Japanese Mental Predicate 'See' In Kanji 見るMiru,観るMiru, 視るMiru, 看るMiru: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach.
PUBLISHED BY:
ENGLISH DEPARMENT . FACULTY OFARTS . UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
LINGUAL: Journal of Language and Culture
Volume 2, Number 3; November 2074; ISSN: 2085-7373
Editor-in-Chief
Prof.
Dr.I Nengah Sudipa, M. A.
Associate Editor & Typesetter
Gede Primahadi Wijaya R., M. Hum.
Editorial Members
A.
I Gusti Ngurah Parthama, M. Hum.
Dr. Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati, M.
Reviewers
Prof. Dr. I Gusti Made Sutjaja, M.
Universitqs
A.
Udayana
Udayana
Prof. Dr. Made Budiarsa, M.
Universitas
Udayana
Dr. Ni Luh Nyoman Seri Malini, M.Hum.
Prof. I Ketut Artawa, M. A., Ph. D.
Uniyersitas Udayana
Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Putra Yadnya, M.
Universitas
Dr. Ida Ayu Made Puspani, M. Hum.
A.
Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha, M. A.
Uniyersitas Udayana
A.
I Wayan Arka, Ph. D.
Universitas Udayana
& Australian National University (ANU)
Prof. I Made Suastra, Ph. D.
Universitas Udayana
Administrative Staff
I Wayan Karsana
Editorial and Administrastive Address
English Department, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University,
Jalan Pulau Mcg No. 13 Sanglah, Denpasar, 80114.
Phone/fax: 62-36 1-2 574 1 5, e-mail: sasingunud@ gmail. com
TenrE op CoTTENTS
Editorial
Contents
.......................
Table of
i
..........................iii
Meaning in A Bilingual Child Language: A Semantic View
Ni Luh Putu 5ri,4D
y,4N1........
...........................1
The Mapping of Emotions in Kidung Pujadharma Ratri Cedana
Ni Komang Lilik Anxusuue
A Glimpse on English and Indonesian Verbal Group: A
I
Gede
.............................8
SFL Perspective
Bwase
...........................13
Micro Linguistic View on the Problems of Translation
I Made Sena
D,q.RuesnrNAwAN........
...............24
TWIS vs. SI,RAI A Natura] Semantic Metalanguage Approach
W. A. Sindhu
GrceNeNne...
.............................29
The Medical Concept of Damage and Its Indonesian Equivalent Cedera: A
Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach
I Gusti Agung
Sri
Rwa
Jevevnt'tt......
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See' in KanjiF, 6 miru, ffi,6
E 6 *iru, A Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach
Ketut Widya PunNewan....
.............35
*irr,
1F-6 miru,
..............................45
Applicative Constructions in Javanese
Yana
Qou,+naNA...................
............................53
Sanskrit as a Vehicle for the Emergence of India-Indonesia Cultural Relationship
I. B. Putu
5u,cMne..........
.............61
Spoken Bahasa Indonesia by German Students
I Nengah
5wrpa............
.............71
The Meaning of "To Bring" in Ciacia Language: Natural
Semantics
Metalanguage
La
Yeru..........
...............................83
llI
JereNusr MrNrar PnEorcATE'SEE' rN
xaryIE, 6 wnu,ffi,a MrRU,+fl6 MTRU,E 6 MrRU: A
NeruRer SrmeNrlc MgTILANGUAcE AppRoACH
Ketut Widya PunNewarI
Fakultas Sastra & Budaya, Unitersitas Udayana
wirl)'aPurnat'ati(Ogma il com
Abstract
The semantic prime SEE in English is known as MIR|I inJapanese, which is written as E 6
in Japanese kanji and kana. Miru as a verb, however, is not written only in one way as
mentioned above, but may also be written in some different ways by using different kanji
followed by kana as okurigana, such as ?E6miru, EE6 miru, and Edmiru. In general, these
kanji denote semantic prime SEE or MIRU in Japanese. However, actually, each of this kanji
has their particular meaning as well. This paper is aimed at defining the differences between
those MIRU verbs in Japanese. MIRU as a semantic prime belongs to the group of Japanese
Mental Predicate. The approach used in this paper was the Natural Semantic Metalanguage,
first proposed by Anna Wierzbicka in 1972 and developed greatly until today.
Key'words: Mental predicate MIRU, Natural Semantic Metalanguage, Japanese, kanji
I
INTRODUCTION
Japanese has a large number and meaning of complex vocabulary.
Indonesian Japanese learner usually perceived that some Japanese words have
the same meaning when it is translated into Indonesian, though actually they
have different meaning. Those words couldn't be used properly before
understanding their exact meaning. In order to use it correctly, the meaning of
each word must be explained in detail.
