1. Introduction

Japanese passive sentences are part of the subject content often considered difficult by the foreign language students, including students from Indonesia. The errors in the use of passive Japanese sentences for Indonesian students have been studied by Tanaka[11] and Sutedi[8]. These errors are caused by the interference from the Indonesian language. This is because of the differences between passive sentence structures in Japanese and Indonesian language. For example, in Japanese passive, (a) there exists direct passive (chokusetsu ukemi) and indirect passive (kansetsu ukemi); (b) predicates can use transitive, ditransitive, and intransitive verbs; and (c) inanimate noun cannot be a subject by itself. Such rules are not found in the Indonesian language, making them difficult to understand.

So far, Japanese passive is generally divided into two major parts, namely (1) direct passive and (2) indirect passive. Direct passive is the passive voice sentence in which the subject comes from the object of the active voice, whether it is direct object or indirect object. Based on the type of subject, this passive structure is further divided into (a) passive with animate noun subjects and (b) passive with inanimate noun subjects. Indirect passive is a passive voice sentence which subject is not derived from the object of the active sentence, but rather from the outside the active sentence. This passive structure is also further divided into (a) passive with predicate using transitive verbs and (b) passive with predicate using intransitive verbs. Passive with predicate using transitive verbs is further divided into (i) passive main part, (ii) passive possession, and (iii) passive non-possession. Thus, there are at least six types of passive sentences in Japanese. All of these passive rules are commonly included in elementary level textbooks, compressed in a single lesson. Ogawa[6] criticized that Japanese passive sentence structure should be sorted into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. This opinion is quite reasonable, considering the materials regarding passive voice that are taught to students are quite extensive.

However, sorting passive sentences should be reviewed again to check if it is correct or incorrect, especially for students whose mother tongue is Indonesian. From sorting passive sentences so far, there turn out to be several passive sentences that have the same function as well as syntax, in which one is acceptable while others are not. This is difficult for Japanese language students. Sorting passive Japanese sentences done by experts so far does not involve the semantic role of each argument that makes up the passive sentence structure. In addition, passive ditransitive and passive intransitive still need to be further sorted into several subtypes, because there are several types that have the same structure.

Therefore, the author tries to sort Japanese passive voice based on the structure that includes function and syntax, with the semantic role of each of the argument that fill those functions. The purpose of this study is to examine, describe, and create a new sorting system for Japanese passive sentences by looking at their function, syntax, and semantic roles, as to obtain clarity on the acceptability of Japanese passive sentences. The results of this new sorting system can be used as reference to revise the Japanese language instructional materials for Indonesian students, especially regarding the matter of passive sentences.

2. Methods

This study aims to describe and classify Japanese passive sentences with regard to their function, syntax, and semantic roles. Therefore, the method used is the descriptive method of analysis. The data required consists of examples of passive sentences from various novels, newspapers, and other writing materials that are classified as standard modern Japanese. The data was collected using the methods of listening and writing, while the data processing was done by using the distributional method through technique of change, technique of insertion, technique of parenthesis, technique of expansion, and technique of transformation.

3. Theoretical Review

This study does not refer to one theory, but uses several theories in a diverse manner. The theory of assessing passive sentence structure refers to Kridalaksana[2, 3], Muraki[4, 5], Hasegawa[6], Tsunoda[12], Verhaar[13, 14], and Parera[7], which asserts that sentence (clause) analysis can be done through discussing the issues of syntactic function, syntactic categories, and semantic roles.

Issues concerning the syntactic functions consist of the sentence elements like subject, predicate, object, and complement that are used in Japanese passive sentences. Syntactic category is associated with the types of nouns that can be used for the subject, object, and complement, as well as the types of verbs that can be used as predicates in the Japanesepassive sentences. Nouns that are used as subjects are divided into smaller sub-categories, such as animate nouns animate (human or animal) and inanimate nouns. Verb subcategories are divided based on syntactic and semantic behavior. Based on the syntactic behavior, Japanese verbs are sorted into transitive verbs (tadoushi), ditransitive verbs (nijuu-tadoushi), and intransitive verbs (jidoushi); while based on the semantic behavior, Japanese verbs are sorted into action verbs (dousa doushi), dynamic verbs (henka doushi), and stative verbs (joutai doushi).

