An adjectival noun (Japanese: , keiy -d shi, which literally means "adjectival verb"^[1]) or sometimes just adjectival is a noun that functions as an adjective by taking the particle -na (regular nouns can function adjectivally by taking the particle -no, which is analyzed as the genitive case). This term is often used in analyses of the Japanese language to refer to members of the word class commonly known as "na-adjectives".

Japanese adjectival nouns function similarly to English noun adjuncts (nouns used attributively), as in "chicken soup" or "winter coat" in these cases the nouns "chicken" and "winter" modify the nouns "soup" and "coat" (function adjectivally).

Terminology

The terminology used to refer to these words is quite inconsistent. The Japanese term is , keiy -d shi, which literally means "adjectival verb", and gives a direct translation. However, this term is at odds with how these words are generally analyzed, leading to different choices of terminology.

Grammatically these words are nouns, or more technically nominals, which function attributively (like adjectives) the main differences being that nouns take a -no suffix when acting attributively while these words take a -na suffix when acting attributively, and that most of these words cannot be used as the agent or patient (i.e. subject) of a sentence, but otherwise behaving essentially identically grammatically. Thus, they are various referred to as or "adjectival verbs" (literal translation), "adjectival nouns" (nouns that function adjectivally), na-adjectives (function as adjectives, take na), and na-nominals (nominals that take na). For example, Eleanor Harz Jorden refers to them as na-nominals in her textbook Japanese: The Spoken Language.

In fact, by some analyses, nouns and na-nominals are fundamentally grammatically the same, where vs. when used attributively is simply a conventional stylistic complementary distribution, with being allomorphs. This view is reinforced by the fact that some words, such as tokubetsu "special" can take either a or a , depending on the phrase.^[2] Ultimately, is an abbreviation of , used to use a noun attributively (compare modern , which is a more recent form), while is the genitive case;^[2] see etymology, below.

Characterization

In traditional Japanese grammar, adjectival nouns are considered "inflectional", katsuy , like verbs and i-adjectives, rather than non-inflectional hikatsuy go ( ) or mukatsuy go ( ), like nouns.

This is a point of disagreement in current Japanese grammar, and authors such as Uehara (1998)^[3] argues that instead adjectival nouns should be classed with nouns as non-inflectional.

The claim that na-adjectives are inflectional rests on the claim that the syllable da 'is', usually regarded as a "copula verb", is really a suffix an inflection. Thus hon 'book', generates a one-word sentence, honda 'it is a book', not a two-word sentence, hon da. However, numerous constructions seem to be incompatible with the suffixal copula claim.

(1) Reduplication for emphasis

Hora! Hon, hon! 'See, it is a book!'

Hora! Kirei, kirei! 'See, it is pretty!'

Hora! Furui, furui! 'See, it is old!' (the adjectival inflection -i cannot be left off)

Hora! Iku, iku! 'See, it does go!' (the verbal inflection -u cannot be left off)

(2) Questions. In Japanese, questions are formed by adding the particle ka (or in colloquial speech, just by changing the intonation of the sentence).

Hon/kirei ka? 'Is it a book? ; Is it pretty?'

Furu-i/Ik-u ka? 'Is it old? ; Does it go?' (the inflections cannot be left off)

(3) Several auxiliary verbs, e.g., mitai, 'looks like it's'

Hon mitai da; Kirei mitai da 'It seems to be a book; It seems to be pretty'

Furu-i mitai da; Ik-u mitai da 'It seems to be old; It seems to go'

On the basis of such constructions, Uehara (1998) finds that the copula is indeed an independent word, and that regarding the parameters on which i-adjectives share the syntactic pattern of verbs, the nominal adjectives pattern with pure nouns instead.

taru adjectives

In Late Old Japanese (below), a separate kind of tari adjectival nouns developed alongside the existing nari ones (nari, tari were the conclusive forms, while naru, taru were the attributive forms). The nari ones developed into the adjectival nouns (naru becoming na, while nari become da (the copula)) that are the subject of this article, while the tari ones mostly died out over the course of Late Middle Japanese, being mostly gone by Early Modern Japanese, surviving as fossils in a few words which are generally considered somewhat stiff or archaic. These are generally referred to as (to, taru keiy d shi) or (taruto-kata katsuy taro, to form conjugation ), and can also function adverbally with -to, instead of the -ni which is mostly used with nominals. See taru adjectives for further discussion in English, and # for Japanese.

naru adjectives

A few nari adjectival nouns followed a similar path to tari adjectival nouns, becoming naru adjectives in Modern Japanese (analogous to taru adjectives), rather than na adjectives as most nari adjectival nouns did. These include tannaru "mere, simple" or seinaru "holy" and are generally classed as rentaishi.

Old Japanese

Old Japanese has one type of adjectival noun with the following inflections.

Late Old Japanese

Late Old Japanese has two types of adjectival nouns: nar- and tar-.

The newly developed tar- inflections are used in kanbun kundoku (reading a Chinese text in Japanese).

Early Middle Japanese

Early Middle Japanese has two types of adjectival nouns: na- and tar-.

Late Middle Japanese

Late Middle Japanese has two types of adjectival nouns: na and t-.

Early Modern Japanese (Kamigata)

The early half of Early Middle Japanese as exhibited in the Kamigata region has a single type of adjectival noun with the following inflections.

The deteriorating tar- type is lost.

Early Modern Japanese (Edo)

The later half of Early Modern Japanese as found in Edo has a single type of adjectival noun with the following inflections.

Modern Japanese

There is one type of adjectival noun in modern usage, with inflections as follows.

• The modern inflections are based on two primitive forms: d- and n-. The n- forms are historically older while the d- forms are newer and have replaced some of the older n- forms.
• Irrealis -daro is found with particle -u, resulting in -darou (-dar ). Historically it was -dara. /au/ regularly changed into [ ].
• Adverbial -daQ is often found with past particle -ta, resulting in "daQta" -> "datta".
• Adverbial -de is found before "aru" and "nai", as well as being used in to terminate one clause before beginning another ( ).
• Adverbial -ni is used in adverbial constructions.
• Modern Japanese no longer inflects for imperative.

Etymology

All forms of the copula (the vehicle for the inflection of adjectival nouns) can be considered to derive from two infinitive forms, ni and to. Because the copula lacked any other forms, secondary conjugations with the verb ari were used. The original ni ari and to ari contracted to form nari and tari. To derive the modern forms na and da, changes such as the following have been proposed.

For attributive na (rentaikei):

• ni aru > naru > na

For predicative da (sh shikei):

• ni te ari > de ari > de a > da

In some regions these changes progressed differently, resulting in forms such as ja or ya.

The infinitive form ni is still in widespread use (e.g. hen ni naru, "become strange"), but the form to has become a much rarer alternative.

References

• Jorden, Eleanor Harz, Noda, Mari. (1987). Japanese: The Spoken Language
• Uehara, Satoshi. 1998. Syntactic categories in Japanese: a cognitive and typological introduction. Kurosio. Series: Studies in Japanese linguistics; 9.

See also

• Japanese adjectives
• Japanese grammar
• Japanese verb conjugations and adjective declensions

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