With ‘kun-glossing’, I refer to the method of interpreting unfamiliar compounds proposed by Takao Suzuki (1926-2021), a well known Japanese scholar. Readers assign a semantic gloss to each constituent kanji, combine those meanings into a new, complex concept and attempt to validate the result(s) encyclopedically. In this essay I verify kun-glossing’s processing power by applying it to eleven compounds. I conclude that this method is only effective in interpreting words which are structured as descriptions, as the neoclassical compounds of science often are, and cannot be considered a universal method to infer the meaning of novel compounds.
The Japanese Pithecanthropus: Interpreting Japanese Unfamiliar Compounds. Takao Suzuki’s Model of Conceptual Combination Through kun-Glossing / S. Dalla Chiesa. - In: ANNALI DI CA' FOSCARI. SERIE ORIENTALE. - ISSN 2385-3042. - 59:giugno (Serie Orientale)(2023 Aug 29), pp. 609-702. [10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2023/01/023]
The Japanese Pithecanthropus: Interpreting Japanese Unfamiliar Compounds. Takao Suzuki’s Model of Conceptual Combination Through kun-Glossing
S. Dalla Chiesa
2023
Abstract
With ‘kun-glossing’, I refer to the method of interpreting unfamiliar compounds proposed by Takao Suzuki (1926-2021), a well known Japanese scholar. Readers assign a semantic gloss to each constituent kanji, combine those meanings into a new, complex concept and attempt to validate the result(s) encyclopedically. In this essay I verify kun-glossing’s processing power by applying it to eleven compounds. I conclude that this method is only effective in interpreting words which are structured as descriptions, as the neoclassical compounds of science often are, and cannot be considered a universal method to infer the meaning of novel compounds.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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