Produced by David Starner, Keith Edkins and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text. Page numbers {99} are those of Spear's
edition and are referenced in the Table of Contents, the Index and the list
of typographical errors. Page numbers (99 relate to the Latin original and
are referenced in the Introduction and Footnotes.
The reproduction of the Latin original _Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_
has been extracted as a separate Project Gutenberg text No. 17713.
Characters that could not be fully rendered in the Latin-1 character set
have been "unpacked" and shown within brackets:
[~e] [~i] [~u] (e, i, u with tilde: ã and õ should display normally)
[vo] [vu] (hacek / caron)
[=o] [=u] (macron)]
* * * * *
DIEGO COLLADO'S
GRAMMAR OF THE
JAPANESE
LANGUAGE
Edited and Translated
by
Richard L. Spear
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, EAST ASIAN SERIES
RESEARCH PUBLICATION, NUMBER NINE
CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN STUDIES.
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.
* * * * *
DEDICATED
TO
THE MEMORY OF
JOSEPH K. YAMAGIWA
* * * * *
Table of Contents
PREFACE
I INTRODUCTION 1
The Grammatical Framework 3
The Phonological System 6
The Morphological System 8
The Structure of Collado's and Rodriguez' Descriptions
Contrasted 11
Bibliography 26
Editorial Conventions 28
II _Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_
III A GRAMMAR OF THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE 105
Prologue to the Reader 107
The noun--Its Declension and its Gender 111
Pronouns 118
First Person Pronouns--Ego, etc. 118
Second Person Pronouns--Tu, tui, tibi, etc. 119
Third Person Pronouns--Ille, illa, illud. 120
Relative Pronouns 122
The Formation of the Verb and its Conjugation 123
The Preterit, Perfect, Imperfect, and Pluperfect 124
The Future of the First Conjugation 125
The Imperative of the First Conjugation 125
The Optative of the First Conjugation 126
The Subjunctive of the First Affirmative Conjugation 127
The Infinitive 129
The First Negative Conjugation 131
The Second Affirmative Conjugation 134
The Second Negative Conjugation 135
The Third Affirmative Conjugation 135
The Third Negative Conjugation 136
The Conjugation of the Negative Substantive Verb 137
The Conditional Particles 139
The Potential Verb 140
The Conjugation of Irregular Verbs 141
The Aforementioned Verbs--Their Formation and Diversity 143
Certain Verbs Which of Themselves Indicate Honor 147
Cautionary Remarks on the Conjugations of the Verb 148
The Adverbs: First Section 156
Adverbs of Place 156
Adverbs of Interrogation and Response 159
Adverbs of Time 159
Adverbs of Negation 160
Adverbs of Affirmation 160
Comparative Adverbs 161
Superlative Adverbs 162
Adverbs of Intensity and Exaggeration 162
Accumulative Adverbs 162
Adverbs that Conclude and Claim Attention 163
The Case Prepositions 164
Conjugation and Separation 166
Interjections 167
The Syntax and the Cases that are Governed by the Verbs 168
Japanese Arithmetic and Numerical Matters Concerning Which
Much Painful Labor Is Required 174
Some Rules on the Conjugation of the Verb in the Written
Language 182
IV WORKS CONSULTED 185
V INDEX TO GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES 187
VI INDEX TO GRAMMATICAL ELEMENTS 189
* * * * *
Preface
The purpose of this translation of Collado's _Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae
Linguae_ of 1632 is to make more readily available to the scholarly
community an annotated version of this significant document in the history
of both Japanese language study and grammatical description in general.
Collado's work, derived in all its significant features from the _Arte da
lingoa de Iapam_ completed in 1608 by João Rodriguez, is in a strict,
scholarly sense less valuable than its precursor. However, if used with the
_Arte_ as a simplified restatement of the basic structure of the language,
Collado's Grammar offers to the student of the Japanese language an
invaluable ancillary tool for the study of the colloquial language of the
early 17th Century.
