Wednesday, October 2, 2019

grammar - Why is it 日本語がわかります instead of 日本語をわかります?


From what I understand, は is the topic marker, が is the subject marker, and を is the object marker.



One of the first sentences I learned doesn't seem to fit the rules I described above. The sentence is:



わたしは日本語がわかります.
watashi wa nihongo ga   wakarimasu
I   topic Japanese subject understand
'I understand Japanese.'



In this sentence, why does 日本語 have the subject marker attached to it? Shouldn't 日本語 be the object of the sentence?



Answer



There is a class of Japanese verbs (and more generally, predicates) whose subjects and objects take が.[1] For example:




  • あの学生がその本が要る。(Ano gakusei ga sono hon ga iru. "That student needs your book.")

  • 猫が魚が好きだ。(Neko ga sakana ga suki da. "Cats like fish.")

  • 私が日本語が分かる。 (Watashi ga nihongo ga wakaru. "I understand Japanese.")


(Of couse, these がs can be replaced with は, も, etc. depending on the sentence.)


What is the difference between these verbs and verbs whose objects are marked by を? Volition. From my textbook:



These relate to conditions or occurences which come about apart from human decision, will, or volition, such as understanding, needing, or being able.




You cannot help understanding Japanese — you just do. Thus, 「日本語」 is not something you are doing something to, and does not take を.


Edit: I should add that in modern colloquial Japanese, sometimes the object of these verbs takes を, which changes the focus of the sentence a little. See my answer to this question.


[1] My textbook (Japanese: The Spoken Language) calls these "double-ga predicates" or "affective predicates," contrasted with "operational predicates." I am not sure what other names they go by.


talmud gemara - What sages were known to have revived the dead?


The Talmud speaks of several rabbis who successfully appealed to G-d to revive a deceased colleague or some other individual. As I recall, one revived rabbi asked to be return to the world of the dead. I can't place the names or incidents, however, and I'm having trouble searching the issue without getting lots of info about the rabbis' view on how Hashem will revive the dead in the Messianic Era. Can anyone help?



Answer



Rabbi Chanina bar Chama brought back one of Antoninus' servants to life (Avodah Zara 10b):



Rabbi Haninah bar Hama thereupon went out but found that the man had been slain. Thought he, “How shall I act now? Shall I call and say that the man is dead?—but one should not bring a sad report; shall I leave him and walk away?—that would be slighting the king.”


So he prayed for mercy for the man, and he was restored to life. He then sent him in. Said Antoninus: “I am well aware that the least one among you can bring the dead to life, still when I call let no one be found with you.”




history - Why has を been spared but ゐ and ゑ been deemed obsolete?


According to When is the katakana form of wo (ヲ) used?, を is almost always used only for the particle, and is usually pronounced o (お).



There are some dialects where を is pronounced with a "w", but the same is true for the obsolete kana ゐ and ゑ:



Because the pronunciation was lost. "Wi" and "we" are still in some dialects, but standard Japanese does not have those sounds. These characters were just spelling. Similarly in English, we pronounce "through" as "thru" because the "gh" sound is long gone. [emphasis added]



Why was を spared even though ゐ and ゑ have been deemed obsolete? Was changing the writing of the object marker particle seen as too radical a change? Or is を pronounced "wo" more widely than ゐ and ゑ are pronounced as "wi" and "we"?



Answer



As @ZhenLin said in the comments, there are three particles left unchanged in the reform of the usage of kana: は へ を.


They are left unchanged because they are so widely used, and changing them would result in too much in the writing form. I quote from a book*(I don't know the book, so the contents are in fact from wiki):




*現代かなづかいの精神・抜粋(国語シリーズ8/文部省著、統計出版・昭和27年3月)

The spirit of the modern Kana usage (an extract) (Japanese Language Series 8, By the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)





「本を読む」のををば、をと書く例外をことわっている。これが問題である。なぜこんな例外を許したか。例外にせずに、これも「お」と書いたらよいではないか、という非難がごうごうと聞える。これには、こういう理由がある。


もちろん例外は、よくよくでないかぎりは設けないほうがよい。委員会でもそれは皆心得ていたことなのである。だから、この例外を設けたのは、よくよくのことなのである。


およそ改革は、ことに万人の所有である言語の改革は、まさつの少ない、万人のすぐついてこられるものでなければ、案がいかにりっぱでも、机上の理想論に終って、実現ができない。理想としては、だれもだれも助詞のををもおにしてしまいたい。しかし、助詞というもの、ことに「が」「の」「に」「を」「へ」「は」などは、最もたくさん出てくる。〔中略〕いちいち