The semantic roles that are used are obtained in Muraki (1996, 2004), who states that there are 30 types of roles, including their various elements in the Japanese language. This study certainly does not use all of those semantic roles, but only uses the roles associated with Japanese passive sentences from the existing data. The semantic roles used in this study are, among others, agentive (A), experience (E), objective (O), goals (G), source (S), locative (L), directional (Dir), transitional/path (Pt), objective-change (Oc), objective-effective (Oe), and experience adversative (Ea) that the author devised to distinguish it from the role of ordinary experience. One of the earlier studies regarding passive Japanese sentences used as the main reference is Takami[9, 10].

4. Findings and Discussion

First, sorting the Japanese passive sentences in this study is based on the origin of the subject, as what the previous researchers have done, categorizing them into (1) direct passive (chokusetsu ukemi) or neutral passive (chuuritsu ukemi) and (2) indirect passive (kansetsu ukemi) or adversative passive (meiwaku ukemi). Direct passive is the passive voice sentences in which the subject comes from the object of the active voice, either direct object or indirect object. Judging from the function and the meaning, this passive voice is used to express the neutral meaning. That is, there is no partiality from the speaker. Indirect passive voice is a passive sentence which subject is not derived from object or noun phrase in the active voice, but come from outside the active voice. This passive voice is generally used to express adversative meaning (meiwaku), namely the existence of bias or sympathy from the speaker on the subject of the passive sentence. In short, the speaker or the subject dislikes or is disrupted by what is presented in the active voice.

Second, the type of verbs used for the predicate are divided into (a) neutral passive with predicate using transitive verb (transitive neutral passive), (b) neutral passive with predicate using ditransitive verb (ditransitive neutral passive), (c) adversative passive with predicate using transitive verb, including ditransitive verb (transitive adversative passive), and (d) adversative passive with predicate using intransitive verb (intransitive adversative passive). Neutral passive voice (whether transitive or ditransitive) can be further divided based on the subcategory of the noun used for the subject, into (i) transitive neutral passive with animate noun as the subject (type I), (ii) transitive neutral passive with inanimate noun as the subject, which is divided again based on their semantic roles, into the passive types II ~ VIII, (iii) distransitive neutral passive with animate noun as the subject (type IX), ditransitive neutral passive with inanimate noun as the subject (type X), and ditransitive neutral passive stating the content (type XI) .

Transitive adversative passive is further sorted based on the origin of the subject, into passive possessive (type XII) and passive non-possessive (type XIII). Intransitive adversative passive is sorted based on the semantic roles and the original structure into a regular intransitive adversative passive (type XIV), existence passive (type XV), transfer passive (type XVI), transitional passive (type VII), and change passive (type XVIII). Thus, Japanese passive sentences are divided into 18 types as in the following chart.

Third, sorting Japanese passive sentence structure is based on the function and syntactic category, along with the elements for every FN that fulfills the syntactic function. Results of the analysis show that all 18 types of passive sentences only use 12 types of structures. Therefore, there are the same passive structures that are used by several different types of passive sentences.

Figure 1. Classification of Japanese Passive Sentences

Table 1. Japanese Passive Sentence Structure

Passive Voice Type I

Type I is the neutral passive voice in which the subject (FN1) and its complement (FN2) ses inanimate nouns, with each acting as objective (O) and agentive (A), and thepredicate function uses transitive verb that expresses intentional actions (volitional verb).

Passive Voice Type II

Passive voice type II is a neutral passive voice in which the subject (FN1) uses inanimate nouns which acts as objective role-change (Oc), its complementary function uses acting animate agentive noun (A), and the predicate function is filled by transitive verbs that express volitional acts that imply a sense of damage or detriment to the subject, so it is considered harmful.

Passive Voice Type III

Type III is a neutral passive voice in which the subject (FN1) uses inanimate nouns that act as objective role-change (Oc), complementary (FN2) uses human that acts as agentive (A), and the predicates use transitive verbs that express meaningful deliberate acts that increase the value of the subject, so it is considered beneficial.

