Kokugo Dictionaries as Tools for Learners: Problems and Potential

For second-language learners, monolingual dictionaries can be useful tools because they often provide more detailed explanations of meanings and more extensive vocabulary coverage than bilingual dictionaries do. While learners of English have access to many monolingual dictionaries designed specifically to meet their needs, learners of Japanese must make do with Kokugo dictionaries, that is, monolingual dictionaries intended for native Japanese speakers. This paper, after briefly describing Kokugo dictionaries in general, analyzes a typical entry from such a dictionary to illustrate the advantages and challenges of the use of Kokugo dictionaries by learners of Japanese.

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Second language learners’ production of geminate consonants in Japanese

10.1093/oso/9780198754930.003.0008 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Yukari Hirata

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Study Abroad ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Intermediate Level ◽

Specific Training ◽

Native Japanese Speakers ◽

Before And After ◽

The Usa ◽

Production Accuracy

This chapter examines whether learners of Japanese at an intermediate level make progress in accurately producing singleton and geminate stops after being immersed in Japan without specific training. Seven learners of Japanese, with two years of classroom instruction in the USA, recorded words such as [kako] and [kakːo] in a carrier sentence at three speaking rates before and after a four-month study-abroad experience in Japan. Duration of various segments was analysed, and the singleton and geminate boundary ratio of native Japanese speakers was used to determine learners’ production accuracy. Results indicated that the learners did make a singleton/geminate distinction, but their production accuracy showed limited improvement. The results suggest continuing difficulty in the mastery of native-level durational control.

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The use of case marking for predictive processing in second language Japanese

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728914000881 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 19-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

SANAKO MITSUGI ◽

BRIAN MACWHINNEY

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Predictive Processing ◽

Visual World Paradigm ◽

Native Japanese Speakers ◽

Online Processing ◽

Case Markers ◽

Ditransitive Constructions

Research on processing in English has shown that verb information facilitates predictive processing. Because Japanese verbs occur at the ends of clauses, this information cannot be used to predict the roles of preceding nominals. Kamide, Altmann and Haywood (2003) showed that native Japanese speakers use case markers to predict forthcoming linguistic items. In the present study, we investigated whether second language learners of Japanese demonstrate such predictive effects when processing sentences containing either the monotransitive or ditransitive constructions. A visual-world paradigm experiment showed that, although native speakers generated predictions for syntactic outcomes, the learners did not. These findings underscore the usefulness of morphosyntactic information in processing Japanese and indicate that learners fail to make full use of case markers to generate expectations regarding syntactic outcomes during online processing. Learners may rely on nonlinguistic information to compensate for this deficit in syntactic processing.

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A linguistically-informed way of introducing Japanese verbs to second language learners

Journal of Japanese Linguistics ◽

10.1515/jjl-2019-2017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 29-72

Author(s):

J.-R. Hayashishita ◽

Daiki Tanaka ◽

Ayumi Ueyama

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Argument Structure ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Innovative Approach ◽

Japanese Language ◽

Reference Book ◽

Japanese Speakers

AbstractThis paper describes how the Japanese speakers’ knowledge is organized in regards to verbs, and proposes a linguistically-informed way of introducing it to second language learners. It is maintained by a number of researchers that each verb is stored with the information of its argument structure in the speaker’s mental lexicon. That is, a given verb is stored with the information of how many arguments it takes and what types of arguments they are. In this paper, capitalizing on this assumption, we will maintain that the knowledge of the native speakers of Japanese is organized in such a way that if a verb gives rise to n-number of different meanings, there are n-number of lexical entries, and each such entry is independently stored with the information concerning the meaning of the verb, the verb arguments and their accompanying particles. After the description of the organization of Japanese speakers’ knowledge in regards to verbs, as an effective way of introducing this to Japanese language learners, the paper proposes the format of an innovative approach to Japanese verbs reference book. This proposed format capitalizes on full sentence definitions in the sense of the Collins Cobuild Dictionary.

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