Chapter 3. The form and meaning of the dangling mitaina construction in a network of constructions
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Yoshiko Matsumoto
Abstract
In recent years the use in Japanese of the prenominal form mitaina of the evidential expression, mitaida ‘(it) look(s) like,’ has been observed at the utterance final position with no noun following it. The pragmatic function of this apparently innovative construction has been described in terms of the speakers’ distancing from a vivid and engaged description in the preceding clause. This chapter suggests as an alternative analysis of the construction, based on spoken and written data, that mitaina signals the speaker’s stance, conveying his/her impressionistic and vivid description of the situation described in the preceding component. The pairing of the form and meaning makes this construction a full-fledged grammatical construction in terms of Construction Grammar, rather than an idiosyncratic phenomenon.
Abstract
In recent years the use in Japanese of the prenominal form mitaina of the evidential expression, mitaida ‘(it) look(s) like,’ has been observed at the utterance final position with no noun following it. The pragmatic function of this apparently innovative construction has been described in terms of the speakers’ distancing from a vivid and engaged description in the preceding clause. This chapter suggests as an alternative analysis of the construction, based on spoken and written data, that mitaina signals the speaker’s stance, conveying his/her impressionistic and vivid description of the situation described in the preceding component. The pairing of the form and meaning makes this construction a full-fledged grammatical construction in terms of Construction Grammar, rather than an idiosyncratic phenomenon.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication vii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgement xv
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Grammar
- Chapter 1. Reason-coding in Japanese 17
- Chapter 2. Amari/anmari/anma and totemo/tottemo in history and discourse 49
- Chapter 3. The form and meaning of the dangling mitaina construction in a network of constructions 75
- Chapter 4. “Late projectability” of Japanese turns revisited 99
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Part II. Interaction
- Chapter 5. Superiors’ directives in the Japanese workplace 125
- Chapter 6. Negotiating entitlement in Japanese 149
- Chapter 7. From subjectivity to intersubjectivity 173
- Chapter 8. Ne as an “impoliteness” (“detachment”) marker? 197
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Part III. Culture
- Chapter 9. Genre and the cultural realms of taste in Japanese, Korean, and U.S. online recipes 219
- Chapter 10. Metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech 245
- Chapter 11. Linguistic nationalism and fictional deception 267
- Chapter 12. How does a non-native Japanese literary writer dissimulate and diversify the Japanese language? 289
- Subject index 309
- Name index 311
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication vii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgement xv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammar
- Chapter 1. Reason-coding in Japanese 17
- Chapter 2. Amari/anmari/anma and totemo/tottemo in history and discourse 49
- Chapter 3. The form and meaning of the dangling mitaina construction in a network of constructions 75
- Chapter 4. “Late projectability” of Japanese turns revisited 99
-
Part II. Interaction
- Chapter 5. Superiors’ directives in the Japanese workplace 125
- Chapter 6. Negotiating entitlement in Japanese 149
- Chapter 7. From subjectivity to intersubjectivity 173
- Chapter 8. Ne as an “impoliteness” (“detachment”) marker? 197
-
Part III. Culture
- Chapter 9. Genre and the cultural realms of taste in Japanese, Korean, and U.S. online recipes 219
- Chapter 10. Metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech 245
- Chapter 11. Linguistic nationalism and fictional deception 267
- Chapter 12. How does a non-native Japanese literary writer dissimulate and diversify the Japanese language? 289
- Subject index 309
- Name index 311
