From degree/manner adverbs to pragmatic particles in Japanese
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Rumiko Shinzato
Abstract
This is a corpus-based analysis of synchronic and diachronic variations of the Japanese degree adverbs amari ‘extremely’ and bakari ‘about, to the extent’, and the manner adverb yahari ‘being still’. These variations are unique in that they are not constructions, but morphophonological variants. Further, variants of the same phonetic shape undergo parallel development. First, phonologically, each adverb set involves both expansion and truncation. Positionally, the newer variants shifted from sentence-internal to sentence-peripheral, and they expanded functionally as discourse/pragmatic particles, thereby semantically becoming more (inter)subjective. Contrastingly, each original form preserves its original features most. Second, such parallelism is motivated by “associative iconicity” (Fischer 1999) and “paradigmatic iconicity” (Krug 2000). Third, given the layered structure analyses of Japanese, the changes are conceivably interrelated. Fourth, this article presents a similar case in Korean for a comparison.
Abstract
This is a corpus-based analysis of synchronic and diachronic variations of the Japanese degree adverbs amari ‘extremely’ and bakari ‘about, to the extent’, and the manner adverb yahari ‘being still’. These variations are unique in that they are not constructions, but morphophonological variants. Further, variants of the same phonetic shape undergo parallel development. First, phonologically, each adverb set involves both expansion and truncation. Positionally, the newer variants shifted from sentence-internal to sentence-peripheral, and they expanded functionally as discourse/pragmatic particles, thereby semantically becoming more (inter)subjective. Contrastingly, each original form preserves its original features most. Second, such parallelism is motivated by “associative iconicity” (Fischer 1999) and “paradigmatic iconicity” (Krug 2000). Third, given the layered structure analyses of Japanese, the changes are conceivably interrelated. Fourth, this article presents a similar case in Korean for a comparison.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Introduction
- Diachronic corpus pragmatics 3
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Words
- I had lost sight of them then for a bit, but I went on pretty fast 29
- Grammaticalisation of the Finnish stance adverbial muka , ‘as if, supposedly, allegedly’ 53
- From degree/manner adverbs to pragmatic particles in Japanese 77
- Analyzing polysemy in Estonian 107
- On the development of the Italian truth adverbs davvero and veramente 133
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Phrases and clauses
- “Strong churlish purging Pills” 157
- On the origin of clausal parenthetical constructions 189
- Tracing the history of deontic NCI patterns in Dutch 213
- Front field negation in spoken Swedish 237
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Utterances and dialogues
- Complimenting in the history of American English 257
- Exploring verbal aggression in English historical texts using USAS 277
- A matter of tradition and good advice 303
- Language index 329
- Name index 331
- Subject index 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Introduction
- Diachronic corpus pragmatics 3
-
Words
- I had lost sight of them then for a bit, but I went on pretty fast 29
- Grammaticalisation of the Finnish stance adverbial muka , ‘as if, supposedly, allegedly’ 53
- From degree/manner adverbs to pragmatic particles in Japanese 77
- Analyzing polysemy in Estonian 107
- On the development of the Italian truth adverbs davvero and veramente 133
-
Phrases and clauses
- “Strong churlish purging Pills” 157
- On the origin of clausal parenthetical constructions 189
- Tracing the history of deontic NCI patterns in Dutch 213
- Front field negation in spoken Swedish 237
-
Utterances and dialogues
- Complimenting in the history of American English 257
- Exploring verbal aggression in English historical texts using USAS 277
- A matter of tradition and good advice 303
- Language index 329
- Name index 331
- Subject index 333