While less extensive and less carefully edited than the _Arte_, Collado's
Grammar has much to recommend it as a document in the history of
grammatical description. It is an orthodox description attempting to fit
simple Japanese sentences into the framework established for Latin by the
great Spanish humanist Antonio Lebrija. Thus, as an application of
pre-Cartecian grammatical theory to the structure of a non-Indo-European
language, the _Ars Grammaticae_ is an important document worthy of careful
examination by those wishing insight into the origins of what three
centuries later was to become the purview of descriptive linguistics.
The present translation was begun with the able assistance of Ms. Roberta
Galli whose contribution to my understanding of the Latin text is most
gratefully acknowledged. For his continued encouragement in this
undertaking I am grateful to Professor Roy Andrew Miller. Thanks are also
due to the Graduate School of the University of Kansas for its support in
the preparation of the manuscript and to Ms. Sue Schumock whose capable
typing turned a scribbled, multi-lingual draft into a legible manuscript.
The imperfections are my own.
R.L.S.
Lawrence, Kansas
May, 1975
{1}
* * * * *
Introduction
In 1632, as the Christian Century in Japan was drawing swiftly to a close,
three works pertaining to the Japanese language were being published at
Rome by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. These works were
by the Spanish Dominican Father, Diego Collado (d. 1638), who had spent the
years from 1619 to 1622 in Japan. Their publication clearly reflects the
vitality of the missionary spirit in that age as well as the important
place reserved for language study in the propagation of the faith.
The first two works, whose manuscripts had been prepared in Madrid the year
before, were a grammar and a dictionary of Japanese. The third, prepared in
1631, while the larger works were being seen through the press, was a guide
to the taking of confession written in both Latin and Japanese.[1] The
grammar, drafted in Spanish, was published in Latin in 1632 under the title
_Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_. It is this work that is translated
here. The dictionary, only at the last moment supplied with Latin glosses
to supplement those in Spanish, was published in the same year with the
title _Dictionarium sive Thesauri Linguae Iaponicae Compendium_.[2] Taken
together these three works by Collado constitute the final extant efforts
of those who studied the Japanese language first hand during the Christian
Century.[3]
Two other grammatical works must be mentioned here as central to the proper
assessment of Collado's Grammar. They are both by the great Jesuit scholar,
Father João Rodnguez (1561-1634);[4] the _Arte da Lingoa de Iapam_
(Nagasaki, 1604-8, hereafter the _Arte_), and the _Arte Breve da Lingoa
Iapoa_ (Macao, 1620, hereafter _Arte Breve_). The first {2} is by any
standards the greatest grammatical study of Japanese made during the
Christian Century. It is further, as we shall see, the primary source for
Collado's Grammar. The _Arte Breve_, on the other hand, is not directly
related to Collado's work. Indeed it is clear that Rodriguez' 1620 Macao
publication was unknown to Collado. Nevertheless, since the _Arte Breve_ is
an abbreviated version of the _Arte_ with a purpose similar to the _Ars
Grammaticae_, a comparison of these two books with respect to the way they
systematize the material from the _Arte_ is included in this introduction
to contribute some insight into the treatment of the Japanese language at
the beginning of the Tokugawa Period.
In presenting this translation two potential audiences are envisioned. The
first, and more restricted, group is that having an interest in the history
of the Japanese language. It is hoped that an English version of this work
will make more readily available this significant material pertaining to
the Japanese language as spoken in the early modern period. I use the word
significant here to avoid granting excessive value to a work which derives
such a large portion of its material and insight from Rodriguez' _Arte_.
The second, and wider group for whom this translation is intended is that
which has a need for an edited edition of an important document in the
history of grammatical description. In this area of scholarship Collado's
work is of more than moderate significance. It was accepted for publication
by the prestigious Propaganda Press; and, even if those more familiar with
Japanese than the editorial board of that Press might have had serious
reservations concerning the linguistic accuracy of the text, it is
reasonable to assume that the Press judged it to be a good example of
grammatical description. It thus represents a grammar of a non-European
language which suited the requirements of the day for publication at
Rome.[5]
{3}
In order to permit this translation of the _Ars Grammaticae_ to be of use
in both these areas of scholarship I have made an effort to reduce to a
minimum those places where a knowledge of either Japanese or Latin is
required for the comprehension of the translation. It is sincerely hoped
that the result is not an effort that is satisfying to neither, and thus to
no one.
