Language Structure Problems

Japanese

Examine these data and answer the questions that follow:

1. akasa
redness

2. samui
cold

3. omoi
heavy

4. kodomoppoi
childish

5. akai
red

6. omosa
heaviness

7. furusa
oldness

8. kodomoppoisa
childishness

A. What is the process via which Japanese adjectives can be made into nouns?
Compare numbers 1 and 5. Notice what they have in common:
akasa
akai
You might assume that the root of this word is 'aka-', and that when it is used as an adjective there is an -i suffix. When it is used as a noun, there is a -sa suffix. Test your hypothesis by examining numbers 3 and 6, and then 4 and 8.

B. How would you say 'coldness' in Japanese?
Begin with the adjective 'samui'.
Take off the -i suffix and you get
samu-
Add the nominalizing suffix and you get
samusa

C. How would you say 'old' in Japanese?
You are given the word for oldness:
furusa
Take off the nominalizing suffix and you get
furu-
Add the -i adjectival suffix, and you get
furui

D. Is this process inflectional or derivational?
Since this changes the part of speech, it is derivational.