Besides being perceived as having the same meaning in Indonesian, some
words sometime also have a same sound and same letter when they are written
in kana.In fact, those words will have different symbol when being written in
kanii. This difference makes the meaning of these words become different. The
usage of kanji in written language at one side is a big problem for the learners,
but on the other side it also give us an advantage in order to understand the
context of the text. Some kanji rrray have the same way of reading with similar
meaning, but the usage depends on the context of the sentence. One of the verbs
in Japanese that shows such phenomenon is verb MIRU'see'.
As stated by Givon (2001), verbs can be divided into three classifications,
namely state verb, process verb and action verb. In Natural Semantic
Metalanguage, state verbs are realized into mental predicate. Hasada (2008) via
Goddard (2010) stated that the Japanese mental predicate consist of OMOU
'think', SHIRU 'know', HOSHII/ -TAI/NOZOMU 'want', KAN}IRU 'feel', MIRLI
'see', and KIKU'hear'.
Lingual: Journal of Language & Culture (Volume 2, No. 3, Notember 2014)
English Department, Faculty ofArts, Udayana
University
15
46
| r"tut.,r,'iava purnawati
Lingual (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
In Japanese, there are some verbs that consist of semantic prime MIRU
'see', but written in
different kanji such as R.b miru
ffi,bmiruifl.dmiruEbmiru. Although written in different kanji, those four
verbs are red as miru. The most common verb which found in daily life is the
verb that written in kanjifl"dmiru. So, we can say this kanji represent the
semantic prime MIRU 'see'. If this kanji represent the semantic prime MIRU
'see', then what is the meaning of others kanji which has the same sound
with
kanji-E 5 miru. This paper tries to explain the differences between these four
kanji, which have the same sound but different usage. The analysis will
implement the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage.
II
2.7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
NATURAL SErraaNrrc METALANGUAGE (NSM)
The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is a theory proposed by Anna
wierzbicka. This theory was started by investigating semantic primes or
semantic primitives empirically through trial and error method. Then the
finding was published in a book entitled Semantic Primitives in t972 (Mulyadi
dan Siregar:2006).
The system has been developed and refined over some 35 years. This
theory is a decompositional system of meaning representation based on
empirically established universal semantic primes, i.e., simple indefinable
meanings that appear to be presented as word meanings in all languages
(wierzbicka 1996; Goddard tgg8; Goddard and wierzbicka 2002; peeteri zo-oo;
Goddard 2008) in Goddard (2010)
A distinctive aspect of the NSM approach is the close attention it pays to
the metaterminology of grammatical description, and in particular the need to
achieve greater clarity and greater consensus about the meaning and
operational criteria for grammatical terms such as "agent", "dative", "causative",
"relative clause", "adverbial clause", and so on. (Goddard: 2010)
There are two concepts according to NSM theory used in this paper to
analyze the verb miru'see'. Those concepts are semantic primes or semantic
primitives and the concept of explication.
Semantic primes are the elements to be used to define the meaning of
words. It exists as the meanings of lexical units, not at the level of lexemes. the
exponents of primes can be formally complex. They are simple and intuitively
intelligible meanings grounded in ordinary linguistic experience (Goddard, 201d:
462-463). The number of semantic primes in the beginning was only 14, but later
in 1996 according to wierzbicka (1996) the number was 61, and then it increased
to 62 (Goddard and wierzbicka,2o0T). Recently it has reached 64 in total. The
complete semantic primes can be seen
Wierzbicka 2014).
in the table below (Goddard
&
Japanese Mental Predicate'See'
Table
1 Semantic
inKanjiF-6miru,@,6miru,lt6miru,Ebmirul 47
primes (English exponents) (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014; Wierzbicka
2014)
Substantives:
Relational
substantives:
I, YOU, SOMEONE, PEOPLE, SOMETHING'THING, BODY
KIND, PART
Determiners:
THIS, THE SAME, OTHER-ELSE
Quantifiers:
ONE, TWO, SOME, ALL, MUCH-MANY, LITTLE-FEW
Evaluators:
GOOD, BAD
Descriptors:
BIG, SMALL
Mental
predicates:
THINK, KNOW, WANT, FEEL,
SEE,
HEAR
Speech:
SAY, WORDS, TRUE
Actions, events,
movement:
DO, HAPPEN, MOVE
Location, existence,
specification:
BE (SOMEV/HERE),THERE IS, BE
Possession
(SOMETHTNG) rS (SOMEONE'S)
Life and death:
LIVE, DIE
Time:
WHEN-TIME, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME,
A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, MOMENT
Space:
WHERE-PLACE, HERE, ABOVE, BELOW, FAR, NEAR,
SIDE,INSIDE, TOUCH
