c. The suffix adds the concept of“type”or“style”to the base noun deriving an AN or a noun.
(日本)的 (nihon)teki[(Japan)like]‘Japanese’, (振り子)式(huriko)siki
‘(pendulum) type’, (サラリーマン)風 (sarariiman)huu[(white-collar worker) style]‘white-collar style’, (文語)調(bungo)tyoo[(literary language register]‘literary-sounding’
d. The suffix attaches to a noun and derives an adverb.
(事実)上 (zizitu)zyoo[(fact) on]‘based on the facts’, (戦時)下(senzi)ka [(wartime) under]‘under wartime conditions’, (東京大阪)間Tookyoo- Oosaka)kan[(Tokyo-Osaka) between]‘between Tokyo and Osaka’, (時間)外 (zikan)gai[(hours) outside]‘outside of regular hours’, (紳士)然 (sinsi)zen[(gentleman) state]‘gentlemanly’
e. Noun classifiers
(馬2)頭 (uma ni)too[(horse 2) head]‘two horses’, (ビール3)本
(biiru san)bon[(beer.bottles 3) long.thing.counter]‘three bottles of beer’, (椅子2)脚(isu ni)kyaku[(chairs 2) furniture.with.legs.counter]‘two chairs’, (テレビ1)台 (terebi iti)dai[(television 1) mechanical.contrivance.counter]
‘one television set’, (スーツ1)着(suutu it)tyaku[(suit 1) suits.counter]
‘one suit’
The suffixes in (38a) form derived nouns and many S-J suffixes are included in this type. The suffixes -san, -sei, -gen, and -yoku in (38b) derive nouns and -siand -ka derive verbal nouns. Those in (38c) derive ANs, but their number is not large. The examples in (38d) are affixes deriving adverbs but many of this type would be better analyzed as clitics than as affixes. Those in (38e) are S-J numeral classifiers. Many of the suffixes in (38) do not add semantic characteristics but can be thought to deter- mine the category of the derived word as a whole.
Table 8:Category-changing S-J affixes
Prefixes that change a noun into an AN
無mu‘not’+意味imi‘meaning’→無意味(な)muimi(na)‘meaningless’ 不hu‘not’+規則kisoku‘regular’→不規則(な)hukisoku(na)‘irregular’ 大／小dai/syoo‘large/small’+規模kibo‘scale’→大／小規模(な) dai/syookibo(na)‘large/small scale’
有yuu‘having’+意義igi‘significance’→有意義(な)yuuigi(na)
‘significant’ Suffixes that change
a noun into a VN
疑問gimon‘doubt’+視si‘view as’→疑問視(する)gimonsi(suru)
‘consider doubtful’
近代kindai‘modern’+化ka‘change’→近代化(する)kindaika(suru)
‘modernize’ Suffix that changes
a noun into an AN
道徳dootoku‘morals’+的teki→道徳的(な)dootokuteki(na)
‘moral (adj)’ Suffixes that change
a noun into an adverb
事実zizitu‘fact’+上zyoo‘on’→事実上zizituzyoo‘factually’ 戦時senzi‘wartime’+下ka‘under’→戦時下senzika‘under wartime conditions’
Prefixes that have the function of changing categories are, in addition to the negative prefixesmuand hu, limited to some that show size or existence, likedai, syoo, andyuu. Compared to prefixes, category-changing suffixes are more numerous, but the proportion of all suffixes they occupy is limited.
Next let us consider restrictions that affixes place on their bases. In general, except for the noun classifiers, S-J affixes attach freely to both single character and two-character S-J bases, as seen in 再会 sai-kai ‘meet again’, 再会談 sai-kaidan
‘discuss again’and和式wa-siki‘Japanese style’,西洋式 seiyoo-siki‘Western style’. Also, although the bases to which they attach are overwhelmingly Sino-Japanese words, there also many that can attach to native and foreign words as well as S-J ones. However, as there are a wide variety of Sino-Japanese affixes, ranging from those for which the bases they can combine with are severely restricted to those that attach quite freely, with productivity also varying widely, it is necessary to analyze each affix individually. Here, we will first take up the negative prefixes.
There have been comparatively many proposals concerning negative prefixes, such as Nomura (1973) and Kageyama (1982, 1999). Table 9 is based on Nomura (1973) and shows the categories of the bases each prefix may combine with. The symbol * indicates a non-occurring combination.
無 mu- has the meaning ‘lacking, non-existent’ and attaches to nouns and verbal nouns but not to adjectival nouns.未 mi-, which means‘an action has still not reached completion’, attaches to a few nouns but mostly to VNs.不, readhuor bu, shows negation much like Englishin- as ininsignificantorun- as inunkindand is the most productive, attaching to nouns, adjectival nouns, and verbal nouns.非 hi- mostly expresses a meaning corresponding to Englishnon- and attaches to nouns, ANs, and VNs.
