A!S Drabble ~ Linguistic Analysis
“Roy!” Ichiro Masuta looked up sharply as a loud knock and a louder voice sounded at his door. With a bit of a sigh, he closed his organic chemistry textbook and strode over to the door. He quickly undid the lock and pulled it open. “John!”
Ichiro’s eyes widened slightly as he observed his friend standing on the doorstep. He and John rarely spoke face to face, preferring to converse through their letters to one another, and as such it was quite a shock to see him standing there on the night before exams began. The other man looked at him a bit wildly, brandishing a book as Ichiro stepped back to allow him to enter.
“Ichiro, I wonder if I could intrude upon you for a minute. You speak Japanese, don’t you?” Ichiro blinked, wondering when John’s English had lost its accent, and when he had learned to pronounce his name properly. His confusion must have shown, as the other man continued, “Stupid question, I know, but I need your help with a few pronunciations, you see. Masuta, would you mind terribly? And have I got your name right now?”
He pushed the book towards the foreign man, pointing arbitrarily at a section of words which, Ichiro noticed, had been written in the Romanized version of his native tongue. Funny - he hadn’t realized any of his friends took Japanese. For that matter, did the university offer it…?
“Yes, you have it.” Ichiro mumbled absently as he skimmed through the passage in question. It was a basic vocabulary list for all that he could tell. The familiar words felt oddly comforting after hours spent examining and re-examining various reactions. “This is…?”
“For my linguistics class.” John replied as Ichiro wandered back to his chair and sat down. John drew the other chair across the small room and sat directly in front of him. “I had Thomas repeat your name for me a few times, until I figured out that the first a in Masuta is an a, the u is an upsilon, and the second a is a schwa. Ichiro, now that took a little longer, but when I realized that the I wasn’t deleted, just lowered and backed, it became much easier.”
Ichiro blinked at his guest.
“Never mind.” John said, shaking his head and pointing at the page once more. “If you would be so kind as to just read through those for me once, it would help a great deal. I need to hear it a bit so I can tell what’s happened to the language. The pronunciations the book gives are confusing, and somehow I can never say exactly what they seem to be getting at, and I need someone whose sentence formation skills in Japanese far exceed my own. Besides, I’d like to see if your accent has been as affected by the Imitation Theory as mine has.”
Ichiro looked confused for a moment longer, then nodded with a shrug and began to read aloud. John’s pen dashed back and forth across the pages of his freshly opened notebook, scribbling observations here and there.
“Inu-o butta otokonoko-wa watashi-no otooto-da.” Ichiro enunciated slowly and clearly. John waited for a moment, staring intently at him. More than slightly discomforted, the Japanese man decided that perhaps it would be best if he translated as well. “The boy who hit the dog is my brother. John, why am I…?
“Oh, I see! It’s head final because the possessive preceeds the noun, and the language uses SOV word order, right? Where the subject, the boy who hit the dog, comes before the object, your brother, which comes before the verb, is, right?” John repeated aloud. Ichiro nodded. Ignoring the gibberish of the first half of that sentiment, the rest of it had seemed appropriate.
“John, you are studying what?” Masuta asked as he pondered the strange triangular shaped marking with the word “stressed syllables” coupled with the upside down e marked “unstressed syllables”, circled and boxed with the words complimentary distribution written around them.
“At the moment?” The other man replied, glancing from his notes to the other’s somewhat bewildered expression. “Syntax. Its three goals are synonymity, ambiguity, and deviance. Not that you needed to know that. Hn.” He shrugged. “Oh well, I guess I’m flouting the maxim of relevance, but given that the creator of those maxims violated them himself - honestly, “be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)” - who did Grice think he was kidding?”
“As you say, John.” Ichiro responded, offering the book back to its owner without bothering to decipher what had been said. John accepted it gratefully, smiling at the other man, who uncertainly returned the grin.
“All right, well, I’ll be off to study meaning, reference, and truth conditions,” John said as he wandered back to the door. “Nothing quite like considering counterfactual situations and their implications to cheer you, is there? Good luck on your exams!”