Because of the derivative nature of the text, this translation has put
aside a number of important philological problems as better dealt with
within the context of Rodriguez' grammars. This decision has its most
obvious consequences in the section on the arithmetic, where innumerable
data require exposition. However, since a basic purpose of this translation
is within the context of the history of descriptive grammar, these
tantalizing side roads have been left unexplored. It is, nevertheless,
hoped that this translation will serve as a convenient tool for those
wishing to make a more detailed investigation into the philological
questions raised by the text. But I must caution those who would undertake
such an inquiry that they had best begin with a careful study of the works
of Father Rodriguez.
With its limitations acknowledged, the _Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_
remains a document worthy of our interest, and I offer this translation in
order that Collado's work may more easily find its proper place in the
history of descriptive grammar.
_The Grammatical Framework_
Collado perceived his task to be the presentation of a grammar of Japanese
which would have sufficient scope to equip those dedicated to the
propagation of the faith with a knowledge of the proper spoken language of
his time. While he concludes his grammar with a brief, and rather
presumptuous, statement concerning the written language, his purpose is
clearly to train his students in the fundamentals of colloquial speech. His
sensitivity to this point is demonstrated by his carefully transforming
those examples presented by Rodriguez in the written language in the _Arte_
into correct colloquial expressions in his own grammar.
The description is, of course, prescriptive. But given its age and its
purpose this ought not to be construed in the contemporary, pejorative {4}
sense. Collado, as Rodriguez and indeed all the grammarians of the period,
felt obligated to train their students in those patterns of speech which
were appropriate to the most polite elements of society. Particularly as
they addressed themselves to missionaries, they wished to warn them away
from such illiteracies as might undermine their capacities to propagate the
faith.
The description further reflects the traditional process conceptualization
of language. This is particularly obvious in the treatment of the verb.
Thus:
_Praesens subiunctiui fit ex praesenti indicatiui mutato_ u _in quo
finitur in_ eba.... (The present subjunctive is formed from the present
indicative by changing the _u_ in which it ends to _eba_....) [p. 23].
In general each of the verbal forms is conceived to be the result of a
specified alteration of a basic form. Likewise the nouns are treated within
the framework of the declension of cases.
The treatment of Japanese forms is based upon a semantic framework within
which the formal characteristics of the language are organized. For
example, given the construction _aguru coto aró_ (p. 31) and its gloss
'_Erit hoc quod ist offere: idest offeret_ (It will be that he is to offer,
or he will offer),' it is clear that the _aguru coto_ is classified as an
infinitive because of its semantic equivalence to _offere_. The same is
true of the latter supine. If the form in Latin is closely associated with
such constructions as 'easy to,' or 'difficult to,' the semantically
similar form which appears as the element _iomi_ in _iominicui_ 'difficult
to read,' must be classed as the latter supine. Rodriguez in his _Arte
Breve_ of 1620--unknown to Collado--makes an attempt to classify the
structural units of Japanese along more formal lines; but in Collado's
treatment the semantic, and for him logical and true, classes established
by the formal structure of Latin constitute the theoretical framework
through which the Japanese language is to be described.
Collado makes reference to two specific sources of influence upon his
grammar. The first is included in the title to the first section of the
grammar, Antonius Nebrissensis. It is to this great Spanish humanist, {5}
better known as Antonio Lebrija (1444-1522), that Collado turns for the
model of his description.
An examination of Lebrija's grammar, the _Introductiones Latinae_
(Salamanca, 1481), shows that from the basic outline of his presentation,
to the organization of subsections and the selection of terminology, there
is little departure by Collado from his predecessor.
Even in such stylistic devices as introducing the interrogatives by giving
the form, following it with "to which one responds," and then listing a
number of characteristic answers; Collado is faithful to the
_Introductiones_.
But it is from his Jesuit colleague, Father João Rodriguez, that Collado
receives his most significant influence. There is no section of his grammar
that does not reflect Rodriguez' interpretation of the raw linguistic data
of Japanese. On the basis of the innumerable examples taken from
Rodriguez--most of the substantive sentences are directly quoted from the
_Arte_--as well as the parallel listing of forms and identical descriptions
of certain grammatical phenomena, it is clear that the writing of the _Ars
Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_ consisted to no small degree of abridging
the exhaustive material contained in Rodriguez' grammar and arranging it
within the framework of Lebrija's _Introductiones_.