All of the negative prefixes can attach to one-character and two-character Sino- Japanese bases as in 無-限 mu-gen‘infinite’, 未-定 mi-tei ‘not yet fixed’, 不-利 hu-ri ‘disadvantage’, 非-力 hi-riki ‘powerless’and 無-期限 mu-kigen ‘indefinite’, 未-提出 mi-teisyutu‘not yet submitted’, 不-衛生 hu-eisei ‘unhygienic conditions’, 非-会員 hi-kaiin‘non-member’.Hi- can further attach to three-character S-J words as in 非-人間性 hi-ningensei ‘inhumanity’ and 非-製造業 hi-seizoogyoo ‘non- manufacturing industry’. In addition, hi- is the only one that can attach to Sino- Japanese words of four or more characters or to foreign words (非-民主主義 hi- minsyusyugi‘undemocratic’,非-リアルhi-riaru‘unreal’).
Consider now two suffixes meaning‘person’:人 -zinand人 -nin. Nomura (1977) shows that they clearly contrast in terms of word formation, standing in complemen- tary distribution. Namely, whereas thefirst attaches to both noun and AN stems as in 外国-人 gaikoku-zin ‘foreigner’, 芸能-人 geinoo-zin ‘performer’, and 有名-人 yuumei-zin ‘famous person’, the latter only attaches to VN stems, as in 通行-人 tuukoo-nin‘passerby’, 弁護-人bengoo-nin‘defender’, 管理-人 kanri-nin‘manager’. Furthermore, there is a restriction on the type of word that can be a base.人 -nincan also attach to native words, as in受け取り-人 uketori-nin‘recipient’,立ち会い-人 tatiai-nin‘witness’, and 付き添い-人 tukisoi-nin‘attendant’. With the sole exception of暇-人 hima-zin‘person of leisure’,人 -zinnever combines with native words.
A representative, highly productive Sino-Japanese affix that combines with a variety of bases is the suffix -的 -teki, which makes an adjectival noun. Besides affixing to S-J bases unrestricted by the number of characters in the base, as shown by私-的 si-teki/watasi-teki‘private/personal’,活動-的katudoo-teki‘active’,
Table 9:Negative prefixes and the categories of their bases
Prefix N bases AN bases VN bases
無mu- 無 関心mukansin
‘unconcerned’, 無 神経musinkei
‘insensitive’
* 無 関係mukankei
‘unrelated’, 無 理解murikai
‘lack of understanding’ 未mi- 未 成年miseinen
‘not of age’, 未 払いmiharai
‘unpaid’
* 未 経験mikeiken
‘not yet experienced’, 未 解決mikaiketu
‘unresolved’ 不hu- 不 景気hukeiki
‘recession’, 不 手際hutegiwa
‘ineptitude’
不 確実hukakuzitu
‘uncertain’,不 平等 hubyoodoo‘unequal’
不 承知husyooti
‘disapproval’. 不 勉強hubenkyoo
‘lack of study’ 非hi- 非 人情hininzyoo
‘inhuman’, 非 常識hizyoosiki
‘lack of common sense’
非 合法higoohoo
‘unlawful’,
非 衛生的hieiseiteki
‘unsanitary’
非 公認hikoonin
‘unauthorized’, 非 軍事化higunzika
‘non-militarized’
Sino-Japanese words 127
政治家-的 seizika-teki ‘politician-like’, and 共産主義-的 kyoosansyugi-teki ‘com- munistic’, it can also form ad hoc derivations by combining with native words, foreign words, mixed types, and proper nouns, as in 草分け-的 kusawake-teki
‘pioneering’,カリスマ-的 karisuma-teki‘charismatic’,手前味噌-的 temae-miso-teki
‘self-flattering’, and 寅さん-的 Tora-san-teki ‘Tora-san-like’. Most of the bases -teki combines with are nouns or verbal nouns with comparatively few examples of adjec- tival noun bases. This is because there is no need to convert to an AN a base that already has AN characteristics. Both健康 kenkoo (AN) and健康的 kenkoo-teki(AN) are found, but the meanings they convey are different: kenkoo-na means‘healthy, physically free of disease’whereaskenkoo-teki-nameans‘healthful, aids in promot- ing bodily well-being’or‘healthy, looking healthy from external observation’.
7 Sino-Japanese clipping
Finally, we will take a brief look at the phenomenon of clipping in Sino-Japanese words. As in native and foreign words, clipping occurs frequently in S-J words. The original positions of the elements remaining after clipping vary greatly, as shown in (39).
