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Japanese is logical.

May 12, 20204 min read

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    • Japanese (language) is [logical
    • Hiroshi Tsukimoto
    • Born in Tokyo in 1955. Graduated from the Department of Mathematical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. Completed the master’s course at the same university. Currently a professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Denki University. Doctor of Engineering.

  • Logic is a form of metaphor. - Duality of understanding. - imaginability and symbol manipulability

    • Symbol manipulability is based on imaginability
      • The linguistic aspect of impression is [metaphor
      • Imagination
    • Abstract expressions lead to images through metaphors.
      • “The heart is not full” = likening the heart to a container.
      • He’s testing” = time is the container.
      • Example text: Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
        • What corresponds to the senses in a phenomenon, I name the material of the phenomenon.
        • The arrangement of the various contents of a phenomenon in terms of certain relationships is called the form (something takes) of the phenomenon.
      • This “organizing” is not human in subject (it is a form) → pseudo-human metaphor.
    • Logic is a form of metaphor.
      • What is the “form” or “common property” of the container metaphor → a closed line divides the space into two parts.
        • True or false in formal logic is inside or outside a set, so it corresponds to the logic of containers
      • The form of the simile metaphor is a triad of “subject, object, and action”

  • Japanese Logic and English Logic

    • The logic of English is the logic of the subject
      • Both generative and cognitive grammar are subject logic
      • In English, inanimate subjects are common.
    • Is “subject-predicate” universal?
      • Not many subject-mandatory languages
        • English, German, French, Dutch…
        • Countries that strongly influenced the process of Japan’s opening to the world
    • The “subject-commentary” relationship
      • The predicate is the central element of the sentence
      • The “carried” is central, and both “who” and “what” are complements and tautologies.
        • Omitted if not required.
    • The basis of Japanese logic is container logic
      • Japanese has many expressions that make people “places”.
        • English often compares inanimate objects to people; Japanese often compares people to places.
      • Taro-san has a lot of experience” = “Taro-san has a lot of experience in his container.
      • Spring is at its most beautiful at dawn.
        • Spring is not the dawn of a new year.
        • Akebono is the best in the container called spring, he says.
    • one grammar, two logic
      • I am not claiming that “English is only the logic of the subject, Japanese is only the logic of space.”
      • The logic often used is the logic of the subject in English and the logic of space in Japanese.
      • The elephant carried the load” is the subject’s logic, and the Japanese can understand this.
      • It’s hard to explain “elephants have long noses” using subject logic.
        • The logic of space is that “long nose” is valid in the container of “elephant”.
      • Evening has come.”
        • The Logic of the Entity from Which Evening Comes
    • Case particles as spatial logic

  • The basis of Japanese logic is propositional logic.

    • Propositional logic is of the form [Container Metaphor
      • Correspondence between “is/is not X” and “in/out of container
    • The predicate is of the form [simile of a simile of a simile of a simile
      • A predicate here is not a “predicate” of “subject predicate” but a predicate of “predicate logic

      • For example, if “Socrates” is represented by the term s, and P is the predicate symbol for “is a human being,” then P(s) gives a logical formula with the truth “Socrates is a human being.”

      • https://www.sist.ac.jp/~kanakubo/research/reasoning_kr/predicate_logic.html

      • This P(s) is the predicate
        • Propositional logic plus predicates is classical logic
      • A do B” is subject-object-action, so subject logic
      • A is B” is a kind of
      • Dutch also has a corresponding expression for is (be verb) (is for third person singular)
      • At the time of the opening of the country, Japan did not have a corresponding expression.
      • Then “is” was coined (Ch. Yanagi, “The history of the formation of translated words”) → The history of.
      • A is B” = “In a container called A, B de al.”
        • I’m not familiar with the term “container,” but it means “B holds in a set that satisfies the condition A.”

  • Japanese is not illogical and Japanese logic is not unique. The difference from Western languages is the ratio of the use of subject logic and spatial logic.

relevance - Geitaro Nishida 「 Logic of Location 」

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/日本語は論理的である using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.

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