Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese

  • James M. Unger
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Shared Grammaticalization
This chapter is in the book Shared Grammaticalization

Abstract

Double-negative periphrastic litotes have been for nearly three centuries the usual way to express necessitive predicates in Japanese and Korean. These constructions do not, however, go back to the earliest stages of these languages and should not be invoked as evidence of a possible common origin. But Korean also has a double-affirmative periphrastic necessitive construction. Premodern Japanese has no overt counterpart to it, but it does have an auxiliary adjective that expresses necessity. I argue that this auxiliary was a grammaticalization of a periphrastic analogous in form and meaning to the Korean double-affirmative necessitive, and should be considered as evidence of a common origin. Looking at sampling of Transeurasian languages other than Korean and Japanese, it seems that double-affirmative necessitives may have been an innovation of a branch of Proto-Tungusic that later split into Proto-Korean-Japanese and the predecessor of Manchu.

Abstract

Double-negative periphrastic litotes have been for nearly three centuries the usual way to express necessitive predicates in Japanese and Korean. These constructions do not, however, go back to the earliest stages of these languages and should not be invoked as evidence of a possible common origin. But Korean also has a double-affirmative periphrastic necessitive construction. Premodern Japanese has no overt counterpart to it, but it does have an auxiliary adjective that expresses necessity. I argue that this auxiliary was a grammaticalization of a periphrastic analogous in form and meaning to the Korean double-affirmative necessitive, and should be considered as evidence of a common origin. Looking at sampling of Transeurasian languages other than Korean and Japanese, it seems that double-affirmative necessitives may have been an innovation of a branch of Proto-Tungusic that later split into Proto-Korean-Japanese and the predecessor of Manchu.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xi
  5. List of contributors xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. Chapter 1. Towards a typology of shared grammaticalization 1
  8. Part I. Shared grammaticalization: Typological and theoretical aspects
  9. Chapter 2. Areal diffusion and parallelism in drift 23
  10. Chapter 3. Demystifying drift 43
  11. Chapter 4. Contact-induced replication 67
  12. Chapter 5. Isomorphic processes 101
  13. Part II. Shared grammaticalization in the Transeurasian languages
  14. Chapter 6. Scalar additive operators in Transeurasian languages 113
  15. Chapter 7. Genealogically motivated grammaticalization 147
  16. Chapter 8. Verbalization and insubordination in Siberian languages 177
  17. Part III. Shared grammaticalization in the Altaic languages
  18. Chapter 9. Personal pronouns in Core Altaic 211
  19. Chapter 10. Postposed indefinite articles in Mongolic and Turkic languages of the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund 227
  20. Chapter 11. Growing apart in shared grammaticalization 251
  21. Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven 259
  22. Part IV. Shared grammaticalization in Japanese and Korean
  23. Chapter 13. Grammaticalization of space in Korean and Japanese 287
  24. Chapter 14. Grammaticalization of allocutivity markers in Japanese and Korean in a crosslinguistic perspective 317
  25. Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese 341
  26. Language index 355
  27. Subject index 359
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.132.23ung

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xi
  5. List of contributors xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. Chapter 1. Towards a typology of shared grammaticalization 1
  8. Part I. Shared grammaticalization: Typological and theoretical aspects
  9. Chapter 2. Areal diffusion and parallelism in drift 23
  10. Chapter 3. Demystifying drift 43
  11. Chapter 4. Contact-induced replication 67
  12. Chapter 5. Isomorphic processes 101
  13. Part II. Shared grammaticalization in the Transeurasian languages
  14. Chapter 6. Scalar additive operators in Transeurasian languages 113
  15. Chapter 7. Genealogically motivated grammaticalization 147
  16. Chapter 8. Verbalization and insubordination in Siberian languages 177
  17. Part III. Shared grammaticalization in the Altaic languages
  18. Chapter 9. Personal pronouns in Core Altaic 211
  19. Chapter 10. Postposed indefinite articles in Mongolic and Turkic languages of the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund 227
  20. Chapter 11. Growing apart in shared grammaticalization 251
  21. Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven 259
  22. Part IV. Shared grammaticalization in Japanese and Korean
  23. Chapter 13. Grammaticalization of space in Korean and Japanese 287
  24. Chapter 14. Grammaticalization of allocutivity markers in Japanese and Korean in a crosslinguistic perspective 317
  25. Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese 341
  26. Language index 355
  27. Subject index 359
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 22.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/slcs.132.23ung/html
Scroll to top button