You might find this book interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3JCPMC8JA … hisHelpful
It's also available online in its pre-publication form. It dispenses with all that "masu form" and "Te form" craziness used in typical classrooms and gets down to the foundation of Japanese language.
Here's a link to the book on the author's website:
http://grammar.nihongoresources.com/doku.php
EDIT: A couple of examples (my emphasis):
1. In Japanese, all verb inflections are in fact chains of helper verbs and verbal adjectives, but rather than being a long list of separated verbs like in English, they are added to the base verb one by one until all the tenses, moods and aspects have been dealt with. For instance, the verb construction 待たされていました means ”(I) had been made to wait”. While hard to tell without spaces or a knowledge of verbal grammar at this point, this is actually a series of six verbs chained together in a very specific way:
First, we see (ま)た, the imperfect base form for 待つ, “wait”. This base form (未然形) is used when forming the negative, passive, causative or 'pseudo-future' form of a verb. Then we see され, the continuative base for the helper verb for causatives, される. This base form (連用形 ) is a general purpose 'intermediate form' for a great number of inflections. Then て, the continuative base for the helper verb for conjunction, つ. Then い, the continuative base for the verb いる, “to be” for animate objects. Combined with て it forms the ”-ている” form, which marks a verb as present progressive. Then まし, the continuative base for the helper verb for politeness, ます. Then finally た, the terminal base (連体形) for the helper verb for past tense, た.
2. (On 'ありがとうございます')
As mentioned in the adjective section, this is an example of classical adjective pronunciation, and is actually a long chain of conjugations:
ある in 連用形 + 難い in classical pronunciation*+ ござる in 連用形 + ます
↓
あり + がとう + ござい + ます
↓
ありがとうございます
This literally means “this is a difficult thing to accept”, stemming from the concept of becoming indebted to someone who helps you. As becoming (further) indebted to someone is always a hard thing to accept, this phrase is used instead of a separate word for thanking...
* This final section is not about how classical adjectives inflect, but is actually about what happens when we pair modern verbal adjectives with certain special verbs, such as ござる and 出でる. While these very rarely get used on their own, there are certain set uses for them, where they pair up with specific adverbs, derived from verbal adjectives. In these cases, the adverbial form of the verbal adjective actually undergoes a sound change, the 連用形 く becoming a う instead, and leading to four possible classical pronunciation changes (meaning they will potentially change the pronunciation of the adjective with blatant disregard of their kanji):
If the syllable preceding the 連用形 く is an あ row syllable, the adverb gets an —おう sound instead:
早い becomes はや[く→う], which contracts to 早う.
有難い becomes ありがた[く→う], which contracts to 有難う.
Last edited by Oniichan (2012 September 11, 8:49 pm)
