An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute:
A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/
HTML Version(1997)
[contens]|
[previous]|
[next]
II.2.8 Word List by Semantic Principles
(Source 6, 1964. 362 pages)
This book is a semantic listing of 32,600 words of modern
Japanese. They are classified into four classes, 12
sections, and 798 articles. An index in the order of the
kana syllabary is appended. An asterisk is affixed to
approximately 7,000 words; these are the most frequently used
words according to a survey of the ninety recent magazines
listed in Report 21.
This list was made to serve as fundamental source material
for determining the basic Japanese vocabulary. This list may
also be used as a list of synonyms, for the selection of words
for compositions, and for a contrastive study between languages.
The method of classification applied to this book was
the advanced one which was used in the study of the vocabulary
of women's magazines and cultural reviews made by the Institute
(See p. 27 ff.). It is rather original, different
from the classifications of any other thesaurus in the past.
The outline of the system is as follows:
1. Nouns.
1.1 Abstract
Relations affairs, causes and results, existence, power,
action and change, time, space, form, quantity, etc.
1.2 Human Beings- Subjects of Human Behaviour
oneself and others, men and women, family, class,
professions, society, places of social behaviour,
organizations, bodies, etc.
1.3 Human Behaviour- Spirit and Action
senses and emotions, facial expressions, will, learning,
thinking, meanings, principles, seeing and hearing, language
and communication, creation, culture and life, daily life,
personality and behaviour, friendship and struggle,
control, education and treatment, financial affairs,
industry, household affairs, handicrafts, etc.
1.4 Products and Equipment
goods, materials, clothes, food, residence, receptacles,
cutlery, toys, machines, vehicles, roads and other civil
engineering services, etc.
1.5 Natural Beings and Natural Phenomena
light, color, sound, smell, taste, substance, weather
conditions, change of matter, astronomical and geographical
items, plants, animals, bodies of animals, physiological
phenomena.
2. Verbs
3. Adjectives and Adverbs
These last classes, 2 and 3, were grouped into three
sections, almost the same as the three sections of Class 1:
.1 Abstract Relations, .3 Spirit and Action, .5 Natural
Phenomena.
4. Others
connectives, interjections, words of calling and response.
This study was mainly made by HAYASI Oki.
[contens]|
[previous]|
[next]