Revisiting the thetic/categorical distinction in Japanese
-
Masanori Deguchi
Abstract
In this study, I propose a refinement of Kuroda’s (1972, 1990) claim that the categorical and thetic judgments are realized syntactically in Japanese. Succinctly put, Kuroda argues that sentences with the topic marker wa represent categorical judgments whereas those with the nominative marker ga represent thetic judgments. In the present study, I demonstrate that wa-sentences do not uniformly represent categorical judgments and that ga-sentences do not represent thetic judgments across the board either. In particular, I argue that ga-sentences represent thetic judgments only on the so-called "neutral-description" reading (in the sense of Kuno 1973); on the "exhaustive-listing" reading, they instead involve categorical judgments. In addition, I demonstrate that wa-sentences also require a parallel refinement: thematic wa vs. contrastive wa. I therefore propose a four-way distinction and further demonstrate that the four readings are interrelated through different types of judgments as follows: thematic wa and exhaustive-listing ga involve categorical judgments whereas contrastive wa and neutral-description ga involve thetic judgments.
© School of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, 2012
Articles in the same Issue
- The expressions of spatial relations during interaction in American Sign Language, Croatian Sign Language, and Turkish Sign Language
- Linguistic-phonetic characteristics of cluttering across different speaking styles: a pilot study from Hungarian
- Revisiting the thetic/categorical distinction in Japanese
- Structural and lexical aspects of the grammar of desinences
- Russian intervocalic deletion in Derivational Optimality Theory
- Natural Syntax of English: transitivity
- Reconsidering the role of practice in foreign language teaching and learning
- Review of Siever, Torsten: Texte i. d. Enge. Sprachökonomische Reduktion in stark raumbegrenzten Textsorten
- Review of Chruszczewski, Piotr: Językoznawstwo antropologiczne: Zadania i metody
- Review of Arabski, Janusz and Adam Wojtaszek (eds.): The acquisition of L2 phonology
Articles in the same Issue
- The expressions of spatial relations during interaction in American Sign Language, Croatian Sign Language, and Turkish Sign Language
- Linguistic-phonetic characteristics of cluttering across different speaking styles: a pilot study from Hungarian
- Revisiting the thetic/categorical distinction in Japanese
- Structural and lexical aspects of the grammar of desinences
- Russian intervocalic deletion in Derivational Optimality Theory
- Natural Syntax of English: transitivity
- Reconsidering the role of practice in foreign language teaching and learning
- Review of Siever, Torsten: Texte i. d. Enge. Sprachökonomische Reduktion in stark raumbegrenzten Textsorten
- Review of Chruszczewski, Piotr: Językoznawstwo antropologiczne: Zadania i metody
- Review of Arabski, Janusz and Adam Wojtaszek (eds.): The acquisition of L2 phonology
