“Kanji Vocabulary from the Perspectives of Native Chinese Speakers: Their L1 Knowledge to Be Applied to Kanji Vocabulary Learning”

Society for the Study of Japanese Language and Culture
2015

This paper discusses the rationale that Japanese vocabulary spelled with kanji or Chinese characters (henceforth "kanji vocabulary/words") should be classified based on Ll knowledge of native Chinese speakers oflearners of Japanese (henceforth "NCS") so that such classification will help them better understand and use the kanji words. The classification ofBunkacho (1978), which has widely been recognized and used, is insuf­ ficient for the NCS' use because (1) the kanji vocabulary such as wago or words originat­ ed in Japanese are not included in the analysis and classification, and (2) the classificato­ ry criterion used in Bunkacho (1978) would not be applied for a great number of words which are spelled with one kanji with/without kana accompanied.

This paper proposes a new classificatory criterion based on what degree the NCS could rely on their Ll knowledge and which piece(s) of knowledge Ll could transfer when they understand and/use the kanji vocabulary. The words are classified into the following four groups;

  1. PT words: "Positively Transferrable" words. The NCS could positively rely and apply their Ll knowledge of the words of the same spelling in understanding/using the kanji words.
  2. CT words: "Carefully Transferrable" words. The NCS could rely and apply their Ll knowledge of the words of the same spelling in understanding/using the kanji words while they must be aware that certain features of the words are consciously emphasized and learned.
  3. NT words: "Negatively Transferrable" words. The NCS are not supposed to rely nor apply their L1 knowledge of the words of the same spelling in understanding/using the kanji words since the words of their Ll of the same spelling carry different meanings and usages from those of Japanese.
  4. UT words: "Un-Transferrable" words. The NCS are unable to rely and apply their Ll knowledge of the words of the same spelling since either there are no such words that exist or the kanji is not commonly seen or used in modem Chinese.
  5. The paper concludes with the result of the fourth level of noun classification from the list of the old Japanese Language Proficiency Test and identifies possible future chal­ lenges in analyzing the kanji words besides nouns.

The abstract above is courtesy of the Society for the Study of Japanese Language and Culture.