Compound verbs with meaning of reciprocal and joint action in modern Japanese language

This article analyzes compound verbs of modern Japanese language belonging to the reciprocal and joint action group expressing quantitative meaning. It also discusses the term ‘compound verb' and its understanding in Russian and foreign linguistics. The compound verb is a verb in which from the left side a nominal, verbal or adjective component may be added to a verb functioning as a second component of the compound verb, from the right side - the auxiliary verb suru ‘to do'. We suppose that the compound verb is a verb combining two verbal components. The first component has the form of a connective form of the verb, and the second one is a verb having a full word inflectional paradigm. Components 合う- au and 合わせる - awaseru are used as affixes in analyzed compound verbs. Compound verbs with reciprocal meaning with component 合う - au express subjective reciprocal meaning and suppose existence of two participants of action. Compound verbs with joint action meaning with component 合う- au can express an indefinite quantity of subjects of action with the help of using adverbs or the appropriate lexicon as the subject of a sentence. The second component 合う- au easily adjoins to the verbs implying existence of a partner and doesn't join to verbs which have a strong meaning of individuality and separateness. The second component 合わせる - awaseru partially keeps its own lexical meaning and the compound verb overall has an objective reciprocal meaning and expresses the quantity of subjects or objects. Compound verbs with component 合わせる- awaseru have the following meanings: 1. Combination of two subjects or two items. In this group as a first component the verbs with meaning ‘joint, adding' and verbs with meaning ‘sudden joint action of partners' are often used. 2. Adding one subject to another, one item to another. Compound verb overall expresses meaning of the result of action. 3. Adaptation to some circumstances, comparison. Conclusion is made based on the comparison of some items.