A Fantasy of Far Japan; Or, Summer Dream DialoguesSuematsu, Kencho
Philosophy
A Fantasy of Far Japan; Or, Summer Dream Dialogues
Suematsu, Kencho
Japan -- Civilization
Now as to the difference of the order of words between Japanese and
Chinese. Where in English one says, 'I cannot go,' in Chinese one would
say, 'I not can go,' whilst in Japanese it would be, 'I go can not.'
This order of Japanese has a slight resemblance to German, but the
difference lies in that, whilst in German it is chiefly so in
subordinate sentences, it is in Japanese uniformly so under any
circumstances. In Chinese a verb which governs an object directly or
indirectly always precedes the object; thus, like English, a Chinese
would say, 'Girls eat cakes,' or 'he goes to Paris,' but in Japanese the
verb succeeds; thus a Japanese would say, 'Girls cakes eat,' or 'he
Paris to goes.' In this respect of order there is some resemblance
between Latin and Japanese.
From all that I have said it is plain that there is no affinity between
Chinese and Japanese so far as construction is concerned, but I may go
further. There is no resemblance whatever suggestive of same origin
between any Chinese and Japanese word, except those whose introduction
into Japan at later ages is clearly known.
In speaking of the Japanese language in the foregoing pages, I have
made no difference between the colloquial and the written one, but in
fact there is much difference between them which requires some notice
here. Even in the West written phrases can be, and are often, much
shortened than spoken ones; but in Japan this difference is carried
almost to the extreme, so much so, that they assume almost entirely
different shape, the phrases of the spoken language being unsparingly
curtailed in those of the written one. Of course, there are some old
books which were written like the colloquial, and of late years much
movement is made for an assimilation of the written and spoken
languages, making the written one approach the spoken one. But as the
matter stands at present the difference is still very great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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