A Linguistic Description of the Japanese Language Writing System

Part I: A Linguistic Description of  the Japanese Language Writing System

By Alan Wood

 Orthography:

Japanese employs a mixed script system, integrating Kanji (logographic characters from Chinese), with Hiragana and Katakana (phonetic syllabaries), facilitating a rich expression of meaning and phonetic nuance. The word “食べる” (taberu), merging Kanji and Hiragana to signify “to eat,” exemplifies the script’s depth. Kanji’s multiple readings (on-yomi and kun-yomi) introduce complexity, requiring extensive memorization. This characteristic challenges learners, as “kanji characters often can be read in more than one way” (Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2017, p.220).

Table 1: Characteristics of Japanese Orthography

Phonology: Japanese phonology is characterized by its simple syllable structure and limited sound inventory.

• Syllables: Most syllables follow the CV (consonant-vowel) pattern or are single vowels, with “ん” (n/m) being the most common consonant in syllable-final position.
• Moras: Japanese uses morae, rhythmic units of roughly equal length, rather than individual phonemes. For example, the word “学校” (gakkou – school) consists of four morae (ga-k-ko-u), not six phonemes.
• Contrast with English: English has more complex phoneme combinations and consonant clusters, such as the word “strength,” contrasting with Japanese syllabic simplicity.
• Moraic Awareness: Research suggests moraic awareness is more crucial for Japanese literacy development than phonemic awareness. Young Japanese learners may be better at segmenting words into morae than individual sounds (Koda & Zehler, 2008).

Morphology:

Japanese morphology is strikingly characterized by its agglutinative nature, allowing words to convey an abundance of grammatical information through the addition of prefixes and suffixes. This system results in words potentially having several morphemes stacked together. Understanding Japanese morphology requires differentiating between inflectional affixes, which adjust a word’s form but not its core meaning, and derivational affixes, which create new words by altering a word’s class or meaning. Mastering this morphological complexity contrasts with English, where grammatical relationships are primarily indicated through word order and helper verbs.

Table 2: Characteristics of Japanese Morphology

Syntax: Japanese has a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, but its flexibility sets it apart from English:

• Topic-Prominent: Emphasizes the topic of the sentence marked with the particle は (wa). Unlike the subject, the topic can appear anywhere in the sentence.
  • Example: 私は寿司を食べました。 (Watashi wa sushi o tabemashita. – I ate sushi [topic = I])
• Particles: Particles like が (ga), を (wo), and に (ni) mark grammatical functions like subject, direct object, and indirect object.
  • Example: 私は (watashi wa) – “I” (marked with は as topic )
  • Example: 寿司を (sushi o) – “sushi” (marked with を as direct object)
• Word Order Flexibility: Particles allow for a flexible word order because their function remains clear regardless of their position in a sentence.

• Additional Particles: Japanese uses a wide range of particles beyond just は, が, and を. For instance:
  • に (ni): Marks indirect objects (e.g., 友達にあげる – tomodachi ni ageru – give to a friend), destinations (e.g., 日本に行く – nihon ni iku – go to Japan), and points in time (e.g., 3時に- sanji ni- at 3 o’clock).
  • から (kara): Indicates “from” a place, time, or origin (e.g., アメリカから来ました – Amerika kara kimashita – I came from America).
• Example Sentences
  • 私は友達に本をあげました。(Watashi wa tomodachi ni hon o agemashita. – I gave a book to my friend.)
    • Here, に marks “to my friend” as the indirect object.
  • 昨日、学校から帰りました。 (Kinou, gakkou kara kaerimashita. – I returned from school yesterday.)
    • Here, から indicates “from school” as the origin of movement.
• Comprehension Link: Japanese sentences can appear in different orders while still being grammatically correct due to particles. Understanding particles is thus key to making sense of a Japanese sentence, regardless of word order.

