The Rendaku Database
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Mark Irwin
Abstract
Of those studies which have examined rendaku from a statistical angle, most have been small-scale, employing restricted corpora or micro-databases and often focused on specific conditions. The lack of a large-scale corpus was the impetus behind the creation of the Rendaku Database, available online for ongoing and future research. In this paper, both the initial and non-initial elements of approximately 28,000 compounds are subjected to a detailed analysis: by vocabulary stratum, length, part of speech, accent pattern, and frequency, as well as by the value of the moras straddling either side of the element boundary. Among the core findings are that initial elements which are verbs show aberrantly low rendaku rates, while non-initial elements which are deadjectival nouns, and those which begin in h, both exhibit considerably higher than average rendaku rates.
Abstract
Of those studies which have examined rendaku from a statistical angle, most have been small-scale, employing restricted corpora or micro-databases and often focused on specific conditions. The lack of a large-scale corpus was the impetus behind the creation of the Rendaku Database, available online for ongoing and future research. In this paper, both the initial and non-initial elements of approximately 28,000 compounds are subjected to a detailed analysis: by vocabulary stratum, length, part of speech, accent pattern, and frequency, as well as by the value of the moras straddling either side of the element boundary. Among the core findings are that initial elements which are verbs show aberrantly low rendaku rates, while non-initial elements which are deadjectival nouns, and those which begin in h, both exhibit considerably higher than average rendaku rates.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Generative treatments of rendaku and related issues 13
- Psycholinguistic studies of rendaku 35
- Rendaku and Identity Avoidance 47
- Rendaku awareness of Japanese learners in Taiwan 57
- The Rendaku Database 79
- Rosen’s Rule 107
- Rendaku and individual segments 119
- Rendaku in Okinawan 139
- Rendaku in Tōhoku Japanese 173
- Rendaku in cross-linguistic perspective 195
- A rendaku bibliography 235
- References 251
- Index 273
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Generative treatments of rendaku and related issues 13
- Psycholinguistic studies of rendaku 35
- Rendaku and Identity Avoidance 47
- Rendaku awareness of Japanese learners in Taiwan 57
- The Rendaku Database 79
- Rosen’s Rule 107
- Rendaku and individual segments 119
- Rendaku in Okinawan 139
- Rendaku in Tōhoku Japanese 173
- Rendaku in cross-linguistic perspective 195
- A rendaku bibliography 235
- References 251
- Index 273
