Demonstratives

8.2. Demonstratives

8.2.1. Information ownership

Demonstratives are words to point something based on its location. "This" and "that" are English demonstratives. They can also be used to point something talked about in a conversation, such as "That's a nice idea."

English demonstratives and similar words form pairs, one proximal (near to the addresser) and the other distal (far from the addresser), such as "this" and "that", "these" and "those", and "here" and "there". Japanese has not pairs but triplets, which might be difficult for English speakers to learn.

Let me use the following three words for example:

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	re
Romanization:	ko	re
Meaning:	this one

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	so	re
Romanization:	so	re
Meaning:	that one

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	a	re
Romanization:	a	re
Meaning:	that one

These are equivalents of this and that, but I added the word one after this and that because they don't combine with a following noun.

The first one and the third one,

/ko re/ "kore" and

/a re/ "are", are relatively easy to understand, because the difference of the two is that the former is proximal and the latter is distal. To understand what

/so re/ "sore" is, you need to know that Japanese has a factor for demonstratives other than distance: information ownership. This term sounds difficult, but actually it is not so difficult.

When you use Japanese demonstratives, you have to think about the location of the addressee. Things near to the addresser belong to him/her in a point of view of information, things near to the addressee belong to him/her, and things far form them belong to both of them. Using

/ko re/ "kore" means you think something belongs to you because it is nearer to you. Using

/so re/ "sore" means you think something belongs to a person you are talking to because it is nearer to him/her than to you. Using

/a re/ "are" means you think something belongs to both you and the person you are talking to because it is far from both. Declaring information ownership means you use either

/ko re/ "kore" or

/a re/ "are" depending on distance because you own information about the thing you refer. You use

/so re/ "sore" to give up your information ownership because the thing you refer is nearer to the addressee and its information belongs to him/her, not to you.

Japanese thus has triplet demonstratives. The first one means things nearer to the addresser, the second one means things nearer to the addressee, and the third one means things far from both.

If you still find it complicated, the following chart will help. Imagine person A and person B are talking:

Location
and information ownership

Demonstratives
used by A

Demonstratives
used by B

something near to both A and B
(Both declare information ownership)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	re
Romanization:	ko	re
English:	this


ko	re
ko	re
this

something nearer to A
(A declares information ownership
and B gives up)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	re
Romanization:	ko	re
English:	this


so	re
so	re
that

something nearer to B
(A gives up information ownership
and B declares)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	so	re
Romanization:	so	re
English:	that


ko	re
ko	re
this

something far from both A and B
(Both declare information ownership)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	a	re
Romanization:	a	re
English:	that


a	re
a	re
that

Notice that at least one person declares information ownership. Please also keep in mind that

/so re/ "sore" and

/a re/ "are" are not used together.

8.2.2. The ko-so-a-do words

You may notice that the Japanese words for this and that I explained above,

/ko re/ "kore",

/so re/ "sore", and

/a re/ "are", are similar in pronunciation. The Japanese word for which is also similar; it is

/do' re/ "dore". Not only these demonstrative pronouns but also other demonstratives and interrogatives have systematic phonemes.

The demonstratives and interrogatives with the systematic phonemes are called

/ko so a do ko' to ba/ "kosoado kotoba", the ko-so-a-do words.

/ko/ "ko" is the prefix for proximal things with information ownership (things near to the addresser and not nearer to the addressee),

/so/ "so" is for things without information ownership (things nearer to the addressee),

/a/ "a" is for distal things with information ownership (things far from both), and

/do/ "do" is for interrogatives.

The table below shows most of the ko-so-a-do words:

Demonstratives

Interrogatives

Information
ownership

Yes

Distance

Proximal

Distal

Pronoun
(thing)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	re
Romanization:	ko	re
English:	this


so	re
so	re
that


a	re
a	re
that


do'	re
do	re
which

Pronoun
(place)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	ko
Romanization:	ko	ko
English:	this place, here


so	ko
so	ko
that place, there


a	so	ko
a	so	ko
that place, there


do'	ko
do	ko
which place, where

Pronoun
(direction)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	Q	ti
Romanization:	ko	t	chi
English:	this direction


so	Q	ti
so	t	chi
that direction


a	Q	ti
a	t	chi
that direction


do'	Q	ti
do	t	chi
which direction

Prenominal
(thing)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	no
Romanization:	ko	no
English:	this ...


so	no
so	no
that ...


a	no
a	no
that ...


do'	no
do	no
which ...

Prenominal
(type)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	N	na
Romanization:	ko	n	na
English:	this kind of ...


so	N	na
so	n	na
that kind of ...


a	N	na
a	n	na
that kind of ...


do'	N	na
do	n	na
what kind of ...

Adverb
(way)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko'	u
Romanization:	kô
English:	this way


so'	u
sô
that way


a'	a
â
that way


do'	u
dô
how

Note that pronouns and prenominals are different. Pronouns cannot combine with a noun, while prenominals need a following noun. The English word this is used for both "This is a pen." (pronoun) and "This pen is blue." (prenominal), but they are different in Japanese. The former is

/ko re/ "kore", and the latter is

/ko no/ "kono". Compare the English words we and our. We categorize the former as a pronoun and the latter as a prenominal here.

Note that the demonstrative pronoun for distal places with information ownership is

/a so ko/ "asoko", not

/a ko/ "ako".

Here is an example of ko-so-a-do words:

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	e'	ki	wa	do'	ko	de	su	ka
Romanization:	E	ki	wa	do	ko	de	su	ka	.
Structure:	noun (station)		topic marker	pronoun (where)		copula (is + polite)		question marker
Meaning:	Where is the station?

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	e'	ki	wa	a	Q	ti'	de	su
Romanization:	E	ki	wa	a	t	chi	de	su	.
Structure:	noun (station)		topic marker	pronoun (that direction)			copula (is + polite)
Meaning:	The station is in that direction. (with pointing at some direction)

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