Logical
concepts:
Intensifier,
Similarity:
augmentor:
(sot\{EoNE/SoMETHTNG)
NOT, MAYBE, CAN, BECAUSE,IF
VERY, MORE
LIKE.-AS-WAY
Semantic explications are paraphrase of an explanation about a word
written in the metalanguage of simple and universal semantic primes. They are
essentially "texts" composed in a specific subset of ordinary language. An
explication is a prime concept that explains a non-prime concept. There is an
example of explication about amae'apeculiarlyJapanese emotion'adapted from
Wierzbicka (1998) taken from (http://www.griffith.edu.auihumanitieslanguage s/school-languages-linguistics/research/natural-semantic-
metalanguage-homepage/semantic-explications)
Someone X feels amae (towards Y) at this time:
Someone X thinks like this at this time (about someone Y)
This someone can do good things for me
48 | r.trt
widya purnawati
Lingual (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
This someone wants to do good things for me
When I am with this someone, nothing bad can happen to me
I want to be with this someone
Because of this, this someone feels something good at this time
Like someone can feel when they think like this
2.2
THEJAPANESE MENTAL PREDICATE
46
MIRU.SEE,
Hasada (2008) via Goddard (2010) stated that the Japanese mental predicate
consist of oMou 'think', iHIRU 'know', HosHII/ -TAI/NozoMU 'want',
KAN1IRU 'feel', MIRTJ 'see', and KIKU 'hear'. In Modern Kanji Dictionary
(Nelson, 2002) there are some verbs which is written in different ianji but they
have MIRU 'see' as their semantic prime. Those verbs are F-bmiru, ER,6miru,
iilbmiru,Ehmiruand each of them has different meaning and usage, though
their semantic prime is MIRIJ'see'. Each of them was built from kanji E me,
meaning 'eye'. This shows thatE me'eye'plays an important role in building
the meaning of MIRU-'see'. It is quiet acceptable since we "see" using our ""y"rl
so that some kanji which has 'see' as its semantic prime can be built using kanji
E
H me eye.
These verbs can further be combined with another kanji creating other
new words with additional meaning but they still has 'see' as its semantic prime.
This paper however is not going to make an explication for each of this kanji,
but will only discuss and make explication for the four verbs, which has the
same sound but different kanji to find out the differences between them.
Before making an explication for each of this kanji, we need to make a
mapping for these kanji. As we know, kanjiE,6 mirubrings the semantic prime
MIRU, so this kanji is the core meaning of others kanji. Then, the mappirg
be designed as follows.
"un
R,6 ama
F-6 ruruu
The kanji of this verb represent the semantic primes MIRU 'see' in
2.2.1VERB
kanji can be combined with another kanji and form a new word
with another additional meaning according to the kanji that attached to stem
.F.ml. Some verbs that was formed from this kanji are F,@tmimawasu,look
around', -Bt!6 miyaru 'look afar'. -BEHr:,t miharasu'overlook',
-F,tE6
miharu 'watch'. FlEtmiwatasu '. fr,ZA mieru ,look over,,
Japanese. This
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See'
inKaqiF-6
miru,
&,4 miru.li4 mLruE
-:
-,-- {9
R.+6mimamoru'watch'. -EE6 mimawaru'patrol'. As the basic form oi
these kanji, we need to overlook the explication of verbB 6miru.
ishii (2003) stated that kanji F,6 miru made from kanji E me'eye'and ,A.
hito'people' and the meaning of this kanji is "people see something with his/her
eyes". Before we explicate this verb, we should see the sentence whichB,6miru
stand as its predicate. The sentences taken from https://kotobankjp/word/ are
as follows:
(2-1) T.arNt H6.
Mado no
soto
o
window GEN outside ACCU
'(I) see outside the window.'
(2-2)
mtu
see
7 vet H6"
Terebi o
miru
TV ACCU see
'(I) watch television.'
Though-F,6 miru in sentence (2-2) is translated as watch, but this verb
only brings semantic prime MIRU'see'. It means that we do not have to make
an explication for this kanji. The combinatorial possibility for semantic prime
SEE according to NSM grammar, which cited from the NSM chart taken from
www.griffith.edu.au data assets pdf file 0005 636890 NSM-Chart-2014, can
be seen as follows.
SEE
someone sees someone/something (in a place)
people can/can't see well in this place
someone/people can/can't see this something
2.2.2Y8nl8ffi,6 mnu
The next verb isEE6 miru'see'. This kanji can be combined with another
kanji to make new words such as EBHf bkansatsu suru'watch, observation',
EBrEIq 6 kansoku suru'observation'. As stated by Ishii (2003), this kanji consist
of three parts which represents ,* tori 'bird', *[ 6 shiru 'know', and R.6 miru
'see'and the relation of the tree is like this :We "see" to "know" the "bird" well.
This kanji also means 'seeing carefully for the detailed' or'seeing eagerly'. For a
better explanation, we will see the usage example of the kanji
https ://kotobank jp/word/
(2-3)
tx
Sakura
L
o
ffi.
[.