これわ それわ わたくしわ
それお これお わたくしお
これえ それえ わたくしえ




というように書くようになると、あまりにも、今までと変りすぎて異様さが目だち、ちょっと実行の手がにぶる。この助詞さえ、もし今までどおりにして置いてよかったら、他の点は、漢字で書くとほとんど隠れて、新かなづかいも、大部分今までどおりで済む〔中略〕助詞だけは漢字で書けず、いつもかなであって、必ずひっかかる、いちいち直すにかかる手もうるさいが、見る目にも抵抗が多過ぎて、すぐ実行できるか、あやぶまれる。これが、大新聞社側の決定的な意見であった〔中略〕いかにも、「わ」「お」「え」が、目にたって、一見異様であって親しめなかった記憶が、ある委員たちにもあったのである。


大事の前の小事である。実行できない案では、いかに美しくってもなんにもならない。要は実行できる案でなければ、一時強行されても、少しでも無理があると、動天返しになる憂いがある。
そこで委員会も、助詞を元どおりにのこすという妥協案を決定するよりほかにしかたがなかったようである。



"There is exceptions that を in 本を読む would be written as を. This is a problem. Why the exceptions are permitted? Why not write this as お and elimination all exceptions? Often there are criticisms about this. There is the following reason for this. Of course exceptions should not be allowed unless it can be avoided. The committee is well aware of that. However, these exceptions are the ones that cannot be avoided.


"Reform, especially the reform of language that is used be everybody, unless it can be followed by everybody in a short time, it will only be an ideal plan on the desk, and cannot become true. As an ideal (plan), everybody wanted change the particle を to お. However, the particle, especially 「が」「の」「に」「を」「へ」「は」 are most widely used. If we change them all, and write as


これわ それわ わたくしわ
それお これお わたくしお
これえ それえ わたくしえ



there would be too much change from the original writing, and would be hard to be put into practice. If only these particles are written as the original, other changes will mostly be hidden when kanji is used. The new kana usage will not have too much change in actual writing. (...) Only the particles won't be written in kanji, and are always written in kana, so will certainly be affected (by the reform). Changing all of them will cause too much effort, and it will cause too much resistance from people who read it. This is the decisive comment from the big publishing companies. (...) some members of the committee also (think) that 「わ」「お」「え」will stand out in the text, and make the text not look like normal Japanese.


"This is a 'little thing' before a big reform. A plan that cannot be put into practice will be nothing however good it is. If it is not a practical plan, even it is forced into use, it maybe reversed as long as there are something (unreasonable).


"Thus, the committee has to use the plan that keeps all the particles."


You should see that を is only kept as a particle, its appearances in other words are all changed to お, just like ゐ and ゑ changed to い and え.


Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Implementing Continuous Wavelet Transform


I need to implement the discretized continuous wavelet transform from scratch. Could someone please point me to useful papers and references available online for this?



Answer



In 1D, some of the standard references are:



For a GPU implementation:



electrochemistry - High voltage AC water electrolysis not working


I was trying to use a $500~\mathrm V$ AC power supply to split water, but nothing happened. I tested everything with a $9~\mathrm V$ battery, and it all worked fine.


Why did it not work with the high voltage? (Do not worry, I was taking the proper precautions, such as insulation and three pairs of gloves, and I did not touch any live wires.)




torah study - Why Aharon, Itamar and Elazar were not part of the 70 elders?


Rambam Sanhedrin 2:2 says that the Kohanim are the first to sit in the Sanhedrin:



"וּמִצְוָה לִהְיוֹת בְּסַנְהֶדְרִין גְּדוֹלָה כֹּהֲנִים וּלְוִיִּים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים יז ט) "וּבָאתָ אֶל הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם"."




BT Eruvin 54b presents the method of Moses' Torah study:



תנו רבנן: כיצד סדר משנה? משה למד מפי הגבורה. נכנס אהרן ושנה לו משה פירקו נסתלק אהרן וישב לשמאל משה נכנסו בניו ושנה להן משה פירקן ... נכנסו זקנים ושנה להן משה פירקן נסתלקו זקנים נכנסו כל העם ושנה להן משה פירקן...


What was the order of teaching the Oral Law? Moses learned directly from the mouth of the Almighty. Aaron entered ...and Moses taught him his lesson ... Aaron’s sons entered, and Moses taught them their lesson ... The elders entered and Moses taught them their lesson ... the entire nation entered and Moses taught them their lesson.



According to this Gemmorah, neither Aharon nor his two remaining sons were part of the 70 elders. Pinchas is not mentioned at all. This contradicts the Rambam's conclusion. BTW Rambam himself brings this Gemmorah in his Introduction to Mishnah.


How come?


PS: I think it is needless to say that the Sanhedrin is "thought to be" the 70 elders.




halacha - When is there Kaddish after a shiur?


When do you say Kaddish Derabanan after a shiur? What are the requirements for this Kaddish?



Answer



R' Scheinberg said kaddish derabbanan after every shiur, since there was Torah shebaal pe berabim (which makes more sense than saying kaddish after "korbanos", pitum haketores and bame madlikin which we just daven off).


digital communications - Understanding the Matched Filter

I have a question about matched filtering. Does the matched filter maximise the SNR at the moment of decision only? As far as I understand, ...