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TYPES OF ADJECTIVE There are three types of word that can be considered to be Adjective s in Japanese:
:These have a Conjugating ending ''-i'' which can become, for example, past or negative. For example, ''atsui'' (暑い) "hot": ::''atsui hi'' ("a hot day") ::''Kyō wa atsui.'' ("Today is hot.")
:These attach to a form of the Copula , which then inflects. For example, ''hen'' (変) "strange": ::''hen na hito'' ("a strange person") ::''Kare wa hen da.'' ("He is strange.")
:These may only occur before nouns, not in a predicative position. They are various in derivation and word class. For example, ''ōki na'' (大きな) "big": ::''ōki na koto'' "a big thing" SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF ADJECTIVES Adjectival verbs (''keiyōshi'') may Predicate sentences and inflect for past, negative, etc. As they head Verb Phrase s, they can be considered a type of Verbal (verb-like part of speech). Their inflections are different and not so numerous as full verbs. Adjectival Noun s (''keiyō-dōshi'') always occur with a form of the copula, traditionally considered part of the adjectival noun itself. The only difference between nouns and adjectival nouns is in the attributive form, where nouns take ''no'' and adjectives take ''na''. This has led many linguists to consider them a type of Nominal (noun-like part of speech). Together with this form of the copula they may also predicate sentences and inflect for past, negative, etc. Attributives (''rentaishi'') are few in number, and unlike the other words, are strictly limited to modifying nouns. ''Rentaishi'' never predicate sentences. They derive from other word classes, and so are not always given the same treatment syntactically. For example, ''ano'' (あの, "that") can be analysed as a noun or pronoun ''a'' plus the genitive ending ''no''; ''aru'' (ある or 或る, "a certain"), ''saru'' (さる, "a certain"), and ''iwayuru'' (いわゆる, "so-called") can be analysed as verbs (''iwayuru'' being an obsolete passive form of the verb ''iu'' (言う) "to speak"); and ''ōki na'' (大きな, "big") can be analysed as the one remaining form of the obsolete adjectival noun ''ōki nari''. Attributive ''onaji'' (同じ, "the same") is sometimes considered to be a ''rentaishi'', but it is usually analysed as simply an irregular adjectival verb (note that it has an infinitive ''onajiku''). The final form ''onaji'', which occurs with the copula, is usually considered to be a noun, albeit one derived from the adjectival verb. It can be seen that attributives are analysed variously as nouns, verbs, or adjectival nouns. Both the predicative forms (''shūshikei'') and attributive forms (''rentaikei'') of adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns can be analysed as verb phrases, making the attributive forms of adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns relative clauses. According to this analysis, Japanese has no syntactic adjectives. INFLECTION Adjectival verbs (''i''-adjectives) are inflected by dropping the ''-i'' from the end and replacing it with the appropriate ending. Adjectival nouns (''na''-adjectives) are inflected by dropping the ''-na'' and replacing it with the appropriate form of the verb ''da'', the copula. The ''de wa'' in the conjugation of the copula is often contracted in speech to ''ja''. Adverb forms Both adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns form Adverb s. In the case of adjectival verbs, ''-i'' changes to ''-ku'': atsuku naru and in the case of adjectival nouns, ''na'' changes to ''ni'': hen ni naru Polite forms Both adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns are made more polite by the use of ''desu'', but the way that ''desu'' is used is different. With adjectival verbs, ''desu'' is added directly after the inflected plain form and has no Syntactic function; its only purpose is to make the utterance more polite (see Japanese Honorifics ). With adjectival nouns, ''desu'' is used in its role as the polite form of the copula, therefore replacing ''da'' (the plain form of the copula) in the plain form of these adjectives. TERMINOLOGY The Japanese word ''keiyōshi'' is used to denote an English adjective. It is worth noting that because the widespread study of Japanese is still relatively new in the Western world, there are no generally accepted English translations for the above parts of speech, with varying texts adopting different sets, and others extant not listed above. |
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