Diego Collados Grammar of the Japanese Language | Page 7

73-73v and 140-148v); the term artigo is used for those
particles having the functions of the inflectional endings of Latin; e.g.,
ga, ye, and ni (cf. 1-2, 78, and 137-140); and the general term particula
is used to cover the broad spectrum of particles that include adverbs,
conjunctions, and exclamations, as well as those otherwise unaccounted
for elements which end phrases, clauses, and sentences; e.g., no, nite,
and yo (cf. 77-78 and 144-154v).
Collado, rather than attempting to refine the system suggested by
Rodriguez, follows the Arte in listing as praepositio those elements
which translate the Latin prepositions (pp. 57-59) but uses the term
particula to cover all the other particles of the language.
This tendency of Collado's to retreat from the challenging problems left
unresolved by Rodriguez constitutes the greatest weakness of his
description. Given concise grammatical descriptions on the one hand
and over-simplified versions of previous works on the other, the Ars
Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae unfortunately falls among the latter.
In his shorter work, the Arte Breve of 1620, Rodriguez retains the same

general format, but makes every effort to reduce the description to its
barest essentials. Thus:
BOOK I
A General Note on the Language 1-2 An Essay on How to Learn the
Language 2v-6 The Orthography 6-8 Composition of the Syllables
8v-9v The Way to Write and Pronounce the Letters 10-12v The
Declension of Nouns 13-18 The Conjugation and Formation of Verbs
18-52 {14}
BOOK II
The Rudimenta 52-59v The Syntax 59v-66v
BOOK III
The Written Language 67-75 The Various Kinds of Names 75v-98v
Of particular interest in the context of Collado's grammar is the manner
in which Rodriguez displays the verbal system. While the Ars
Grammaticae presents the verbal system as a series of alterational rules
to be applied to the base forms, the Arte Breve goes even further than
the Arte to differentiate the formational rules from the conjugational
displays. Rodriguez tries several devices to elucidate his material. For
example, Charts A and B below represent very early attempts to use a
bordered format for linguistic description.
In order to indicate the differences to be found between the descriptions
presented by Rodriguez and Collado, I have extracted the formational
rules from the Arte Breve and, setting aside only two short appendices
dealing with variant forms, present them here in their entirety.
THE CONJUGATION AND FORMATION OF THE TENSES AND
MOODS OF THE VERBS
All the verbs of this language may be reduced (se reduzem) to four
affirmative and three negative conjugations. This is because the

negative conjugation of the adjectival verb, which we discussed
before,[11] agrees with the second of the three conjugations; and the
conjugation of the substantive verb S[vo]rai, S[vo]r[vo], or soro, which
is an abbreviated form of Samburai, sambur[vo][12] both in the
affirmative and the negative is reduced to the third conjugation. At this
point we will treat the three affirmative and three negative ordinary
conjugations of the regular personal verbs.[13] Following this, and on
account of its particular usage and formation, we will discuss the
conjugation of the adjectival verb.
The verbs of this language do not change (naõ f[~e] variedade) to show
person and number as do those of Latin; rather, one form (voz) {15} is
used for all persons, singular and plural. Number and person are
understood according to the subject (Naminativo [sic]), or pronoun,
which is joined to the verb. The moods of the verb, which in this
language have distinct forms for the tenses, are indicative, imperative,
conjunctive, conditional, and preterit participle. The remaining moods
are made up of these forms joined to certain particles. Each mood has
but three tenses which have distinct forms; these are preterit, present,
and future. These forms are signified by the Japanese terms (vocabulos)
Quaco, ghenzai, mirai. The preterit imperfect and pluperfect are made
up of the present, preterit, and preterit participle together with the
substantive verb, as will be seen below in the conjugations.
Concerning the formation of the tenses and moods of the verbs in
general, one is reminded that to understand the actual root (raiz) and
the natural formation of all the tenses and moods, both affirmative and
negative, it is extremely important to take notice of the usage of the
Goyn,[14] which are the five vowels (cinco letras vogaes) in the
syllables which are below each aforementioned formation; and that it
is also important to understand Canadzucai,[15] which is the way to
write with Firagana as well as the way one joins together syllables, or
letters, to form other words (palauras), while noticing which syllable is
changed by which, what constitutes long, short, or diphthongal
syllables, which combinations cause contraction (sincope), which
cause augmentation (incremento) of the verb, whether one makes a
syllable liquid (liquescit)[16] or not, and how the tenses of the moods

are written with the same