itable for debates* in other

words* logical thinking#

Those differences may ca%se c%lt%ral difference* or may be ca%sed by c%lt%ral

differences# )ang%age feat%res are so di+erse that we ha+e to learn other lang%ages in

order to %nderstand them# !e+ertheless* e+ery lang%age works effecti+ely# /e

Japanese do not ha+e any problem to %se and %nderstand o%r lang%age e+en tho%gh

Japanese is completely different from English as ' s%ggested in the introd%ction of

this essay#

(ince ' am a nati+e speaker of Japanese* ' ha+e ne+er analysed Japanese

before# This opport%nity m%st make me aware of Japanese characteristics which ' will

=



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