1T1"
mi
ni
iku
to
go
PLANT NAME ACCU watch
'(I) go to observe Sakura.'
50 f.t"r
\\'idva purnawati
(2-4)
trE 6: ffi.6"
Shibai o
miru
Drama ACCU see
Lingual Uol.2: No.3,
20 14)
'(I) watch drama.'
Besides MIRU 'see', this kanji also bring mental predicate iHIRU'know, as its
semantic pdme. According to the explanation above, we may conclude the
meaning of this word by an explication as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
someone knows many things about
when this someone do this, this
someone/something
2.2.3 VERB
4F,6mnu
VerbiE6 miru can also build another word when it combines with another
kanji. For example, il+Et6 junsht suru 'patrol,, +R*t6shisatsu suru
meaning 'inspection, visitation', tr+nt bkanshi suru ,watch, observation,
surveillance'. Ishii (2003) stated that the meaning of this kanji is .,seeing
carefully". The usage of this kanji can be seen in the ixample below.
(2-s)
K.
Mado
a
+
L
no
soto o
GEN outside ACCU
Window
'(I) see outside the window carefully.'
(2-6)
r?,a"
miru
see
Hfr1Ub+R6.
Choukan
o
miru
Morning paper ACCU miru
'(I) see morning paper carefully.'
This kanji also brings semantic prime iHIRU'know' beside MIRU'see'. The
explication of this verb can be stated as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
when this someone do this, this someone know some things about
someone/something
2.2.4VErcBEb mnu
This kanji can be combined with kanji Wbtoru 'take, and formed word
like EHrf 6 kanshu suru 'see and understand'. This kanji built from the
combination of kanji F te'hand'and E me'eye,. The meaning of this kanji is
"putting the hand above the eye, in order to see something
clearly, see
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See'
rnKuiiR-4
miru, H7s miru,l:L4 mtru.E ;-
-,-
51
carefully". Some examples using this kanji in the sentence as seen belou- are
taken from https://kotobank.iplword/.
:-7)
+nxLE" 6
o
mtu
ACCU see
Jimu
office work
'(I)
see office
work carefully.'
(2-8) +l*Dd)LD ) tE6.
Kodomo no mendou o miru
'(I)
see the
children in order to take care of them.'
According to the explanation about this kanji, the verb miru which represents
kanjiE5 miru canbe explicated as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
This someone wants to do good things for someone/something
When this someone do this, maybe nothing bad happen
to
someone/something
This explication shows that kanji
semantic prime of events.
III
E 6 miru
also has OKIRU 'happen'as Japanese
CONCLUSION
There are many verbs in Japanese language, which have MIR'tl'see' as
their semantic prime. In this paper there were only four verbs that have been
discussed. Those are R.6miru, *Rbmiru, ?R,6miru, E6miru. Among these
four verbs, the kanji that represents the semantic prime MIRU is R"6miru.
Other kanji bring the semantic prime MIRU'see' and another meaning as well.
Both EE,6 miru and lR6miru also bring semantic prime of mental predicate
SH/RU 'know' beside MIRU 'see', while E 6 shiru only has MIRU 'see' and
semantic prime of events OKIRU'happen'. Further research is required to find
out the explication of other verbs in Japanese language built from semantic
prime MIRU ' see' . The research of verbs which contain MIRU will make Japanese
learner easily understand the meaning and the differences of those words, which
later enable them to use the verb correctly according to the context of the
sentence.
REFERENCES
Goddard, Cliff. 2010. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach. In Bernd
Heine and Heiko Narrog (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic
Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 459-484. Retrieved from
www.griffith.edu.au data assets pdf file 0006 419064 Goddard 201
0 OUP Handbook Ch18 on lZNovember
2014.
52 | x.t"t
wiaya Purnawati
Goddard,
Linguat (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
cliff & Anna wierzbicka.
from
2014. Proposed Semantic primes. Retrieved
http:/hvrvw.griffith.edu.au/humanities-languages/schoollanguages-linguistics/research/natural-semantic-metalanguagehomepage/what-is-nsm/semantic-primes on 12 November 2014.
Ishii, Isao. 2003. Tanoshii Kanji Kyoushitsu. Japan: Gyousei
Kabushikigaisha.
Mulyadi dan Rumnasari K. siregar. 2006. Aplikasi
reori
Dejitaru
Metabahasa Makna
Alami dalam Kajian Makna. Dalam Logat Jurnal llmiah Bahasa Dan
Sastra Volume
II
No. 2 Oktober Tahun 2006lJniversitas Sumatera Utara.
Retrieved
from
http:/irepository.usu.ac.idlbitstream/123456789/16657/t/log-oktZOO62%20(4).pdf on 7 November 2014.
Nelson, Andrew N. 2002. Kamus Kanji Modern. Jakarta: Kesaint Blanc.
wierzbicka, Anna. 1996. semantic Primes and (Jniversals. New York: oxford
69-75.
