We are all Linguistic Geniuses
クラーク記念国際高等学校 札幌大通りキャンパス

2021 年度

第１回 英語科教員対象

英語教育セミナー

It’s fun, and actually useful, to know the power of the human language faculty～with special reference to Japanese and English ～言語学の観点から見た人間の言語能力の魅力～日英比較を中心に
Oku, Satoshi
奥聡

Hokkaido University
satoshio@imc.hokudai.ac.jp
1. Introduction(1)
Student Questions: “Tell me, sensee (先生、英語はどうして … なの?)”a.
Why do we pronounce have to [hæf tə], not [hæv tə]?
(どうして「ハフトゥ」?)b.
Why does English have irregular verbs such as break-broke, go-went, etc? (不規則動詞?)c.
What is 3rd person singular present -s?
(三単現の s って何もの?)(2)Your answer to a first year junior high school student:(3)

You answer to a high school student:(4)

Today’s main theme:
Knowing what it actually is  a foundation for how to teach it.

2.
(5)Morphology: irregular forms in English and in Japanese 1
Whose utterance? (a Japanese junior high schooler?)
Adult: Where is Mommy?
Child: Mommy goed to the store.
About ____ % of English native children (age two to five) make this “overgeneralization”.
walk – walkedplay – played
laugh – laughed
go – ______

(6)

(7)

1

Good news for Japanese students (i)a.
English native children do the same thing.
b.
“Overgeneralization” is a good sign because you start learning language
actively and creatively. (Not just blindly mimicking what is given)

See O’Grady (2005: 18 - 26).

1

S. Oku(8)

made  maked  madeU-shaped development of the correct past tense for irregular verbs (O’Grady 2006:22)
(9)

(10)

go – went – gone: why went?
Student complaint:a.
“Why does English have went, a completely different shape from go?”b.
(“Japanese does not have such a strange irregular inflection”)  _________________
What is actually happening in English:
Suppletion (補充法)the use of an unrelated word to supply inflected forms otherwise lackinga.
go - went(*goed) 2b.
good - better - best(*gooder - *goodest)(11)

What is actually happening in Japanese:
Quiz 1
Potential forms (「-eru」「-(r)areru」) in Japanese-rare-ru/ -e-ru-rare-ta/ -e-taa.
食べる食べられる食べられたb.
読む読める読めたc.
__________________(12)

It’s interesting to learn something unfamiliar in foreign language learningand it’s a lot of fun to find something similar actually happening in Japanese!

3.
3.1
(13)

Pronunciation
Phonological Alternation
Voicing alternation: regular past tense marker in English 3a.
laughed, walked, jumped, pushed, danced:[t] (voiceless) (no vocal cords vibration)b.
believed, begged, robbed, gazed:[d] (voiced) (with vocal cords vibration)
Sometimes voiceless [t], sometimes voiced [d]: why?
(random? You have to learn word by word?)
voicing ____________________
When the last sound of the word is voiced, the past tense marker is pronounced voiced [d].
When the last sound of the word is voiceless, the past tense marker is pronounced voiceless [t].

(14)
(15)

See 朝尾 (2019: 67)
There is a third pattern as in landed, stated, etc where the past tense marker is pronounced as [Id]. I put them aside in this talk forease of presentation.

232

The power of the human language faculty

(16)

(17)

Yes!
(18)

(19)

The voicing quality of a sound segment affects the voicing quality of the following segment:_____________ assimilation(____________ 同化現象)
Is there any case in which the voicing quality of a sound segment affects the preceding segment?
regressive assimilation(逆行同化現象)a.

have to[hæv tə]  [hæf tə](voiceless [t] affects/makes the preceding voiced [v] voiceless [f])b.
of course[əv kɔ:rs]  [əf kɔ:rs](voiceless [k] affects/makes the preceding voiced [v] voiceless [f])Student complaint:a.
“Why does English have phonological changes; -ed is sometimes [t] and sometimes [d]?”b.
(“Japanese does not have such a strange thing”)  _________________(20)

Japanese past tense marker is「た」[ta] or「だ」[da]a.
mi-ta (見た)c.
shin-da (死んだ)b.
tabe-ta (食べた)d.
ason-da (遊んだ)(21)

Sometimes voiceless [t], sometimes voiced [d]. Why?

(22)

Samea.
Similarb.
c.

(random? You have to learn word by word?)

Both in English and Japanese, the [t]/[d] alternation in a verbal inflection is governed by a voicing
assimilation rule.
(Japanese and English are the same language in this respect)
English: when the last sound is voiced, the past tense marker is voiced [d];otherwise it is voiceless [t]Japanese: when the last sound is a voiced consonant, the past tense marker is voiced [da];otherwise it is voiceless [ta]. 4(Japanese and English are similar in this respect)(23)

Good news for Japanese students (ii)Don’t worry too much about voicing alternation in English. You can do it if you practice,because you are naturally dealing with instances of voicing alternation in Japanese as well.

