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what about:



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I very much appreciate your informing me about markedness. –  kinyo Dec 4 '13 at 23:45
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3 Answers

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1 Common knowledge:


2 Contextual/Situational:




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We NEVER say 新幹線の速さは何ですか？ You guys are "translating" way too much. –  Tokyo Nagoya Dec 4 '13 at 14:21
@VictorySaber. yes. You are missing something. To wit: "What is the speed of that Porsche?". If it were made in the 1950s and compared to a Porsche made in 2013, I'd be slow. Compared to other cars in the 1950s, I'd be fast. But, compared to train travel in the 1950s, I don't know if it's fast, slow, or probably it depends on the terrain? So, how could you possibly rely on preconception to choose "速さ" or "遅さ"??? Speed is an absolute measurement that has nothing to do with anything else's speed. And then, extrapolate that to every other Japanese adjective. That is my question. –  kinyo Dec 4 '13 at 14:25
@VictorySaber. My problem is that I can't decide "速さ" or "遅さ" for (1) the speed of a human running a marathon. (2) the speed of downloading a tarball. (3) the speed of light as it goes thru saline. People like yourself have the intuition to know what is "fast" and what is "slow". But, I don't. That's why I'm asking for help. –  kinyo Dec 4 '13 at 20:50
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Be careful regarding nouns vs. adjectives.


  1. This is basically same as in English.





You can apply this same strategy to the snail sentence:


"How slow is a snail?"

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The question was if "速さ" is "speed", then why is not "遅さ" also "speed"? If "高さ" is height, why is not "低さ" also height? While most English native speakers can sense which to use, I didn't understand why. Snailboat nailed it with the recognition of markedness. wow. I'm still amazed by the markedness abstraction. –  kinyo Dec 5 '13 at 0:23
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