A Contrastive Analysis of English and Japanese Noun Phrase Constructions.

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND JAPANESE
NOUN PHRASE CONSTRUCTIONS

NI KT. ALIT INDRIA SANTI PUTRI
1001305019

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ARTS
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
DENPASAR
2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my great praise to God Almighty Ida Sang
Hyang Widhi Wasa for His blessing that has been given to me during my study to
finish my paper entitled “A Contrastive Analysis of English and Japanese Noun
Phrase Constructions”
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Drs. Ketut Artawa, M.A.,
Ph.D. as my first supervisor and to Dr. Ni LK Mas Indrawati, Dip.TEFL, M.A. as
my second supervisor. Thanks for their patient guidance and kind advice given
during the completion of this paper.

My gratitude also goes to Prof. Dr. Sutjiati Beratha, M.A. as the Dean of the
Faculty of Arts, Udayana University, Dr. Ida Ayu Made Puspani, M.Hum. as the
Head of English Department, Faculty of Art, Udayana University and all members
of the teaching staffs of the English Department who have educated and given me
valuable learning through my academic years.
Furthermore, my deepest gratitude goes to my parents, my brothers, my sisters,
my nephews, and my nieces for their attention, encouragement, and financial
support. Finally many thanks should be given to my friends Umak, Laras, Yuli,
and Dewi. Thank you very much for all of the support and generous assistance
and which have been helpful during the writing of this paper.
Unforgettably, I am also grateful for having such classmates from my friendly
class of the English Department here. Thank you for all those huge, memorable,
and soaring moments.
Last but not least, I hope this paper can make some contribution, particularly for
those who are interested in the study of literature.
Denpasar, June 2016

Ni Ketut Alit Indria Santi Putri

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ABSTRACT
This study deals with the analysis of English and Japanese noun phrase
constructions. English noun phrase is determined by definite and indefinite article,
possessive pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, and zero articles. Noun phrase,
adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, verb phrase and relative clause are the
modifiers of English noun phrase meanwhile Japanese noun phrase has
demonstrative pronoun kono, sono, and ano as the determiners and noun phrase,
adjective phrase, verb phrase, and relative clause as the modifiers.
The aims of this study are to explain English and Japanese hierarchical
structures of noun phrase and analyze the similarities and differences of English
and Japanese noun phrases construction based on the hierarchical structure. The
concept of English noun phrases stated by Burton and the Japanese noun phrase
proposed by Tsujimura were used in this study.
The methods used in this study are descriptive and qualitative method. The
results of the writing can be presented as follow; based on the hierarchical
structure, the similarities of English and Japanese noun phrases are found in terms
of position of head and kinds of constituents which set up the noun phrases.
Morphologically and syntactically, English and Japanese noun phrases are similar
in terms of relative clause, zero order and phrase pronoun. The differences that are

found in English and Japanese noun phrase constructions based on the hierarchical
structure are found in terms of position of head in relative clause as a modifier of
noun phrase. Form of the head noun, types of adjective as the modifier of noun
phrase, case particle, relative pronoun, and article as the basic determiner of noun
phrase are the other terms which differentiate English and Japanese noun phrase
constructions.
Keyword: noun phrase, similarities, differences, hierarchical structure

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................

i

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study ...........................................................................
1.2 Problems of the Study ................................................................................
1.3 Aims of the Study ......................................................................................
1.4 Scope of Discussion ...................................................................................
1.5 Research Method… ...................................................................................
1.5.1 Data Source… ..................................................................................
1.5.2 Method and Technique of Collecting Data ......................................
1.5.3 Method and Technique of Analyzing Data ......................................

1
2
2
2
3
3

3
4

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE, CONCEPTS, AND
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Review of Literature ..................................................................................
5
2.2 Concepts .....................................................................................................
8
2.3 Theoretical Framework ..............................................................................
9
2.3.1 English Noun Phrase ........................................................................
9
2.3.2 Japanese Phrase ................................................................................
16
CHAPTER III THE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND JAPANESE NOUN
PHRASE CONSTRUCTION
3.1 The Hierarchical Structure of Noun Phrase ..............................................
26
3.1.1 The Hierarchical Structure of English Noun Phrase ........................

26
3.1.2 The Hierarchical Structure of Japanese Noun Phrase ......................
34
3.2 The Similarities and Differences of English and Japanese Noun Phrase
Constructions Based on the Hierarchical Structure ..................................
39
3.2.1 The Similarities ................................................................................
40
3.2.2 The Differences ................................................................................
46
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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