Re: [Lingo] japanese dictionary parts-of-speech

[Jim Breen <jimbreen@example.com>]

On 11 April 2012 04:02, s smith <sjs@example.com> wrote:
> Hi all.  I'm hoping someone can help me with using a Japanese electronic
> dictionary.  I looked up 取 り扱う on the yahoo.jp dictionary and it is
> identified as ［動ワ五（ハ四）］  I understand that 動 is for 動詞 and 五 is for 五段動詞
> I've seen references that say ワ identifies the わ column of the kana
> syllabary for conjugation but my table has only わ and を on this column.
> What am I missing?

You are missing a grounding in the grammar of classical Japanese. Most
people on the planet lack this too, so don't feel too bad about it.

Just why Sanseido's 大辞林 (which is what Yahoo et al. have online) persist
with those POS tags, which are pretty irrelevant to even most Japanese users, is
one of those mysteries.

I think it's probably best to regard ワ五 as an arcane way of saying
"godan verb ending
in う". (What I label "v5u in JMdict.)  The "ハ四" means it is/was related to the
yodan equivalent verb.

Good luck with classical Japanese.

Jim

-- 
Jim Breen
Adjunct Snr Research Fellow, Clayton School of IT, Monash University
Webmaster: Hawthorn Rowing Club, Treasurer: Japanese Studies Centre
Graduate student: Language Technology Group, University of Melbourne