comparison.JAPANESE.2_morphology-2.htm

PROTO-LANGUAGE

PHONEMES





in IE and Japanese





by Patrick C. Ryan

(6/28/97)

PART TWO

(continued from Part One)

(A26) verbal: QO ("attached"), ga, emphatic subject, but (Japanese a for o is unexplained); (cf. Uralic Nenets -ngć, essive); (cf. Altaic -q in genitives [-i/ďq = $E-QO or $E-QA; -ni/ďq = NA-$E-QO or NA-$E-QA])

-(A26) nominal: -QO ("skull, pot"); not found in Japanese; (IE -ng collectives); (cf. Uralic -ka/ä, non-singular)

-*(A26) nominal: QO ("skull = animate entity"), not identified in Japanese; (Sumerian ga-10, I); (Beng qa, they [with negatives]; qO [*qo + va, imperfective], they [with present/future]); this use of QO is particularly frequent in Australian languages

**(A26) nominal: QO-?A ("be attached"), -go:, after (-> MJ go); (IE *(n)go:, listed under g[^]ho:; (*eng- in en-dh-, and, listed incorrectly under en-); (cf. Uralic Nenets ngo?, also); (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -ang in ky+ang, also); (Sumerian -ng-, modal prefix, also); (Egyptian in [i]gr, also)

-(A27) nominal: Q[H]O ("hooked"), not found in Japanese; (IE not found); (Beng possibly in ńaaN, hear now, well); perhaps doubtful

(A28) verbal: RE ("scratch, (any) one"), -r-, passive; (IE in Latin -r, passive ending)

(A28) nominal: -RE ("scratch" = indefinite number), in so(-)re, it, that; (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -re, each, distributive); (Altaic -a/er, distributive); properly, -RE is a marker of the indefinite singular: cf. Egyptian p-3, any one, as against p-n, the ( P[?]A-N/N[H]A); *ip-, ones ($A-P[?]A)

**(A28) nominal: "RE-$E; -ri, single (any one), in hito-ri, single man; (IE re:i-, listed under 1. ar-)

(A29) verbal: RO (augmentative); theoretically reconstructed but not specifically identified

(A29) nominal: RO (elative) -*ro but not recognized as a suffix; (IE -ro, comparative); (Beng -l/r, augmentative)

-(A30) nominal: -R[H]A (color); not definitely identified in Japanese; (IE -r, in color words); Beng -l in kala, elderly person

(A31) verbal: R[H]O (rise), -*ro: (-> MJ -roo), presumptive, "rise to ...", "intend to"; (IE for *lo = "rise", cf. OHG ti-la, women's breast, and Greek tú-lo-s, swelling; cf. -lo, nouns of agent and instrument [this is from "give rise to"]; the Japanese imperfect ending -ru = either PL RE (apply) + FA (imperfective) [cf. Egyptian -3] or R[H]O-F[H]A [Armenian infinitive in -l].

-(A31) nominal: -R[H]O; not found in Japanese; (IE -lo, augmentative)

(A32) nominal: -SA(-$E) or SA-FE ("strong[-like] {unbreakable}" or "strong-powerful"), *saFe -> MJ súu-, several); (IE -s aorist; s-mobile or su-); (cf. Uralic Nenets -sy, "past tense" or so/wa, good)

(A32) verbal: -SA ("strong"), -sa, causative (really intensive, implying perfective); (IE s-mobile)

(A33) nominal: SE ("individual", inanimate); see S[H]E below.

(A34)nominal: S[H]A ("content = serene"), -*s(a:)-, marker of respect (-> MJ -mas-u (MA-S[H]A, "fully happy"; cf. masáru, surpass, excel), 326; (IE desiderative / future in -s)

*(A34) nominal: S[H]A ("rest, place"), -*sa:, noun of quality or place (cf. taka-sa) -> MJ -sa); (IE -s, nouns of quality [cf. Old Indian tápa-s, warmth); Mediterranean place names in -isso); (cf.[Sino-]Tibetan -sa, place of...; (Uralic -s(s)a, inessive)

**(A34) nominal: S[H]A ("rest, place"), -s-, adjectivizer, in aka-s-i, be red; (IE possibly -s- in -sk[^]o)

(A35) verbal: S[H]E ("individual"), -se, causative; see (A6): verbal: $O above

-(A35) nominal: S[H]E ("individual"), not found in Japanese; (IE singular in -s); (Altaic as -z, Turkish suffix of one of objects occurring in pairs); (Beng in sia, male).

(A36) verbal: S[H]O ("clan-member=same=so"), -*s in negative irrealis -z- (from -*n-i-s- [NA-?A-$E-S[H]O= "not so"], 327); and -mas [M[H]A-S[H]O="hold so"], 327); (IE swe-, *same, listed incorrectly under se-; mes-, listed under 1. me:-)

**(A36) verbal: S[H]O-$E ("follow-like"), shi, and; (IE se:i-, *so, listed under se-)

(A36) nominal: S[H]O ("clan=good"), OJ so:-, intensive prefix; (IE in su-, good); (cf. Egyptian s-, causative; this is not a true causative but rather an intensive: "well")

*(A36) nominal: S[H]O-$E ("clan-member-like"), in so(-)re, it, that; so-no, that, those; (IE secondary -s, 2nd p. sing. of active; syo-, this, listed under so[s]); (cf. Altaic -si/ď, 3rd p. sing.; in sen, you [sing.]); (cf. Uralic sä, he/she/it); (Beng in sO\N, person, someone, somebody, body).

