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

[Jim Breen <jimbreen@example.com>]

2012/4/11 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.

If you want to read up a little on this I recommend
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E6%AE%B5%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8
(esp. the ワ行 rows at the bottom of the table.)

Then you can go on to
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%9B%E6%AE%B5%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8
for the ハ行 row.   8-)}

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