University Press.
https ://kotobank
jplword/.
ENGLISH DEPARMENT . FACULTY OFARTS . UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
LINGUAL: Journal of Language and Culture
Volume 2, Number 3; November 2074; ISSN: 2085-7373
Editor-in-Chief
Prof.
Dr.I Nengah Sudipa, M. A.
Associate Editor & Typesetter
Gede Primahadi Wijaya R., M. Hum.
Editorial Members
A.
I Gusti Ngurah Parthama, M. Hum.
Dr. Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati, M.
Reviewers
Prof. Dr. I Gusti Made Sutjaja, M.
Universitqs
A.
Udayana
Udayana
Prof. Dr. Made Budiarsa, M.
Universitas
Udayana
Dr. Ni Luh Nyoman Seri Malini, M.Hum.
Prof. I Ketut Artawa, M. A., Ph. D.
Uniyersitas Udayana
Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Putra Yadnya, M.
Universitas
Dr. Ida Ayu Made Puspani, M. Hum.
A.
Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati Beratha, M. A.
Uniyersitas Udayana
A.
I Wayan Arka, Ph. D.
Universitas Udayana
& Australian National University (ANU)
Prof. I Made Suastra, Ph. D.
Universitas Udayana
Administrative Staff
I Wayan Karsana
Editorial and Administrastive Address
English Department, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University,
Jalan Pulau Mcg No. 13 Sanglah, Denpasar, 80114.
Phone/fax: 62-36 1-2 574 1 5, e-mail: sasingunud@ gmail. com
TenrE op CoTTENTS
Editorial
Contents
.......................
Table of
i
..........................iii
Meaning in A Bilingual Child Language: A Semantic View
Ni Luh Putu 5ri,4D
y,4N1........
...........................1
The Mapping of Emotions in Kidung Pujadharma Ratri Cedana
Ni Komang Lilik Anxusuue
A Glimpse on English and Indonesian Verbal Group: A
I
Gede
.............................8
SFL Perspective
Bwase
...........................13
Micro Linguistic View on the Problems of Translation
I Made Sena
D,q.RuesnrNAwAN........
...............24
TWIS vs. SI,RAI A Natura] Semantic Metalanguage Approach
W. A. Sindhu
GrceNeNne...
.............................29
The Medical Concept of Damage and Its Indonesian Equivalent Cedera: A
Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach
I Gusti Agung
Sri
Rwa
Jevevnt'tt......
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See' in KanjiF, 6 miru, ffi,6
E 6 *iru, A Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach
Ketut Widya PunNewan....
.............35
*irr,
1F-6 miru,
..............................45
Applicative Constructions in Javanese
Yana
Qou,+naNA...................
............................53
Sanskrit as a Vehicle for the Emergence of India-Indonesia Cultural Relationship
I. B. Putu
5u,cMne..........
.............61
Spoken Bahasa Indonesia by German Students
I Nengah
5wrpa............
.............71
The Meaning of "To Bring" in Ciacia Language: Natural
Semantics
Metalanguage
La
Yeru..........
...............................83
llI
JereNusr MrNrar PnEorcATE'SEE' rN
xaryIE, 6 wnu,ffi,a MrRU,+fl6 MTRU,E 6 MrRU: A
NeruRer SrmeNrlc MgTILANGUAcE AppRoACH
Ketut Widya PunNewarI
Fakultas Sastra & Budaya, Unitersitas Udayana
wirl)'aPurnat'ati(Ogma il com
Abstract
The semantic prime SEE in English is known as MIR|I inJapanese, which is written as E 6
in Japanese kanji and kana. Miru as a verb, however, is not written only in one way as
mentioned above, but may also be written in some different ways by using different kanji
followed by kana as okurigana, such as ?E6miru, EE6 miru, and Edmiru. In general, these
kanji denote semantic prime SEE or MIRU in Japanese. However, actually, each of this kanji
has their particular meaning as well. This paper is aimed at defining the differences between
those MIRU verbs in Japanese. MIRU as a semantic prime belongs to the group of Japanese
Mental Predicate. The approach used in this paper was the Natural Semantic Metalanguage,
first proposed by Anna Wierzbicka in 1972 and developed greatly until today.
Key'words: Mental predicate MIRU, Natural Semantic Metalanguage, Japanese, kanji
I
INTRODUCTION
Japanese has a large number and meaning of complex vocabulary.
Indonesian Japanese learner usually perceived that some Japanese words have
the same meaning when it is translated into Indonesian, though actually they
have different meaning. Those words couldn't be used properly before
understanding their exact meaning. In order to use it correctly, the meaning of
each word must be explained in detail.