To say that Collado followed Lebrija in the general structure of his
description is not to imply that he fell heir to all of his precursor's
virtues. The Salamanca grammar of 1481 is a masterpiece of orderly
presentation. Printed in _lettera formata_ with carefully indented
subdivisions, it offers the student a clear display of the conjugational
system as well as long columns of Latin examples of a given grammatical
structure, accompanied on the right side of the page with Spanish
equivalents. Collado makes little effort at copying this orderly display.
There are in his presentation no paradigms, but instead only loosely
connected sentences that talk the student through the various forms of the
conjugation; and there is no orderly array of examples. Add to this the
innumerable factual and typographical errors, and one is left with a
presentation that lacks most of the basic scholarly virtues of its
precursor.
A similar criticism may be leveled against the work from the point {6} of
view of Rodriguez' influence. Without matching the _Introductiones_ in
orderliness, the _Arte_ more than compensates for its casual format by
containing a mass of exhaustively collected and scrupulously presented
linguistic data.[6] There was available no better source than the _Arte_
from which Collado might have culled his examples of Japanese.
One doubt that remains in assessing Collado's use of Rodriguez' material is
that perhaps his presentation of the most readily understandable material
in the _Arte_ is not so much an effort on his part to simplify the learning
of Japanese for his students, as it is a reflection of his lack of adequate
familiarity with the language he was teaching.
_The Phonological System_
A study of the phonological data reveals the _Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae
Linguae_ to be of minimal historical value. Any student of the phonology of
early modern Japanese should turn to the far more reliable work of Father
Rodriguez. Nevertheless, certain aspects of Collado's transcription require
our attention.
The most obvious innovation in the representation of the language is
Collado's transcription with an _i_ of the palatal consonant which all his
contemporaries record with a _y_. Thus in the text we find _iomi_ and
_coie_ (terms for native words and Chinese borrowings) where Rodriguez
writes _yomi_ and _coye_. This change was affected while the text was being
translated from the Spanish manuscript which uses _y_; and Collado himself
must have felt the innovation to be of dubious value since he retained _y_
for the spellings in the _Dictionarium_.[7]
Collado's handling of the nasal sounds is too inconsistent to be a reliable
source for phonological data. Given his rather awkward specification that
nasalization is predictable before what we must assume he means to be the
voiced stops and affricates,[8] his grammar presents an uncomfortably
irregular pattern in the transcription of the phenomena. Thus, on page 39
we find _vo mõdori aró ca?_ as well as {7} _modori aró ca?_. Again, what he
presents as the ending _z[~u]ba_ in his description of the formation
of the negative conditional (p. 34) appears in _tovazunba_ in its only
occurrence in a sample sentence (p. 62). To further confound the issue such
forms as _tovazunba_ and _qinpen_ occur in contrast to _sambiacu_,
_varambe_, and _varãbe_.
In Chart 1 the traditional pattern of the _goj[=u]onzu_ (chart of 50
sounds) is followed as a convenient framework in which to display the
transcriptional system employed by Collado.
