154 CHAPTER 4. PARTICLES
prefix meaning”all ...”, ”every ...”
”every ...”
”new ...”
”big” (two possible common pronunciations)
”small” (two possible common pronunciations)
”re-”
”most ...”
”anti-”, ”counter-”
”semi-”, ”demi-”, ”incomplete”
indicates a boundary or limit
an intensifying prefix(Note that the consonant double in becomes an when
this prefix is paired with words starting with a –column or –column
syllable, such as
)
There are more, mainly due to the fact that many nouns in Japanese
are compound nouns. Thus, any part of a compound noun that gets used
by several words in roughly the same meaning can be considered a prefix
of sorts.
4.2 Particles.
What most people consider ’proper’ particles actually cover a number of
subcategories of particles. There are the grammatical particles, which map
to grammatical interpretations such as direct objects, verb phrase subjects,
disambiguity, etc. They lack any form of translation to languages that leave
grammar implied, and as such can be a bit tricky to learn initially, as it
requires actively learning grammar in order to properly understand what
they do (something which most people have not really been exposed to in
their general education). Aside from these grammatical particles, there is
the set of particles which perform roles similar to what prepositions do in
for instance English. However, because of the way the Japanese language
describes things happening or being in the world, a single Japanese particle
in this category might map to a number of prepositions when translated,
depending on the context in which it is used. Then there are the various
particles for emphasis in all its forms, so it should be clear that we have