Besides being perceived as having the same meaning in Indonesian, some
words sometime also have a same sound and same letter when they are written
in kana.In fact, those words will have different symbol when being written in
kanii. This difference makes the meaning of these words become different. The
usage of kanji in written language at one side is a big problem for the learners,
but on the other side it also give us an advantage in order to understand the
context of the text. Some kanji rrray have the same way of reading with similar
meaning, but the usage depends on the context of the sentence. One of the verbs
in Japanese that shows such phenomenon is verb MIRU'see'.
As stated by Givon (2001), verbs can be divided into three classifications,
namely state verb, process verb and action verb. In Natural Semantic
Metalanguage, state verbs are realized into mental predicate. Hasada (2008) via
Goddard (2010) stated that the Japanese mental predicate consist of OMOU
'think', SHIRU 'know', HOSHII/ -TAI/NOZOMU 'want', KAN}IRU 'feel', MIRLI
'see', and KIKU'hear'.
Lingual: Journal of Language & Culture (Volume 2, No. 3, Notember 2014)
English Department, Faculty ofArts, Udayana
University
15
46
| r"tut.,r,'iava purnawati
Lingual (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
In Japanese, there are some verbs that consist of semantic prime MIRU
'see', but written in
different kanji such as R.b miru
ffi,bmiruifl.dmiruEbmiru. Although written in different kanji, those four
verbs are red as miru. The most common verb which found in daily life is the
verb that written in kanjifl"dmiru. So, we can say this kanji represent the
semantic prime MIRU 'see'. If this kanji represent the semantic prime MIRU
'see', then what is the meaning of others kanji which has the same sound
with
kanji-E 5 miru. This paper tries to explain the differences between these four
kanji, which have the same sound but different usage. The analysis will
implement the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage.
II
2.7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
NATURAL SErraaNrrc METALANGUAGE (NSM)
The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is a theory proposed by Anna
wierzbicka. This theory was started by investigating semantic primes or
semantic primitives empirically through trial and error method. Then the
finding was published in a book entitled Semantic Primitives in t972 (Mulyadi
dan Siregar:2006).
The system has been developed and refined over some 35 years. This
theory is a decompositional system of meaning representation based on
empirically established universal semantic primes, i.e., simple indefinable
meanings that appear to be presented as word meanings in all languages
(wierzbicka 1996; Goddard tgg8; Goddard and wierzbicka 2002; peeteri zo-oo;
Goddard 2008) in Goddard (2010)
A distinctive aspect of the NSM approach is the close attention it pays to
the metaterminology of grammatical description, and in particular the need to
achieve greater clarity and greater consensus about the meaning and
operational criteria for grammatical terms such as "agent", "dative", "causative",
"relative clause", "adverbial clause", and so on. (Goddard: 2010)
There are two concepts according to NSM theory used in this paper to
analyze the verb miru'see'. Those concepts are semantic primes or semantic
primitives and the concept of explication.
Semantic primes are the elements to be used to define the meaning of
words. It exists as the meanings of lexical units, not at the level of lexemes. the
exponents of primes can be formally complex. They are simple and intuitively
intelligible meanings grounded in ordinary linguistic experience (Goddard, 201d:
462-463). The number of semantic primes in the beginning was only 14, but later
in 1996 according to wierzbicka (1996) the number was 61, and then it increased
to 62 (Goddard and wierzbicka,2o0T). Recently it has reached 64 in total. The
complete semantic primes can be seen
Wierzbicka 2014).
in the table below (Goddard
&
Japanese Mental Predicate'See'
Table
1 Semantic
inKanjiF-6miru,@,6miru,lt6miru,Ebmirul 47
primes (English exponents) (Goddard & Wierzbicka 2014; Wierzbicka
2014)
Substantives:
Relational
substantives:
I, YOU, SOMEONE, PEOPLE, SOMETHING'THING, BODY
KIND, PART
Determiners:
THIS, THE SAME, OTHER-ELSE
Quantifiers:
ONE, TWO, SOME, ALL, MUCH-MANY, LITTLE-FEW
Evaluators:
GOOD, BAD
Descriptors:
BIG, SMALL
Mental
predicates:
THINK, KNOW, WANT, FEEL,
SEE,
HEAR
Speech:
SAY, WORDS, TRUE
Actions, events,
movement:
DO, HAPPEN, MOVE
Location, existence,
specification:
BE (SOMEV/HERE),THERE IS, BE
Possession
(SOMETHTNG) rS (SOMEONE'S)
Life and death:
LIVE, DIE
Time:
WHEN-TIME, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME,
A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, MOMENT
Space:
WHERE-PLACE, HERE, ABOVE, BELOW, FAR, NEAR,
SIDE,INSIDE, TOUCH
Logical
concepts:
Intensifier,
Similarity:
