Testing the validity of linguistic description against the intuition of native speakers: The case of Japanese conditionals
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Harry Solvang
und
Naoko Maeda
Abstract
This paper presents a study of native speaker intuitions regarding the choice of conditional markers in Japanese in regard to Modal Constraint Approach, whose central claim is that the choice of the four conditional markers to, tara, ba and nara is governed by the modal contents of the consequent clause. This study reports the outcome of a computer-based experimental study on conditionals, where the validity of the current view of modal constraints is being tested against the judgment of native Japanese speakers from the Kanto district. Our analysis indicates the current view is in accord with native speakers’ intuition in the case of tara and to, but it definitely needs to be revised in the case of ba. Specifically, against the predictions of the Modal Constraint Approach we found that even expressions of command, request and prohibition were regarded as fairly acceptable in a number of cases, suggesting that native intuition is influenced by a series of factors that come into play with different level of influence on each speaker.
© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Journal of Japanese Linguistics Vol. 27 (2011). Contents
- The physical attribute construction in Japanese and the cognate object construction in English
- From a manner adverb to a discourse particle: The case of yahari, yappari and yappa
- Marking or not marking? How is number construal understood in Japanese?
- Mora clipping of loanwords in Japanese
- Testing the validity of linguistic description against the intuition of native speakers: The case of Japanese conditionals
- The position of nominative NPs in Japanese: Evidence for nominative NPs in-situ
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Journal of Japanese Linguistics Vol. 27 (2011). Contents
- The physical attribute construction in Japanese and the cognate object construction in English
- From a manner adverb to a discourse particle: The case of yahari, yappari and yappa
- Marking or not marking? How is number construal understood in Japanese?
- Mora clipping of loanwords in Japanese
- Testing the validity of linguistic description against the intuition of native speakers: The case of Japanese conditionals
- The position of nominative NPs in Japanese: Evidence for nominative NPs in-situ
