未然形
Japanese edit
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 未 | 然 | 形 |
| み Grade: 4 |
ぜん Grade: 4 |
けい Grade: 2 |
| goon | kan’on | |
Etymology edit
Compound of 未然 (mizen, literally “not yet occurred”) + 形 (kei, “form”). Historically called 将然言 (shōzengen), 未然段 (mizendan).[1]
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
- (grammar) a Japanese verbal inflectional category: the irrealis form
- Indicates that something has not yet happened, or not yet begun.
Usage notes edit
This term is used in the traditional description of Japanese grammar. In Japanese Educational Grammar (日本語教育文法), this is called the ない形 (-nai kei, “-nai form”) as it is used before the suffix ない (-nai). In the western analysis of Japanese grammar, it is not an inflected form but a derived stem, called for example the "a- stem" in Bjarke Frellesvig's works. Some analyses such as John R. Bentley's A Descriptive Grammar Of Early Old Japanese Prose even do not posit such a stem at all, instead analyzing the a as part of the suffix (e.g. yuk-azu instead of yuka-zu).
Related terms edit
- 已然形 (izenkei, “realis”)
- 仮定形 (kateikei, “conditional”)
- 終止形 (shūshikei, “conclusive”)
- 命令形 (meireikei, “imperative”)
- 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “adverbial”)
- 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive”)
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
- ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990) The languages of Japan, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 221-224