Passive Voice Type IV

Type IV is a neutral passive voice in which the subject uses inanimate nouns that act as objective role-change (Oc), complementary uses people who are considered outstanding, and act as agentive (A), and the predicate uses a transitive verbs that express deliberate act. The result of the act is a major influence on the subject, so that it is stated in the passive voice.

Passive Voice Type V

Passive sentence type V is a passive voice in which the subject uses inanimate nouns that acts as objective (O), complementary uses by arbitrary people and acts as agentive (A), and the predicate function uses transitive verbs which express intentional or circumstantialacts.

Passive Voice Type VI

Passive voice type VI is a passive sentence in which a subject uses inanimate nouns that act as objective (O), complementary (adverb) filled by inanimate nouns that act as locative (L), instrumental (I), or non-locational source (Ns) , and the predicate uses transitive verbs that express a stative state, process, or verbs that are presented in the form of resultative aspects.

Passive Voice Type VII

Passive voice type VII is a passive sentence in which the subject uses inanimate nouns which act as objectively effective (Oe) or factitive (F), the complementary uses inanimate nouns that are followed by the elements in NI YOTTE which act as agentive (A), and the predicate uses transitive verbs that express intentional acts that suggest the making, invention, or creation of something (the subject) that does not exist before.

Passive Voice Type VIII

Passive voice type VIII is a passive sentence in which the subject is uses inanimate noun with objective (O) role, its complementary function with the agentive role is not discusses, and the predicate uses transitive verbs that express intentional acts.

Passive Voice Type IX

Passive voice type IX is a neutral passive sentence with ditransitive verb predicates, in which the subject comes from the indirect object of the active voice. This passive voice has four syntactic functions, namely, the subject (FN1), complementary (FN2), object (FN3), and predicate (Pred). FN1 uses animate noun which acts as a source (S), FN2 uses animate noun with agentive (A) role, FN3 uses noun with objective (O) role, and the predicate uses ditransitive verb that expresses volitional actions.

Passive Voice Type X

Passive voice type X is a neutral passive with ditransitive verb predicates, in which the subject is derived from the direct object of the active sentence. This passive type has foursyntactic functions, namely the subject (FN1), complementary (FN2), description (FN3), and predicate that uses ditransitive verbs. Subject (FN1), complementary (FN2), or description (FN3) all use nouns, and the predicate uses ditransitive verb that expresses volitional act..

Passive Voice Type XI

Passive voice type XI has four syntactic functions, namely the subject (FN1), complementary (FN2), description (FN3), and predicate (V-areru). FN1 uses noun with objective (O), FN2 uses a human with agentive (A) role, FN3 uses a noun phrase that is followed by TO element with content (Ct) role, and the predicate uses transitive verb (volitional verb) that could follow the TO element.

Passive Voice Type XII

Passive voice type XII is an adversative passive sentence which subject comes from the owner that becomes the object in the active voice. This passive type has four syntactic function, namely the subject (FN1), complement (FN2), object (FN3), and predicate. FN1 uses human who acts as an experience adversative (Ea), FN2 uses animate noun with agentive (A) role, FN3 uses a noun with objective (O) role, and the predicate is uses a transitive verb that expresses a volitional act.

5. Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on function and syntactic category (subcategory), as well as semantic roles, Japanese passive sentences can be classified into 18 new types, although there are some types that use the same structure, they can be distinguished by analyzing those three things. Neutral transitive passive consists of passive with animate noun subject (type I) and passive with inanimate noun subject (type II ~ VIII); ditransitive passive consists of three types (types IX, X, and XI); adversative transitive passive consists of two types (type XII, XIII), and adversative intransitive passive consists of five types (type XIV ~ XVIII) with their own characteristics. All the eighteen types of passive voice can be used as a reference for to revise the teaching materials for Japanese language in Indonesia, because the characteristics and conditions for each type are already clear. This material can be presented up to the proficient level, based on the level of difficulty.

There are several things that need to be followed up in this study, which include first to determine which material should be presented earlier and which should be presented to the intermediate level, this can be determined after it has been contrasted with the passive sentences in Indonesian. Therefore, all 18 types of passive sentences can be contrasted with the Indonesian passive forms, so it will be known which type corresponds to the Indonesian passive form, and which type cannot be compared with the Indonesian passive form. For that, research on passive contrastive in Japanese and Indonesian is needed.