Theory Desk · Research findings
Kanji Morphology

Kanji Morphology × Valency

Theory Desk · Research findings

Kanji Morphology × Valency

Kanji are morphographic orthography in a mixed Japanese writing system. Valency arguments on this site come from classifier packaging and light-verb Argument Transfer — with kanji as the way those pieces are written, not as syntactic heads.

Dig #1 complete · 2026-09-29 PT Bridge unlocked

Research notes → site content (v0) · Speculation flagged · Kanji ≠ syntax

Orientation
What you’ll find

  • Morphography primers distilled from Honda 2019 and Joyce 2011.

  • Packaging diagnostics that earn: Japanese classifiers (Oho 2019) and VN + light suru Argument Transfer (Grimshaw & Mester 1988).

  • Worked examples with Japanese orthography and HTML <ruby> readings.

  • A literature map with REAL / SPECULATIVE / OPEN tags and fetch-status honesty.

  • Display notes for a later KanjiVG + KANJIDIC2 + ruby stack (orthogonal to analysis).

What you won’t find

  • The ideographic myth — characters as idea-symbols without language.

  • Kanji as syntactic heads (Merge, Agree, Case, Voice, Appl).

  • A kanji↔doping joint field, or any materials analogy treated as literature.

  • On/kun readings counted as linguistic arity.

  • Bridge A revision from this desk.

Status · Dig #1. Literature map, primers, worked examples, site IA, and display planning written 2026-09-29 (PT). Product repo: crimsonflower420/Kanji-Morphology (private). Bridge unlocked — no doping claims.
Hard rule. Kanji ≠ syntax. Graphs are orthographic correlates of stems, counters, and VN stems. Packaging arguments cite classifiers and Argument Transfer — not stroke order, radicals-as-operators, or readings-as-arity.