Sunday, November 9, 2008

Woman Used Tights As Garotte

- Con-kon

Each syllable of the Chinese language is a sense in principle, but the Chinese words are often composed of two syllables, that is to say two ideograms. The Japanese has borrowed many words from Chinese also has many words consisting of two ideograms that are frequently four syllables in modern Japanese.
Also, the Japanese love they abbreviate long words of four syllables, and it happens that some elements have an air of pseudo-units of Chinese origin which would make sense. But this is only an appearance, and one looks in vain for the common character.
For example, there are many new words that end in コン (ko-n , two "syllables" in Japanese). These Kanji 金, 根, 昆, 昏, 恨, 困, 混, 痕, 魂, 今, 恳, 垦, 坤 were all reading kon, so this phonetic element may well have the ears of the air a kanji that makes sense. The Japanese of the Meiji era have produced a lot of words with the ideograms by Chinese model (often re-imported by the Chinese for that matter), and they continue to make new words from the words of various origins (mostly English), and always following the Chinese model, even if they do have no conscious.
I give examples of words - コン.

マイコン mi cro com puter (already obsolete)
パソコン nal personal com puter
ファミコン family ly com puter (old video game from Nintendo)
スパコン Oedipus complex super com puter
mother com plex (fils à maman)
pedophile Loli ta com plex (pervers sexuellement attirés par les petites filles)
remote remo te con troler (télécommande)
Climate air con ditioner (climatiseur)
Tsuakon tour con ductor (compagnon de voyage)
contractors gene ral con structor (grand constructeur immobilier)
生 コン nama (gross) con crete (cement raw)
合コン (plain) com Company (festival of youth parties, girls and boys)

Phonetically, the last example gôkon really looks like a word of Chinese origin.
I do not think the Japanese language has coined a term specific to the category of neologisms of foreign origin, formed by the Chinese model.

PS I explain this funny little word that 合コン gôkon . Well keep the Japanese tradition of Confucius who said "Boys and girls do not eat at the same table at the age of seven years." Even in the class of higher education institutions, the class is often divided into two, although there is no obligation. At right is boys, and left it girls! (Or is upside down. I remember a lot of heads of French teachers who have discovered with astonishment.) So, so that boys and girls "meet", we must organize the party "United ". See

SUZUKI Takao (social linguist) 铃木 孝 夫 『日本語 と 外国 語』 ( Japanese and foreign languages ) (岩 波 新书)

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