Saturday, May 4, 2019

Same kanji compound, with different readings, and meanings depend on the reading? (heteronyms)


In the thread titled is "こっかい" a heteronym?, the accepted answer explains that there are some because of "pitch accent". However, in Japanese, there are more than one way to think about heteronyms.


Aren't there heteronyms with these specifications:



  1. one kanji compound (with possible okurigana).

  2. two possible ways to write it in hiragana (to eliminate the "pitch inflection" variable).

  3. two definitions, and the definitions depend on the hiragana writings.



example:
新聞::しんぶん::newspaper.
新聞::あらたきき::something heard for the first time. <--- imaginary word


What are a few of such words?


EDIT: This question is answered in the "comment" section. So, mark this as answered.



Answer



There are a number of words like this. The most obvious one that comes to mind is 方, which can be read かた (polite "person") or ほう ("alternative", perhaps). Another example is 青山, which can be read あおやま ("a lush mountain") or せいざん ("a lush mountain" OR [metaphorically] "where one dies"). Also 心中, which can be read しんちゅう ("one's heart" or something like that) or しんじゅう ("lover's suicide"). 側, which can be そば ("physical proximity" or something) or がわ (non-literally, "a side"). I think there are a lot of words like this.


If you restrict to just words with different 訓読み readings, 空く is one example: it can be read あく (which cannot mean "to be hungry") or すく (which can mean that, as in 腹が空いた [though I think you usually wouldn't use the kanji there]). You also have examples where one of the readings is "proper", like 行方, which can be read ゆくえ ("whereabouts") or なめがた (a proper noun: a particular city in Ibaraki).


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