Part II: Differences and Similarities in Learning to Read Japanese and English

Orthographic Depth: The vastness of the Japanese orthography presents a unique challenge for literacy development. Learners need to master thousands of Kanji characters (a typical adult might know around 2,000) with multiple readings. This contrasts dramatically with English’s 26-letter alphabet. To overcome this, learners often employ memory techniques like mnemonics to associate Kanji shapes with their readings and meanings. This complexity contributes to a slower rate of early reading acquisition for Japanese learners compared to English learners (Perfetti & Verhoeven, 2017).

Phonological Awareness: Japanese phonology, with its simple syllabic structure and emphasis on moraic awareness, leads to a different pathway for reading development than English’s emphasis on phonemic awareness. While the syllabic nature of Japanese can make initial decoding easier, it poses challenges when encountering words borrowed from English. These words, written in Katakana, often demand the kind of phoneme manipulation that Japanese phonological awareness doesn’t prioritize. This suggests that English speakers learning Japanese may need to specifically develop and adjust their phonological strategies to accommodate these non-native linguistic features (Koda & Zehler, 2008).

Morphological Awareness: Japanese’s agglutinative morphology allows words to express rich meaning through combinations of morphemes. For example, the compound verb 食べさせられた (tabesaserareta – “was made to eat”) encompasses nuances of causation, passiveness, and the speaker’s stance. This contrasts with English, where similar concepts might be expressed using multiple words (“was forced to eat”). For English speakers, understanding Japanese morphology requires decoding words into their individual units and grasping the function of each affix, placing a higher demand on memory and analysis.(Sprouse, R & Schwartz, B. 1996)

Syntactic Awareness: Japanese’s SOV structure and topic-prominent nature can challenge learners accustomed to English’s SVO order. Beyond word order, the heavy reliance on particles like は, が, and をrequires mental flexibility and understanding of grammatical roles. Subjects or objects can often be omitted, forcing the reader to infer meaning from context and particle cues. Learners need to adapt by consciously recognizing particles and understanding the nuanced relationships they mark, a skill often not as crucial in English syntax.

Cognitive and Linguistic Challenges: Navigating the complexities of the Japanese writing system and grammatical structures demands significant cognitive and linguistic adaptation for English speakers. (Ellis, R. 1991).  Mastering Kanji requires visual-orthographic memory skills, while the emphasis on moraic awareness calls for a shift in phonological processing. Understanding agglutinative morphology and the flexibility of Japanese syntax presents additional challenges. To bridge these gaps, learners must adopt strategies tailored to Japanese:

• Mnemonics: Employing mnemonics aids in recalling Kanji’s visual forms,pronunciations, and meanings.
• Phonological Adaptation: Cultivating an awareness of morae and adjusting phoneme segmentation strategies prepares learners to handle both native Japanese vocabulary and English loanwords.
• Syntactic Awareness: Developing a strong understanding of particles as grammatical markers and increased tolerance for ambiguity facilitates decoding sentences with flexible word order.

While some literacy skills are transferable across languages (Koda & Zehler, 2008), learning to read in Japanese necessitates a multifaceted transformation of well-established English literacy patterns.

References:

Koda, K., & Zehler, A. M. (Eds.). (2008). Learning to read across languages: Cross-  linguistic   relationships in first- and second-language literacy development. Routledge.

Ellis, R. (1991). Grammaticality judgments and second language acquisition. Studies in

Second Language Acquisition 13 (2), 161-186.

Evensen, M. W. (2022). Exploring agglutinative morphology from an L2 perspective: Comparing word formation in Norwegian and Japanese [Master’s thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology]. NTNU Open. https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/299863/master%20thesis%20markus%20waagen%20evensen.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Sprouse, R & Schwartz, B. (1996) L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access

model. In Second Language Research 1996 12: 40. Sage Publications.

Temple University, Japan Campus. (n.d.). Phonological Awareness and Reading Ability of Young Japanese EFL Learners. Graduate College of Education. Retrieved from https://www.tuj.ac.jp

Verhoeven, L., & Perfetti, C. A. (Eds.). (2017). Learning to read across languages and writing systems. Cambridge University Press.