Then the door swung closed behind him, leaving Ichiro alone again with his organic chemistry text, wondering what on Earth had happened to the calm man whose letters were so well-written and formed.
Ichiro’s eyes widened slightly as he observed his friend standing on the doorstep. He and John rarely spoke face to face, preferring to converse through their letters to one another, and as such it was quite a shock to see him standing there on the night before exams began. The other man looked at him a bit wildly, brandishing a book as Ichiro stepped back to allow him to enter.
“Ichiro, I wonder if I could intrude upon you for a minute. You speak Japanese, don’t you?” Ichiro blinked, wondering when John’s English had lost its accent, and when he had learned to pronounce his name properly. His confusion must have shown, as the other man continued, “Stupid question, I know, but I need your help with a few pronunciations, you see. Masuta, would you mind terribly? And have I got your name right now?”
He pushed the book towards the foreign man, pointing arbitrarily at a section of words which, Ichiro noticed, had been written in the Romanized version of his native tongue. Funny - he hadn’t realized any of his friends took Japanese. For that matter, did the university offer it…?
“Yes, you have it.” Ichiro mumbled absently as he skimmed through the passage in question. It was a basic vocabulary list for all that he could tell. The familiar words felt oddly comforting after hours spent examining and re-examining various reactions. “This is…?”
“For my linguistics class.” John replied as Ichiro wandered back to his chair and sat down. John drew the other chair across the small room and sat directly in front of him. “I had Thomas repeat your name for me a few times, until I figured out that the first a in Masuta is an a, the u is an upsilon, and the second a is a schwa. Ichiro, now that took a little longer, but when I realized that the I wasn’t deleted, just lowered and backed, it became much easier.”
Ichiro blinked at his guest.
“Never mind.” John said, shaking his head and pointing at the page once more. “If you would be so kind as to just read through those for me once, it would help a great deal. I need to hear it a bit so I can tell what’s happened to the language. The pronunciations the book gives are confusing, and somehow I can never say exactly what they seem to be getting at, and I need someone whose sentence formation skills in Japanese far exceed my own. Besides, I’d like to see if your accent has been as affected by the Imitation Theory as mine has.”
Ichiro looked confused for a moment longer, then nodded with a shrug and began to read aloud. John’s pen dashed back and forth across the pages of his freshly opened notebook, scribbling observations here and there.
“Inu-o butta otokonoko-wa watashi-no otooto-da.” Ichiro enunciated slowly and clearly. John waited for a moment, staring intently at him. More than slightly discomforted, the Japanese man decided that perhaps it would be best if he translated as well. “The boy who hit the dog is my brother. John, why am I…?
“Oh, I see! It’s head final because the possessive preceeds the noun, and the language uses SOV word order, right? Where the subject, the boy who hit the dog, comes before the object, your brother, which comes before the verb, is, right?” John repeated aloud. Ichiro nodded. Ignoring the gibberish of the first half of that sentiment, the rest of it had seemed appropriate.
“John, you are studying what?” Masuta asked as he pondered the strange triangular shaped marking with the word “stressed syllables” coupled with the upside down e marked “unstressed syllables”, circled and boxed with the words complimentary distribution written around them.
“At the moment?” The other man replied, glancing from his notes to the other’s somewhat bewildered expression. “Syntax. Its three goals are synonymity, ambiguity, and deviance. Not that you needed to know that. Hn.” He shrugged. “Oh well, I guess I’m flouting the maxim of relevance, but given that the creator of those maxims violated them himself - honestly, “be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)” - who did Grice think he was kidding?”
“As you say, John.” Ichiro responded, offering the book back to its owner without bothering to decipher what had been said. John accepted it gratefully, smiling at the other man, who uncertainly returned the grin.
“All right, well, I’ll be off to study meaning, reference, and truth conditions,” John said as he wandered back to the door. “Nothing quite like considering counterfactual situations and their implications to cheer you, is there? Good luck on your exams!”
Then the door swung closed behind him, leaving Ichiro alone again with his organic chemistry text, wondering what on Earth had happened to the calm man whose letters were so well-written and formed.