(39) a. 模擬-試験 mogi-siken‘practice test’→模試 mo-si b. 高等-学校 kootoo-gakkoo‘high school’→高校 koo-koo
c. 自宅-浪人 zitaku-roonin‘home-ronin, study on one’s own for another chance at university entrance exams’→宅浪 taku-roo
d. 携帯-電話 keitai-denwa‘mobile phone’→携帯 keitai
The elements remaining after clipping can also undergo phonetic changes, as shown in (40). In (40a) [h] has changed to [p] following the moraic nasal and in (40b) vowel deletion has yielded a geminate consonant cluster.
(40) a. 民間-放送 minkan-hoosoo‘commercial broadcasting’→民放 min-poo b. 特別-急行 tokubetu-kyuukoo‘special express’→特急 tok-kyuu
Unlike clipping in foreign words (cf. Chapter 5 [Irwin, this volume]), which relies on the phonetic unit of the mora, clipping in Sino-Japanese words occurs the ortho- graphic unit of thekanji. That it is thekanjiorthographical unit that is important is also suggested by pre- and post-clipping differences in the readings of thekanji. For example, in (41a) the second character (阪 saka) of 大阪 Oosaka‘Osaka’changes its reading tohan(itson-reading) and in (41b) thefirst character (落 raku) of落語 rakugo‘rakugo, comic storytelling’changes its reading tooti(itskun-reading).
(41) a. 大阪-大学 Oosaka-daigaku‘Osaka University’→阪大 han-dai
b. 落語-研究会rakugo-kenkyuukai‘rakugo research club’→落研 oti-ken
Changing the readings of kanji in this way can be thought of as a response to cultural and social demands for novelty and uniqueness rather than to any purely linguistic demands.
8 Conclusions and future research perspectives
This chapter has considered the word formation processes and productivity of Sino- Japanese words, categorizing them into one-, two-, three-, and four-character words.
Among the reasons S-J words are so successfully productive is that there is the visual factor that the meanings of the component morphemes are easily comprehended through thekanji, but a more important reason is that, as long as the head is an S-J morpheme, in long compounds restrictions on lexical types are relaxed and in addi- tion to S-J words, native and foreign morphemes may be incorporated as non-head components. Particularly noticeable are the iterative application of compounding rules to produce compounds four or more characters in length and the vigor of affixes that can attach to bases of three or more characters.
While traditional research on Sino-Japanese words in Japan has centered on dis- cussion of the internal structure of complex words and the semantic relations among the constituents of the word based on the number of characters, in theory-oriented approaches a series of studies (Kageyama 1980, 1982, 1993) have incorporated the research methodologies of Western linguistics and examined the links between word-internal structure and syntactic structure, and other studies on lexical seman- tics applying Lexical Conceptual Structure and Qualia Structure have gained atten- tion. Even more recently, studies examining the structure of Sino-Japanese words from a syntactic perspective (Ishii 2007, 2013) and studies attempting to describe the ambiguity of S-J affixes using methods from cognitive semantics (Yamashita 2011, 2013) have appeared.
An outstanding problem is how compounding and affixation in Sino-Japanese words can be differentiated. To solve these issues, it will be necessary to utilize large-scale corpora and analyze in detail the meaning and use of individual com- pounds and affixed words. Since research until now has concentrated on a com- paratively small number of affixes, it is important to broaden the scope of analysis.
Another important issue is why Sino-Japanese word formation enjoys such high pro- ductivity. This issue should be illuminated through comparison of word formation processes in the other lexical strata.
Finally, we should not forget to mention the nature ofkanjiitself. Although writ- ing has been treated only mariginally in Western linguistics, from the practical and psychological perspectiveskanji play an important role in providing the readers of written Japanese with a visual aid for capturing the meaning of a word at a glance.
From the perspective of theoretical morphology as well, the two ways of reading
Sino-Japanese words 129
kanjihave potential to shed new light on how the notions of morpheme and allo- morphy are related to differences of lexical strata. In fact, Nagano and Shimada (2014), in line with earlier studies like Morioka (2004), argue that the two different readings of a singlekanjicharacter should be regarded as suppletive allomorphs of one and the same underlying morpheme. The feasibility of the suppletion theory will have to be tested against a number of empirical issues involving the systematic and not so systematic correspondences betweenon-yomi(Chinese reading) andkun-yomi (Japanese reading).
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to John Haig for translating this chapter from Japanese. Part of the work derives from the collaborative research project“Syntactic, Semantic, and Mor- phological Characteristics of the Japanese Lexicon”(Project leader: Taro Kageyama, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, 2010–2015). While all the three authors are responsible for the whole paper, Kobayashi primarily drafted sections 3, 5, and 7, Yamashita sections 4, and 6, and Kageyama sections 1 and 2.
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