augmentor:
(sot\{EoNE/SoMETHTNG)
NOT, MAYBE, CAN, BECAUSE,IF
VERY, MORE
LIKE.-AS-WAY
Semantic explications are paraphrase of an explanation about a word
written in the metalanguage of simple and universal semantic primes. They are
essentially "texts" composed in a specific subset of ordinary language. An
explication is a prime concept that explains a non-prime concept. There is an
example of explication about amae'apeculiarlyJapanese emotion'adapted from
Wierzbicka (1998) taken from (http://www.griffith.edu.auihumanitieslanguage s/school-languages-linguistics/research/natural-semantic-
metalanguage-homepage/semantic-explications)
Someone X feels amae (towards Y) at this time:
Someone X thinks like this at this time (about someone Y)
This someone can do good things for me
48 | r.trt
widya purnawati
Lingual (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
This someone wants to do good things for me
When I am with this someone, nothing bad can happen to me
I want to be with this someone
Because of this, this someone feels something good at this time
Like someone can feel when they think like this
2.2
THEJAPANESE MENTAL PREDICATE
46
MIRU.SEE,
Hasada (2008) via Goddard (2010) stated that the Japanese mental predicate
consist of oMou 'think', iHIRU 'know', HosHII/ -TAI/NozoMU 'want',
KAN1IRU 'feel', MIRTJ 'see', and KIKU 'hear'. In Modern Kanji Dictionary
(Nelson, 2002) there are some verbs which is written in different ianji but they
have MIRU 'see' as their semantic prime. Those verbs are F-bmiru, ER,6miru,
iilbmiru,Ehmiruand each of them has different meaning and usage, though
their semantic prime is MIRIJ'see'. Each of them was built from kanji E me,
meaning 'eye'. This shows thatE me'eye'plays an important role in building
the meaning of MIRU-'see'. It is quiet acceptable since we "see" using our ""y"rl
so that some kanji which has 'see' as its semantic prime can be built using kanji
E
H me eye.
These verbs can further be combined with another kanji creating other
new words with additional meaning but they still has 'see' as its semantic prime.
This paper however is not going to make an explication for each of this kanji,
but will only discuss and make explication for the four verbs, which has the
same sound but different kanji to find out the differences between them.
Before making an explication for each of this kanji, we need to make a
mapping for these kanji. As we know, kanjiE,6 mirubrings the semantic prime
MIRU, so this kanji is the core meaning of others kanji. Then, the mappirg
be designed as follows.
"un
R,6 ama
F-6 ruruu
The kanji of this verb represent the semantic primes MIRU 'see' in
2.2.1VERB
kanji can be combined with another kanji and form a new word
with another additional meaning according to the kanji that attached to stem
.F.ml. Some verbs that was formed from this kanji are F,@tmimawasu,look
around', -Bt!6 miyaru 'look afar'. -BEHr:,t miharasu'overlook',
-F,tE6
miharu 'watch'. FlEtmiwatasu '. fr,ZA mieru ,look over,,
Japanese. This
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See'
inKaqiF-6
miru,
&,4 miru.li4 mLruE
-:
-,-- {9
R.+6mimamoru'watch'. -EE6 mimawaru'patrol'. As the basic form oi
these kanji, we need to overlook the explication of verbB 6miru.
ishii (2003) stated that kanji F,6 miru made from kanji E me'eye'and ,A.
hito'people' and the meaning of this kanji is "people see something with his/her
eyes". Before we explicate this verb, we should see the sentence whichB,6miru
stand as its predicate. The sentences taken from https://kotobankjp/word/ are
as follows:
(2-1) T.arNt H6.
Mado no
soto
o
window GEN outside ACCU
'(I) see outside the window.'
(2-2)
mtu
see
7 vet H6"
Terebi o
miru
TV ACCU see
'(I) watch television.'
Though-F,6 miru in sentence (2-2) is translated as watch, but this verb
only brings semantic prime MIRU'see'. It means that we do not have to make
an explication for this kanji. The combinatorial possibility for semantic prime
SEE according to NSM grammar, which cited from the NSM chart taken from
www.griffith.edu.au data assets pdf file 0005 636890 NSM-Chart-2014, can
be seen as follows.
SEE
someone sees someone/something (in a place)
people can/can't see well in this place
someone/people can/can't see this something
2.2.2Y8nl8ffi,6 mnu
The next verb isEE6 miru'see'. This kanji can be combined with another
kanji to make new words such as EBHf bkansatsu suru'watch, observation',
EBrEIq 6 kansoku suru'observation'. As stated by Ishii (2003), this kanji consist
of three parts which represents ,* tori 'bird', *[ 6 shiru 'know', and R.6 miru
'see'and the relation of the tree is like this :We "see" to "know" the "bird" well.
This kanji also means 'seeing carefully for the detailed' or'seeing eagerly'. For a
better explanation, we will see the usage example of the kanji
https ://kotobank jp/word/
(2-3)
tx
Sakura
L
o
ffi.
[.
1T1"
mi
ni
iku
to
go
PLANT NAME ACCU watch
'(I) go to observe Sakura.'
