Observations in Japanese and English Linguistics

Japanese vs English: How they differ and how they relate Before you read:  In grammar, sentences are broken down into some basic sections. I will focus on only three of them for this post.  Words to know Subject : The topic of a sentence that one is speaking about. Example: David drives a car. David = subject Object : Something involved in an action, in relation to a verb, in a sentence. For simplicity, it can be thought of as the noun (or noun phrase) in a sentence. Example: David drives a car .  A car = object Verb : The action that happens in a sentence. Example: David drives a car. Drives = verb  The Grammar of the English Language Compared to Japanese English is a West Germanic language. The grammatical structure is (very) basically: Subject / Verb / Object Example:       I       /         go       /    ...

Linguistics: The study of language A special note about this blog. This blog assumes you are able to read Japanese at at least a college level. Rarely, if ever, will a transcription (Romaji) be provided. If you are having trouble reading the characters please feel free to download a wonderful Firefox extension called Rikai-chan . For Chrome please search for Rikai-kun  What are Linguistics? Or should I say, what is Linguistics? Simply put it is the study of language . Within the incredibly broad category of linguistics there are many subfields of study. Including, but not limited to: (All definitions listed below unless otherwise stated are derived from Linguistics An Introduction to Language and Communication Fourth Edition / Akmajin, Adrian 1995) Pragmatics: The study of language use and its relation to language structure and context of utterance. In other words:  How language is used . Phonology: The subfield of linguistics that studies the structure ...