3.2(24)

Difficult Consonants (?)
English speaking children’s consonant development 5
typical consonant inventory at age two================================
pbmfwtdnskg================================The Japanese situation is a slightly more complicated but I put that aspect aside here. For the interested readers, consider thefollowing paradigm:「掃いた (hai-ta)」vs「剥いだ (hai-da)」. Hint: The preceding forms at surface are the same (i.e., hai-); butthe underlying dictionary forms are …?
5 See O’Grady (2006: 151 - 153).
43

S. Oku(25)By age four, English speaking children acquire all English consonants except two.
===========================================================
pbmfv
ʧ
jw
yt
dnsz(ʤ )lrŋʃkg===========================================================(26)

A Buzzer Quiz(27)Good news for Japanese students (iii)[ ] is the least and the lasta.
[ ] is a rare consonant among world languages:
not in Chinese, Korean, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, etc.
b.
[ ] is the last consonant that English speaking children acquire.
Don’t worry too much about [ ] sound. It can be the last consonant to acquire.

(28)

Japanese students do not have to worry too much about the pronunciation of English speech sound segmentsthat do not exist in Japanese. Prosody would be more important.
(バニラ? コーヒー?)「発音は、ハチャメチャと完璧の中間を目指せ」（鳥飼玖美子）<A role model for Japanese students>
not “like a native speaker”; rather, try to be clear and intelligible as a non-native speaker:
a. 山中伸弥ノーベルスピーチ
b. Malala Yousfzai UN Speech

4. So many ways to say the “same” thing/action?
(29)
Student complaint:“There are many English words for a simple/single Japanese word. Which one should I use?”(30)
見る: see, look at, watch, observe, examine, etc.
The definition or usage of the word (not just Japanese translation) sometimes helps.
(31)a.
When you see something, you notice it by using your eyes.
b.
When you look at something, you examine it closely, or view/consider it in a particular way.
c.
When you watch something, you look at it for a period of time, and pay attention to whatis happening.
(COBUILD / Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)(32)
Student (who is an English speaker learning Japanese) complaint:“There are many Japanese words/phrases for a simple/single English phrase. Which one should I use?”a.
put on the hat
帽子を＿＿＿＿b.
put on the shoes
靴を＿＿＿＿
c.
put on the gloves
手袋を＿＿＿＿＿
d.
put on the shirt
シャツを_________e.
put on the glasses
メガネを＿＿＿＿f.
put on the ring
指輪を_______
g.
put on the necklace
ネックレスを_______…
4

The power of the human language faculty

(33)
(34)
(35)

Language Myth among Japanese students learning English:
There are many English words for a simple/single Japanese word and the opposite situation does not exist.
Truth
There are many Japanese words for a simple/single English word as well.
It’s interesting to learn that there are many English words for a simple/single Japanese word, andit’s fun to find that the opposite situation does exist: there are many Japanese words/phrases for a single
English word/phrases.

5. What is 3rd person singular present –s? （三単元の S って何?）(36)
In “X …. Y,” the form of Y is governed by the nature of X (or vice versa).
(37)
John likes apples.
X = John, Y = likes(38)a.
I am …
b.
You are …
c.
Mary is …
(X = subject, Y = be verbs)(39)
Subject-Verb Dependency (or Subject-Verb Agreement)
The form of the verb (Y) is (partly) governed by the nature of the subject (X).
(40)
Student complainta.
Why is there such dependency in English?
b.
(Japanese does not have such a strange thing)?  ____________________(41)
Subject-Verb Agreement system in Present Day English is the simplest among Endo-European languages.
(42)
There are a lot of dependency relations in Japanese as well.
Dependency is a common character of human languages.
(43)

conjugation of singPresent Day Englisha.
原形singb.
三人称単数現在 ＿＿＿＿＿＿c.
過去＿＿＿＿＿＿
d.
現在分詞____________e.
過去分詞____________
Old English (A.D. 700 – 1150)(See also (Modern) German, French, Italian, Spanish, etc.)
不定形singan
直説法
現在
過去単数 １人称 singesang
２人称 singest
sunge
３人称 singeϸ
sang
複数singaϸsungon
現在分詞
singende
過去分詞(ge)sungen（See 朝尾 2019, pp. 60-61）<Dependency Relations in Japanese>(44)
The form of the verb is governed by the nature of the adverb.
a.
花子は決してあきらめなかった。 *花子は決してあきらめたb.
智子は全く食べなかった*智子は全く食べた(45)
The form of the verb is governed by the nature of the subject.
See also (32).
a.
誰も教室に来なかった。
*誰も教室に来たcf.
全員が教室に来なかった。
全員が教室に来たb.
ろくな先生がそこにいなかった*ろくな先生がそこにいた
5