(A37) nominal: T[?]A ("hand") de (from "T[?]A-$E), at/in/on (the hand of); by means of (through the hand of); (cf. Altaic -de/a, locative; (a lative [at the side of, with] in languages all over the world; seen dimly in IE ablative -e:/o:d, possibly a metathesis of *-d+e: (T?A+HHE, go away from) to facilitate pronunciation of vowelless stems); (cf. Beng , díN, next to); (cf. Uralic -t (Vogul), locative); (cf. Sumerian -da, locative)

(A38) verbal: -T[H]O, ("approach, gather"), to, and, as soon as; (IE 2. to-); (cf. Uralic -*ta/ä, allative ["toward"] [cf. Nenets dative -n~to/-h])

*(A38) verbal: -T[H]O (iterative), -ta, perfect (the a for expected o is unexplained) ; also -t-, perfect (Miller: 326); (IE -to, perfective passive participle); (cf. Altaic -d/t perfective).

-(A38) nominal: T[H]O (definite animate plural), not found in Japanese; (IE 1. to-)

*(A38) nominal: -"T[H]O-$E ("tribesman-like"), -te, one who performs, gerund; (IE -ti, nomina agentis and nomina actionis; [cf. IE sru-ti-s, a flowing, streaming, from sreu-); (cf. Uralic -tya in kun-tya, urine)

(A39) verbal: T[?]SE-FA ("releasing=going away"), -zu, negative; (IE *dheu-, listed under 3. dhe:-)

(A40) nominal: TS[H]O (circle of animates), not found in Japanese; (IE in -tu, forms abstract substantives; TS[H]O-F[H]A); (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -tsho, plural).

*(A40) nominal: TS[H]O ("circling"), to, (along) with; (IE ter-, there [Egyptian >3], listed incorrectly under 1. to-); (cf. Uralic "essive" -ta; Sumerian -ta, instrumental)

**(A40) nominal: TS[H]O, to, when; (IE to, then, under 1. to-)

(A41)verbal: X[H]A-F[H]A ("resting=(be)come"), -k[w] in forms of adjectives except non-past indicative, from kú-ru, come); (IE *kwe- in kwey6-)

(A42) nominal: X[H]O (large indefinite animate plural), ka, interrogative particle ('what?'); indefinite [the Japanese a for expected o is unexlained]; (IE kwo-); (cf. Egyptian S in iSzt, what? [S <- X])

*(A42) nominal: X[H]O-HA ("at the quanity"), koo, this way; (cf. IE kwei-, as, listed under kwo- ["of the quantity of"]); (cf. Uralic Nenets simulatives in -r-xa); (cf. Altaic -ca, aequativus) ["at the quantity of"])

*(A43) (S)OV is the earliest Japanese word-order, corresponding to OV established by Lehmann for earliest IE; S-OV (and possibly OV-S, which may have distinguished between imperfective and perfective aspects before singular and plural elements were applied to convey the same aspects) word-order stems from the language of the active-type phase, where the transitive subject is only loosely linked to the object-"verb", which is primary, and need not be expressed overtly, a characteristic which Japanese also amply illustrates; Basque, Beng (Southern Mandé), and Sumerian also have SOV, which should also be assumed for Altaic and Uralic (proved by the invariable rectum-regens word order of Uralic and Altaic [except Northern Tungus]). Examples of Japanese OV-constructions are: monogátari, tale = mono, things,, affairs + katari, deverbal from katar-u, tell, relate; cf. also mushi, snake, worm = PL MO-FA, poison + SE-$E, emitted; also, the related Modifier-Modifend (A[djective]N[oun]): kaizuka, shell mound, from kai, shell + tsuka, mound.

*(A44) verbal: REDUPLICATION indicates habituality; however, when the iterative -*to (-ta) began to be used for the perfective, reduplication was re-defined as iterative: when *ker-, *run, is reduplicated, the vowel -a- represents a stress un-accented root -e-: *ke"ker- -> kakér-u, run; kák-u, write; stem: ka(i)-.

*(A45)Japanese archaically preserves archaic features of the Proto-Language (active-type) period, during which the transitive subject formed a separate sub-phrase of the sentence, and was frequently deleted. When the context required it to be included, the early ergative-type sub-phrases were formed: S + F[H]A, literally, (something) is 'circling around' the S, which is actually a topicalizer rather than a formative of the ergative subject; this element is very old; we can see it in -su, the IE locative plural (-s + -u); and possibly the Latin nominative in -u; and in IE pronominal forms with -w, e.g. tewe; in -w, the Egyptian independent pronoun ending (zw, he [topic {subject} of stative]; him [topic {not object} of transitive verb]); Afrasian nominative in -u; Hurrian dative (of interest) -wa.

**(A45) The Japanese direct object marker (*w)o is a relatively late innovation; according to Shibatani, "it was more common not to mark the direct object at all (p. 340)" in the earliest records; this is the most archaic pattern; in spite of the Japanese orthographical details, this particle seems to mean "toward", which would suggest a derivation from PL HHO, "come down on" (cf. IE 1. o, to, with; [cf. Egyptian h3]); this correlates better with the Japanese vocative and hortative use of o (cf. IE 2. o:, vocative) .

return to Part One ?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca and Cavalli-Sforza, Francesco. 1995. The Great Human Diasporas: The History of Diversity and Evolution. New York etal. Helix Books. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Klimov, Georgij A. 1977. Tipologija Jazykov Aktivnogo Stroja. Moscow: Nauka

-------------------------1983. Printsipy Kontensivnoi Tipologij. Moscow: Nauka

Miller, Roy Andrew. 1967. The Japanese Language. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press

Nelson, Andrew Nathaniel. 1994. The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company

Pokorny, Julius. 1959. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Volume I. Bern and Munich: Francke Verlag

Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1996. The Languages of Japan. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Storm, Hiroko (revision). 1993. Living Language Japanese Dictionary: Japanese-English - English-Japanese. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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