The syntax of mood constructions in Old Japanese
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Kerri L. Russell
Abstract
This paper investigates several mood constructions in Old Japanese, the language of eight-century Japan. We focus on imperative, prohibitive, and optative constructions, expressing the desire of the speaker for either the speaker or another entity to perform (or not) in an event or situation (cf. Bybee et al. 1994, Aikhenvald 2010). These forms have been discussed only briefly in previous literature (e.g., Vovin 2009, Frellesvig 2010), and their grammatical properties have not been investigated up to now. The present study uses the Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese, a syntactically annotated corpus, to investigate the expression of the logical subject of mood constructions, i.e., the entity which the speaker desires to perform (or not) the event of the verb. This logical subject is never marked for case in any of the mood constructions, even though case-marking is found on subjects in all other Old Japanese clause-types.
Abstract
This paper investigates several mood constructions in Old Japanese, the language of eight-century Japan. We focus on imperative, prohibitive, and optative constructions, expressing the desire of the speaker for either the speaker or another entity to perform (or not) in an event or situation (cf. Bybee et al. 1994, Aikhenvald 2010). These forms have been discussed only briefly in previous literature (e.g., Vovin 2009, Frellesvig 2010), and their grammatical properties have not been investigated up to now. The present study uses the Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese, a syntactically annotated corpus, to investigate the expression of the logical subject of mood constructions, i.e., the entity which the speaker desires to perform (or not) the event of the verb. This logical subject is never marked for case in any of the mood constructions, even though case-marking is found on subjects in all other Old Japanese clause-types.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Phonology
- A Phonological motivation behind the diatonic stress shift in Modern English 3
- Vowel reduction in verbs in King Alfred’s Pastoral Care 19
- The development of early Middle English ō 41
- The diachronic development of stød and tonal accent in North Germanic 53
- The evolution of the (alveolo)palatal lateral consonant in Spanish and Portuguese 69
-
Diachronic typology
- Evaluating prehistoric and early historic linguistic contacts 89
- Patterns in the diffusion of nomenclature systems 109
-
Morphology
- Morphological evidence for the paradigmatic status of infinitives in French and Occitan 135
- Constructional change at the interface of cognition, culture, and language use 155
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Morphosyntax
- Stages in deflexion and the Norwegian dative 179
- Differential Object Marking in Old Japanese 195
- The grammaticalization of progressive constructions with a focus on the English progressive 213
- Hate and anger, love and desire 233
- The argument indexing of early Austronesian verbs 257
- The syntax of mood constructions in Old Japanese 281
- Medieval Sardinian 303
- Index 325
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Phonology
- A Phonological motivation behind the diatonic stress shift in Modern English 3
- Vowel reduction in verbs in King Alfred’s Pastoral Care 19
- The development of early Middle English ō 41
- The diachronic development of stød and tonal accent in North Germanic 53
- The evolution of the (alveolo)palatal lateral consonant in Spanish and Portuguese 69
-
Diachronic typology
- Evaluating prehistoric and early historic linguistic contacts 89
- Patterns in the diffusion of nomenclature systems 109
-
Morphology
- Morphological evidence for the paradigmatic status of infinitives in French and Occitan 135
- Constructional change at the interface of cognition, culture, and language use 155
-
Morphosyntax
- Stages in deflexion and the Norwegian dative 179
- Differential Object Marking in Old Japanese 195
- The grammaticalization of progressive constructions with a focus on the English progressive 213
- Hate and anger, love and desire 233
- The argument indexing of early Austronesian verbs 257
- The syntax of mood constructions in Old Japanese 281
- Medieval Sardinian 303
- Index 325