Chart 1
COLLADO'S TRANSCRIPTION SYSTEM
_The Simple Series_
/#/ /k/ /g/ /s/ /z/ /t/ /d/ /n/ /[phi]/ /b/ /p/ /m/ /y/ /r/ /w/
/a/ a ca ga sa za ta da na fa ba pa ma ia ra va
/i/ i qi gui xi ji chi gi ni fi bi pi mi - ri -
/u/ u cu gu su zu tçu zzu nu fu bu pu mu iu ru -
/e/ [ie] qe gue xe je te de ne fe be pe me ie re -
/o/ [vo] co go so zo to do no fo bo po mo io ro vo
_The Long Series_
/au/ [vó] có gó só zó tó dó nó fó bó (pó) mó ió ró vó
/uu/ ú cú (gú)(sú) - (tçú) - - fú (bú)(pú) - iú rú -
/ou/ [vô] cô (gô) sô zô tô dô nô (fô) (bô) pô mô iô rô vô
_The Palatal and Labial Series_
/ky/ /sy/ /ty/ /ny/ /by/ /my/ /kw/
/gy/ /zy/ /dy/ /[phi]y/ /py/ /ry/ /gw/
/a/ (qua)(guia) xa ja cha gia (nha) fia bia pia (mia) (ria) qua gua
/u/ qui (guia) xu ju (chu)(giu)(nhu)(fiu) - - (miu) (riu) - -
/o/ qio guio xo (jo) cho gio (nho)(fio)(bio) - (mio) (rio) - -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
/au/ qió guió xó jó chó gió - (fió)(bió) - mió (rió) quó guó
/uu/ (qiú)(guiú)(xú) jú (chú) giú nhú - - - - (riú) - -
/ou/ qiô (guiô) xô jô chô giô nhô fiô (biô) piô (miô) (riô) - -
gueô geô neô beô reô
In this chart the phonemic grid is presented in a broad phonetic {8}
notation while the underlined entries are in the form used by the text.
Dashes indicate sequences which do not occur in the Christian material;
while the forms in parentheses are sequences which do not occur in the text
but have been reconstructed on the basis of the overall system from
sequences attested to elsewhere. The forms _ie_, _vo_, _vó_, and _vô_ have
been placed in brackets to indicate that neither /e/, /o/, /oo/, or /au/
occur in the syllable initial position; and, where in the modern language
they do, the text regularly spells that with an initial _i_ or _v_. The
forms in _eô_ at the foot of the chart represent sequences that are
phonetically identical to the forms above them, but which are transcribed
differently to reflect morphological considerations; e.g., the form _agueô_
from the stem _ague_. The phonetic values of /au/, /uu/, and /ou/ are
[[IPA: Open-mid back rounded vowel]:], [u:], and [o:].
Two aspects of the usage of _q_ should be noticed. First, as in the _Arte_,
_c_ is changed to _q_ before _o_ and _u_, when the sequence occurs at a
morphological juncture; e.g., _ioqu_ 'well,' and _iqó_ 'I shall go.' (This
rule does not extend to _a_ in such contexts; cf., _iocatta_ 'was good.')
Second, in contrast to the system used by Rodriguez, Collado does not feel
compelled to follow _q_ with _u_ in all contexts. Thus what Rodriguez
spells as _queredomo_ Collado spells as _qeredomo_. Finally, the text
records one usage of the letter _h_ in the exclamation _ha_.
_The Morphological System_
Collado's treatment of the morphology contains one quite obvious difference
from those of his predecessors: he isolates the particles of the language
as separate elements of the structure. While his effort is more or less
carelessly maintained by the type setter, his attempt to establish a
division between the semantemes (_shi_) and the morphemes (_ji_) of
Japanese by establishing formal distance between his _verba_ and
_particula_, reflects his consciousness that the morphological elements in
Japanese are of a different order than those in Latin. At times, such as
when he describes the preterit subjunctive as _agueta raba_, his divisions
fly in the face of derivational history. But he can claim a reasonable
justification for his decision by citing Rodriguez' rule for the formation
of this form; "add _raba_ to the preterit of the verb" (_Arte_, 18v).
Perhaps it is a prejudice founded upon familiarity with {9} contemporary
romanizations, but I cannot help but consider this attempt to give greater
independence to the particles as an improvement in the representation of
the morphological system.
In all other significant facets of the morphology Collado follows the
principles established by Rodriguez with the one exception that in the
over-all systematization of the verbal formation and conjugation he follows
the classifications established in Lebrija's _Introductiones_ rather than
those which Rodriguez inherited from the _Institutiones_ of Alverez. The
most significant difference between the two systems is the use by Lebrija
of the term subjunctive in his description of the moods where Rodriguez
gives independent status to the conjunctive, conditional, concessive, and
potential. As we shall see, after presenting the conjugational system of
the verb within the framework of Lebrija, Collado breaks the expected
sequence of his description of the verb to interject a section on
conditional constructions and another on those of the potential.
