Making Noun Adjuncts in Japanese

[dagiarrat]

A noun adjunct is a feature present in germanic languages and absent in most romance languages allowing the use of nouns to describe other nouns without any inflection. Examples include "chicken noodle soup", "downtown apartment complex" and "Japanese language proficiency test". In Italian, I would just say "pastina in brodo di pollo" (little pasta in a broth of chicken), "complesso di apartamenti in centro" (complex of apartments in downtown) and "esame della conoscenza della lingua giapponese" (test of proficiency in the Japanese language). Notice in all cases, I must use prepositions to separate the nouns and describe their relationships.

In Japanese, on the other hand, I find that in some cases particles are required whereas in others they're not. For example, I would feel the need to say 高校の教師 and feel like 高校教師 is incorrect, whereas I encounter words like 心臓麻痺 and 身体障害者 and 国会議事堂 all the time, and it's unclear to me when trying to express a new idea whether I should use particles, especially when the characters in these multi-kanji monsters are read in a way that suggests they really are adjunct nouns as in English, two nouns smashed together (e.g. "shinzou" means "heart", "mahi" means paralysis, and "shinzoumahi" means "heart attack").

To be clear, it's not compound words (熟語) that bother me, because in those, the reading usually changes to an onyomi or an alternate kunyomi. It's when the readings don't change at all that I get antsy about particle use.

I'm also a bit confused about phrases like "撮影禁止" as I'm not sure why they wouldn't just say "Cameras are prohibited" as a full sentence. I am not concerned with things like "郵便局" or "図書館" or "繁華街", as they all seem to have suffix-like characters that identify what kind of thing the word refers to, which I have seen frequently.

So here's my problem. I would like to label the notebook I am using for Japanese practice "Japanese Practice Notebook". What I'm unsure of is whether I should write "日本語練習のノート", "日本語練習ノート" or something else? Thanks in advance!

 

[Toritoribe]

First, 高校教師 is commonly used for "high school teacher".
日本語練習ノート/日本語練習帳 is the most common as a title.
In the examples you listed, it can be considered that the particles or verbal suffixes are omitted since they can be supplemented from the relation between the words.
e.g.
高校の教師
心臓の麻痺
身体に障害がある者
国の会議を議事する堂

 

[dagiarrat]

First, 高校教師 is commonly used for "high school teacher".
日本語練習ノート/日本語練習帳 is the most common as a title.
In the examples you listed, it can be considered that the particles or verbal suffixes are omitted since they can be supplemented from the relation between the words.
e.g.
高校の教師
心臓の麻痺
身体に障害がある者
国の会議を議事する堂

Thank you very much for the reply. I could use a little clarification.

First, because there are fitting particles/verbal suffixes which have been omitted, would it be necessarily incorrect to use them, or would it just sound stilted? Further, when speaking English, I tend to use adjunct nouns even if it isn't an established term, e.g. if I wanted to describe the computer I use to paint on, I would call it my "art computer" or "painting computer" rather than "the computer on which I paint", and this would feel to me more natural. Is this acceptable form in Japanese? I ask because my examples are all established terms for things and not ones I thought up.

Second, if 日本語練習ノート is standard as a title, would it also be acceptable in speech? As in 「僕の日本語練習ノートがあります。」

 

[Toritoribe]

"Painting computer" can mean "a computer that is used for painting" in English, right? Similarly, a coined word is acceptable in a situation that it's not misinterpreted also in Japanese. If you need to clarify the meaning, something like デコパソ (decorated personal computer) or 描画用コンピュータ are used instead of ペインティングコンピュータ.

日本語練習ノート wouldn't be misinterpreted the meaning, but 日本語練習用のノート is more common when you first mentioned it in speech.

 

[dagiarrat]

Thank you so much, that makes it much clearer!

 

[dagiarrat]

Do you know about my first question? If anyone does, that would really help. What I mean is, if I said 身体に障害がある者 , would that necessarily be incorrect or just stilted?

 

[Toritoribe]

身体障害者 is more formal and 身体に障害が/のある人/方 sounds softer. However, the difference in nuance totally depends on the word. No one uses 国の会議を議事する堂, for instance.

 

[dagiarrat]

Thanks very much. That is remarkably similar to English, which I'm glad to know, like saying "disabled person" versus "a person with physical disabilities". Thanks a lot.