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From preverbal to postverbal in the early history of Japanese

  • Bjarke Frellesvig
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Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change
This chapter is in the book Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change

Abstract

Old Japanese (largely 8th century AD; “OJ”) is, like Middle and Modern Japanese, a typical SOV language and also shares with them a complex predicate construction consisting of two adjacent verbs, V1 V2, of which V2 has some grammatical function, (i). However, OJ in addition has a complex predicate construction in which V1 is grammatical and V2 is the main verb, (ii), which seems anomalous in an SOV language and which is not found in Middle or Modern Japanese.Situated within a classical version of Henning Andersen’s language change theory, this paper offers a diachronic interpretation of the OJ construction in (ii) as a transient stage in the emergence of the complex predicate construction in (i), which may be understood as having arisen through categorial reinterpretation of preverbal adverbial material as grammatical, reflected in (ii), followed by a structurally motivated shift to postverbal position, reflected in (i). This proposal is further generalized to account for several grammatical suffixes in Japanese as having originated in similar sets of innovations, specifically the prohibitive final particle na, negative -(a)n-, conjectural -(a)m-, necessitive be‑ and negative potential masizi.

Abstract

Old Japanese (largely 8th century AD; “OJ”) is, like Middle and Modern Japanese, a typical SOV language and also shares with them a complex predicate construction consisting of two adjacent verbs, V1 V2, of which V2 has some grammatical function, (i). However, OJ in addition has a complex predicate construction in which V1 is grammatical and V2 is the main verb, (ii), which seems anomalous in an SOV language and which is not found in Middle or Modern Japanese.Situated within a classical version of Henning Andersen’s language change theory, this paper offers a diachronic interpretation of the OJ construction in (ii) as a transient stage in the emergence of the complex predicate construction in (i), which may be understood as having arisen through categorial reinterpretation of preverbal adverbial material as grammatical, reflected in (ii), followed by a structurally motivated shift to postverbal position, reflected in (i). This proposal is further generalized to account for several grammatical suffixes in Japanese as having originated in similar sets of innovations, specifically the prohibitive final particle na, negative -(a)n-, conjectural -(a)m-, necessitive be‑ and negative potential masizi.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Perspectives on language structure and language change 1
  5. Part I. On the theory of language change
  6. Andersen (1973) and dichotomies of change 13
  7. Induction and tradition 35
  8. Approaching the typology and diachrony of morphological reversals 81
  9. Deconstructing markedness in sound change typology 107
  10. Part II. Indexicality
  11. Diachronic morphology, indexical function and a critique of the morphome analysis 125
  12. Word order as grammaticalised semiotic systems 151
  13. Part III. Problems of reanalysis
  14. Anticausative and passive in Vedic 181
  15. Grammaticalization and degrammati(calizati)on in the development of the Iranian verb system 193
  16. Aspects of grammaticalization and reanalysis in the voice domain in the transition from Latin to early Italo-Romance 205
  17. From preverbal to postverbal in the early history of Japanese 233
  18. Reanalysis in the Russian past tense 253
  19. From a single lexical unit to multiple grammatical paradigms 271
  20. Morphosyntactic reanalysis in Australian languages 295
  21. Definiteness in Germanic and Balto-Slavic 311
  22. Part IV. Actualization
  23. Diatopy and frequency as indicators of spread 327
  24. Suppletion or illusion? 345
  25. Part V. Language change and diachronic typology in Balto-Slavic
  26. A complicated relationship 359
  27. Name-calling 381
  28. Changes of tense and modality in Late Mediaeval Slovene 395
  29. Index 411
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.345.10fre

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Perspectives on language structure and language change 1
  5. Part I. On the theory of language change
  6. Andersen (1973) and dichotomies of change 13
  7. Induction and tradition 35
  8. Approaching the typology and diachrony of morphological reversals 81
  9. Deconstructing markedness in sound change typology 107
  10. Part II. Indexicality
  11. Diachronic morphology, indexical function and a critique of the morphome analysis 125
  12. Word order as grammaticalised semiotic systems 151
  13. Part III. Problems of reanalysis
  14. Anticausative and passive in Vedic 181
  15. Grammaticalization and degrammati(calizati)on in the development of the Iranian verb system 193
  16. Aspects of grammaticalization and reanalysis in the voice domain in the transition from Latin to early Italo-Romance 205
  17. From preverbal to postverbal in the early history of Japanese 233
  18. Reanalysis in the Russian past tense 253
  19. From a single lexical unit to multiple grammatical paradigms 271
  20. Morphosyntactic reanalysis in Australian languages 295
  21. Definiteness in Germanic and Balto-Slavic 311
  22. Part IV. Actualization
  23. Diatopy and frequency as indicators of spread 327
  24. Suppletion or illusion? 345
  25. Part V. Language change and diachronic typology in Balto-Slavic
  26. A complicated relationship 359
  27. Name-calling 381
  28. Changes of tense and modality in Late Mediaeval Slovene 395
  29. Index 411
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