In the treatment of the tenses Collado breaks with Rodriguez in not
attempting to establish an imperfect for Japanese, but he does follow him
in the overall classification of the conjugations. Thus:[9]
1st Conjugation verbs ending in _e_, _gi_, and e.g., _ague, uru_
_ji_ (_xi_ and _maraxi_)
2nd Conjugation verbs ending in _i_ e.g., _iomi, u_
3rd Conjugation verbs ending in _ai_, _oi_, and e.g., _narai, ó_
_ui_
To the description of this general system Collado adds the treatment of the
substantive verbs. This section in many respects is the weakest in his
grammar with a portion of his description lost in composing the final text.
Since Collado does not, as Rodriguez, present the conjugations in
paradigmatic form, I have extracted from his presentation the most
representative forms of the verb _ague, uru_ for each of the categories of
the system, and presented them in Chart 2 for reference.
CHART 2
THE CONJUGATIONAL SYSTEM
_Affirmative_ _Negative_
INDICATIVE MOOD
Present aguru aguenu
Perfect agueta aguenanda
{10}
Pluperfect aguete atta aguenande atta
Future agueôzu aguru mai
Future perfect aguete ar[vo]zu ----
IMPERATIVE MOOD
Present ague io aguru na
Future agueôzu aguru mai
OPTATIVE MOOD
Present avare ague io caxi avare aguru na caxi
Preterit agueôzu mono vo aguru mai mono vo
Future avare ague io caxi avare aguru na caxi
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Present agureba agueneba
Perfect agueta reba aguenanda reba
Pluperfect aguete atta reba ----
Future agueô toqi aguru mai qereba
PERMISSIVE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
Present agueredomo aguenedomo
Preterit agueta redomo aguenanda redomo
Future agueôzu redomo aguru mai qeredomo
INFINITIVE
Present aguru coto aguenu coto
Preterit agueta coto aguenanda coto
Future agueô coto aguru mai coto
GERUND IN _DI_
Present aguru [jibun] aguenu [jibun]
Future agueô [jibun] aguru mai [jibun]
GERUND IN _DO_
---- aguete ague[~i]de
GERUND IN _DUM_
Present aguru tame aguenu tame
Future agueô tame aguru mai tame
SUPINE IN _TUM_
---- ague ni ----
SUPINE IN _TU_
---- ague ----
PARTICIPLE
Present aguru fito aguenu fito
Preterit agueta fito aguenando fito
Future agueô fito aguru mai fito
The forms treated separately are:
THE CONDITIONAL
Present agueba aguez[~u]ba
Preterit agueta raba aguenanda raba
Future agueô naraba aguru mai naraba
THE POTENTIAL
Present aguru ró aguenu coto mo arózu
Preterit aguetçu ró aguenanzzu ró
Future agueôzu ró aguru mail coto mo arózu
{11}
_The Structure of Collado's and Rodriguez' Descriptions Contrasted_
In every section of his description, Collado is indebted to the material
presented by Rodriguez in his _Arte da Lingoa de Iapam_. The structure of
the _Ars Grammaticae_, however, follows a much more simplistic design than
that of the _Arte_. As a consequence Collado found it necessary to assemble
his data from various sections of Rodriguez' description. In the paragraphs
which follow we will briefly sketch the structural relation between these
two grammars.
As he clearly states in his title to the main portion of the grammar
Collado bases his description on the _Introductiones_ of Antonio Lebriya,
and more specifically upon that portion of the great Latin grammar which
dealt with the parts of speech. Further, he limits himself to the spoken
language rather than attempting, as does Rodriguez, an integrated treatment
of both the spoken and written grammars.
Under these influences Collado's grammar takes on the following form:
A Prologue (including the phonology) 3-5
The Body of the Grammar (by parts of speech) 6-61
A Brief Syntax 61-66
A Treatment of the Arithmetic 66-74
A Note on the Written Language 74-75
In contrast Rodriguez' _Arte_, prepared under the influence of Alvarez'
_Institutiones_, develops its description over the span of three books
which treat both the spoken and written grammar in progressively greater
detail. Thus:
The Introduction iii-v
BOOK I
The Declensions 1-2v
The Conjugations 2v-54
The Parts of Speech (_Rudimenta_) 55-80v
BOOK II
The Syntax of the Parts of Speech 83-168
Styles, Pronunciation, Poetics, etc. 168-184
BOOK III
The Written Language 184v-206v
Names, Titles, etc. 206v-212v
The Arithmetic 212v-239
{12}
Given these differing formats[10] it is clear that Collado is unable to
cope adequately with the more complex aspects of the grammar, specifically
those syntactic constructions to which Rodriguez devotes almost an entire
book.
