Lexical non-correspondence in Japanese and English : Adjectives

Abstract

It has long been recognized that simple translation on a one-to-one basis is an insufficient way to describe the way any given language stands in relation to any other given language. Any two languages, whether they closely related with-in a language family (e.g. Italian and Spanish) or whether they are from completely different language families (e.g. French and Japanese) will differ in a large number of ways, from phonology and speech timing to grammar and vocabulary and in other ways connected to culture, worldview and pragmatics. This paper takes two languages, English and Japanese and one word class, adjectives and examines some common areas of non-correspondence across the two languages, illustrating the wide range of differentials that may pertain when comparing the lexis of one language to that of another. The paper outlines differences of coverage, where a single item in one language has a number of words covering a similar meaning in the other language. The paper also refers to pragmatic differences, examines issues of usage, grammar and collocation that reveal the multidimensional nature of language in use and highlights the challenges facing language learners, and their teachers, when going beyond rudimentary accounts of any particular language item.