Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Journal issue | 59 | 2023
Research Article | The Japanese Pithecanthropus: Interpreting Japanese Unfamiliar Compounds
The Japanese Pithecanthropus: Interpreting Japanese Unfamiliar Compounds
Takao Suzuki’s Model of Conceptual Combination Through kun-Glossing
- Simone dalla Chiesa - Università degli Studi di Milano La Statale, Italia - email
Abstract
With ‘kun-glossing’, I refer to the method of interpreting unfamiliar compounds proposed by Takao Suzuki (1926-2021), a well-known Japanese scholar. Readers assign a semantic gloss to each constituent kanji, combine those meanings into a new, complex concept and attempt to validate the result(s) encyclopedically. In this essay I verify kun-glossing’s processing power by applying it to eleven compounds, beginning with enjin 猿人 (Pithecanthropus). I conclude that this method is only effective in interpreting words that are structured as descriptions, as the neoclassical compounds of science often are, and cannot be considered a universal method to infer the meaning of novel compounds.
Submitted: May 19, 2023 | Accepted: June 20, 2023 | Published Aug. 29, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Takao Suzuki • Kanji • Binomens • Japanese compounds • Conceptual combination • Neoclassical compounds • Compounding • Appositive compounds • Ernst Haeckel • Onomasiological approach
Copyright © 2023 Simone dalla Chiesa. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2023/01/023
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| DC Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
dc.identifier |
ECF_article_13405 |
|
dc.title |
The Japanese Pithecanthropus: Interpreting Japanese Unfamiliar Compounds. Takao Suzuki’s Model of Conceptual Combination Through kun-Glossing |
|
dc.contributor.author |
dalla Chiesa Simone |
|
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari |
|
dc.type |
Research Article |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
|
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-orientale/2023/1/the-japanese-pithecanthropus-interpreting-japanese/ |
|
dc.description.abstract |
With ‘kun-glossing’, I refer to the method of interpreting unfamiliar compounds proposed by Takao Suzuki (1926-2021), a well-known Japanese scholar. Readers assign a semantic gloss to each constituent kanji, combine those meanings into a new, complex concept and attempt to validate the result(s) encyclopedically. In this essay I verify kun-glossing’s processing power by applying it to eleven compounds, beginning with enjin 猿人 (Pithecanthropus). I conclude that this method is only effective in interpreting words that are structured as descriptions, as the neoclassical compounds of science often are, and cannot be considered a universal method to infer the meaning of novel compounds. |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Vol. 59 | June 2023 |
|
dc.issued |
2023-08-29 |
|
dc.dateAccepted |
2023-06-20 |
|
dc.dateSubmitted |
2023-05-19 |
|
dc.identifier.issn |
|
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2385-3042 |
|
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
|
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
|
dc.identifier.doi |
10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2023/01/023 |
|
dc.peer-review |
yes |
|
dc.subject |
Appositive compounds |
|
dc.subject |
Binomens |
|
dc.subject |
Compounding |
|
dc.subject |
Conceptual combination |
|
dc.subject |
Ernst Haeckel |
|
dc.subject |
Japanese compounds |
|
dc.subject |
Kanji |
|
dc.subject |
Neoclassical compounds |
|
dc.subject |
Onomasiological approach |
|
dc.subject |
Takao Suzuki |
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