50 f.t"r
\\'idva purnawati
(2-4)
trE 6: ffi.6"
Shibai o
miru
Drama ACCU see
Lingual Uol.2: No.3,
20 14)
'(I) watch drama.'
Besides MIRU 'see', this kanji also bring mental predicate iHIRU'know, as its
semantic pdme. According to the explanation above, we may conclude the
meaning of this word by an explication as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
someone knows many things about
when this someone do this, this
someone/something
2.2.3 VERB
4F,6mnu
VerbiE6 miru can also build another word when it combines with another
kanji. For example, il+Et6 junsht suru 'patrol,, +R*t6shisatsu suru
meaning 'inspection, visitation', tr+nt bkanshi suru ,watch, observation,
surveillance'. Ishii (2003) stated that the meaning of this kanji is .,seeing
carefully". The usage of this kanji can be seen in the ixample below.
(2-s)
K.
Mado
a
+
L
no
soto o
GEN outside ACCU
Window
'(I) see outside the window carefully.'
(2-6)
r?,a"
miru
see
Hfr1Ub+R6.
Choukan
o
miru
Morning paper ACCU miru
'(I) see morning paper carefully.'
This kanji also brings semantic prime iHIRU'know' beside MIRU'see'. The
explication of this verb can be stated as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
when this someone do this, this someone know some things about
someone/something
2.2.4VErcBEb mnu
This kanji can be combined with kanji Wbtoru 'take, and formed word
like EHrf 6 kanshu suru 'see and understand'. This kanji built from the
combination of kanji F te'hand'and E me'eye,. The meaning of this kanji is
"putting the hand above the eye, in order to see something
clearly, see
Japanese Mental Predicate 'See'
rnKuiiR-4
miru, H7s miru,l:L4 mtru.E ;-
-,-
51
carefully". Some examples using this kanji in the sentence as seen belou- are
taken from https://kotobank.iplword/.
:-7)
+nxLE" 6
o
mtu
ACCU see
Jimu
office work
'(I)
see office
work carefully.'
(2-8) +l*Dd)LD ) tE6.
Kodomo no mendou o miru
'(I)
see the
children in order to take care of them.'
According to the explanation about this kanji, the verb miru which represents
kanjiE5 miru canbe explicated as follows.
Someone sees someone/something (in a place) for some time
This someone wants to do good things for someone/something
When this someone do this, maybe nothing bad happen
to
someone/something
This explication shows that kanji
semantic prime of events.
III
E 6 miru
also has OKIRU 'happen'as Japanese
CONCLUSION
There are many verbs in Japanese language, which have MIR'tl'see' as
their semantic prime. In this paper there were only four verbs that have been
discussed. Those are R.6miru, *Rbmiru, ?R,6miru, E6miru. Among these
four verbs, the kanji that represents the semantic prime MIRU is R"6miru.
Other kanji bring the semantic prime MIRU'see' and another meaning as well.
Both EE,6 miru and lR6miru also bring semantic prime of mental predicate
SH/RU 'know' beside MIRU 'see', while E 6 shiru only has MIRU 'see' and
semantic prime of events OKIRU'happen'. Further research is required to find
out the explication of other verbs in Japanese language built from semantic
prime MIRU ' see' . The research of verbs which contain MIRU will make Japanese
learner easily understand the meaning and the differences of those words, which
later enable them to use the verb correctly according to the context of the
sentence.
REFERENCES
Goddard, Cliff. 2010. The Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach. In Bernd
Heine and Heiko Narrog (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic
Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 459-484. Retrieved from
www.griffith.edu.au data assets pdf file 0006 419064 Goddard 201
0 OUP Handbook Ch18 on lZNovember
2014.
52 | x.t"t
wiaya Purnawati
Goddard,
Linguat (Vol.2; No.3, 2014)
cliff & Anna wierzbicka.
from
2014. Proposed Semantic primes. Retrieved
http:/hvrvw.griffith.edu.au/humanities-languages/schoollanguages-linguistics/research/natural-semantic-metalanguagehomepage/what-is-nsm/semantic-primes on 12 November 2014.
Ishii, Isao. 2003. Tanoshii Kanji Kyoushitsu. Japan: Gyousei
Kabushikigaisha.
Mulyadi dan Rumnasari K. siregar. 2006. Aplikasi
reori
Dejitaru
Metabahasa Makna
Alami dalam Kajian Makna. Dalam Logat Jurnal llmiah Bahasa Dan
Sastra Volume
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No. 2 Oktober Tahun 2006lJniversitas Sumatera Utara.
Retrieved
from
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Nelson, Andrew N. 2002. Kamus Kanji Modern. Jakarta: Kesaint Blanc.
wierzbicka, Anna. 1996. semantic Primes and (Jniversals. New York: oxford
69-75.
University Press.
https ://kotobank
jplword/.