S. Oku

(46)

(47)

(48)
(49)

The interpretation of 「何」「誰」「いつ」etc. must be dependent on a particle.
a.
* 太郎は、[花子が何を食べたと]思っているb.
太郎は、[花子が何かを食べたと]思っている「何」+「か」= somethingc.
太郎は、[花子が何を食べたか]尋ねた「何」+ …「か」= whatd.
花子は、[誰が来るか] 知らない「誰」+ …「か」= who(*[誰が来ると] 知らない)e.
きっといつか できるようになるよ「いつ」+「か」= sometime（*きっといつ できるようになるよ）
The form of numeral classifiers is dependent on the nature of the noun to be modified.
a.
りんごが３個、車が３台（*３個）、ボトルが３本（*３個）、生徒が３人（*３個）
本が３冊（*３個、*３本）、答案用紙３枚（*３個）、映画が３本（*３個）
b.
新しい車を、田中さんは去年 ３台買った
Some cases of dependency are long distant.
(43)(44)(45)(46c-d)(47b)Good news for Japanese students (iv)
Don’t worry too much about dependency in English such as 3rd person singular present –s.
Subject-Verb Agreement system in Present Day English is one of the simplest among languages.
And you can do it if you practice, because you are naturally dealing with various types of(more) sophisticated dependency relations in Japanese.

6. Numbers: English speakers are stricter than Japanese speakers?
(50)
The English language is sensitive to singular/plural distinction.
(51)
a.
りんごが１こあります
We have an apple.
b.
りんごが 2 こあります
We have two apples. / *We have two apple.
(52)
Student complaint:
What is this plural –(e)s for? We know the number of the apple by the numeral two. –(e)s is just redundant.
(53)
Quiz 2
How to translate the following question sentence into Japanese?
Which would you like?
(54)

(55)

(56)

(57)
(58)

Situation A
I have three beautiful post cards from South Africa, and I can give you one of them you like.
Pick one. Which would you like?
好きなの１枚選んで。＿＿＿＿＿がいいですか？
Situation B
I have two beautiful post cards from South Africa, and I can give you one of them you like.
Pick one. Which would you like?
好きなの１枚選んで。＿＿＿＿＿がいいですか？
When there are more than two candidates to choose, you use dore in Japanese.
When there are just two candidates to choose, you use docchi in Japanese.
(In English, you use which in both cases)
The Japanese language is more sensitive to the two or more-than-two distinction than English.
The Finnish language also behaves in the same way as Japanese.
a.
minkä = dore どれ・どのb.
kumpi = docchi どっち・どっちの6

The power of the human language faculty

(59)

(60)

(61)

(62)

Quiz 3
How to translate?
Joe Biden はアメリカ合衆国の第何代大統領ですか？
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ president of the U.S. is Joe Biden?
It is easy to ask ordinal numbers in Japanese.
a.
あの店の主人、何代目?
b.
図書館の建物は角から何軒目ですか?
c.
開いていたのは、左から何番目の窓ですか?
Sometimes, English does not have the corresponding wh-question words to ask ordinal numbers.
* Wh-th president of the U.S. is Joe Biden?
Good news for Japanese students (v)Don’t worry too much about the singular-plural distinction in English. You can do it if you practice,because you are naturally dealing with various types of (more) sophisticated number distinction system inJapanese.

7. Conclusion(63)
How to teach heavily depends on the situation (e.g., who are your students, what is the purpose of the class).
(64)
Knowing (and keep learning) what it actually is is a foundation for a good teacher.
(65)a.
History of Englishb.
Japanese grammarc.
Linguistics (study of the human language faculty)
etc.

References
朝尾 幸次郎 (2019)『英語の歴史から考える 英文法の「なぜ」』(大修館書店)
飯田 朝子・町田 健 (2004)『数え方の辞典』（小学館）
犬飼 玖美子・大津 由紀夫・江利川 春雄・斎藤 兆史 (2017)『英語だけの外国語教育は失敗する』（ひつじ書房）O’Grady, William. 2005. How Children Learn Language. Cambridge University Press.
奥 聡 (2012)「比較音韻論を聴き取り・発音教育に活用する」『最新言語理論を英語教育に活用する』藤田耕司ほか(編) (開拓社) pp.34 – 43.
Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. HarperPerennial.
(翻訳：スティーブン・ピンカー (1995)『言語を生みだす本能（上・下）』(HNK ブックス))
高嶋 幸太 (2019)『英語教師が知っておきたい 日本語のしくみ (Japanese Language Structure for English
Language Teachers)』(大修館書店)

7