An analysis of Collado's description and a listing of the portions of
Rodriguez' grammar from which material was taken yields the following:
_Collado_ _Rodriguez_
Phonology (3-5) {Parts of Speech (55-58)
{Book III (173-179v)
Nouns (6-13) {Declensions (1-2v)
{Parts of Speech (59-61)
Adjectives (9-11, 32-33) {Declensions (2-2v)
{Conjugations (47-52)
{Parts of Speech (61-67)
Pronouns (13-18) {Declensions (2v)
{Parts of Speech (67-68)
Verbs (18-49) {Conjugations (6v-54v)
{Parts of Speech (69-73)
{Syntax (83v-112v)
Adverbs (49-57) {Parts of Speech (73v-77)
{Syntax (113-125)
Prepositions (57-59) {Parts of Speech (73-73v)
{Syntax (140-148v)
Conjunctions (59-60) {Parts of Speech (76-76v)
{Syntax (130-137)
Exclamations (60-61) {Parts of Speech (76-76v)
{Syntax (125-130)
Syntax (61-66) Book II (83-168)
Arithmetic (66-75) Book III (212v-239)
Written Language (74-75) Book III (184v-206v)
Two aspects of Japanese were not able to be described with any degree of
satisfaction by Collado; the adjectives (_adjectiva_) and the prepositions
(_praepositio_). His difficulties, attributable to the basic structural
difference between Latin and Japanese, were compounded by the fact that
Rodriguez too was unable to find a satisfactory solution to their
description.
With respect to the adjectives, Collado attempts to deal with their
functions in the manner appropriate to Latin, that is as a sub-class of
{13} nouns (pp. 9-11). He also recognizes their formal similarity to the
verb and treats them briefly as a sub-class of the substantive verb (pp.
32-33), but his heavy reliance upon the semantic categories of Latin does
not permit him to follow Rodriguez who is able more clearly to recognize
their formal as well as their functional distinctiveness.
Concerning prepositions, Collado was confronted with an all but
insurmountable taxonomic problem. Here too Rodriguez was unable to develop
a completely satisfactory descriptive framework. In the _Arte_ the term
_posposição_ is used for those particles which function in a manner similar
to the Latin prepositions; e.g., _tameni_, _taixite_, and _tomoni_ (cf.
73-73v and 140-148v); the term _artigo_ is used for those particles having
the functions of the inflectional endings of Latin; e.g., _ga_, _ye_, and
_ni_ (cf. 1-2, 78, and 137-140); and the general term _particula_ is used
to cover the broad spectrum of particles that include adverbs,
conjunctions, and exclamations, as well as those otherwise unaccounted for
elements which end phrases, clauses, and sentences; e.g., _no_, _nite_, and
_yo_ (cf. 77-78 and 144-154v).
Collado, rather than attempting to refine the system suggested by
Rodriguez, follows the _Arte_ in listing as _praepositio_ those elements
which translate the Latin prepositions (pp. 57-59) but uses the term
_particula_ to cover all the other particles of the language.
This tendency of Collado's to retreat from the challenging problems left
unresolved by Rodriguez constitutes the greatest weakness of his
description. Given concise grammatical descriptions on the one hand and
over-simplified versions of previous works on the other, the _Ars
Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae_ unfortunately falls among the latter.
In his shorter work, the _Arte Breve_ of 1620, Rodriguez retains the same
general format, but makes every effort to reduce the description to its
barest essentials. Thus:
BOOK I
A General Note on the Language 1-2
An Essay on How to Learn the Language 2v-6
The Orthography 6-8
Composition of the Syllables 8v-9v
The Way to Write and Pronounce the Letters 10-12v
The Declension of Nouns 13-18
The Conjugation and Formation of Verbs 18-52
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