Subject/Object Marking Auxiliaries in Japanese Sign Language

• Project/Area Number: 24520487
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Kobe City College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: IMAZATO Noriko 神戸市立工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 教授 (90259903)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: 主語目的語標示 / 日本手話 / 文法化 / 助動詞 / 連続動詞構文 / 類型論 / 日本手話西日本方言 / 認知言語学 / 主語／目的語標示 / 日本手話（JSL） / 動詞連続 / JSL西日本方言 / 日本手話(JSL) / 文法関係標示 / 移動構文 / 虚構移動 / 視覚動詞 / 文法関係表示

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Subject/object marking auxiliaries such as AUX1 and AUX2 were first identified by Smith (1990) in Taiwan Sign Language (TSL). Later, Fischer (1996) also recognized AUX1 in JSL’s eastern dialect ( JSL-e). Smith’s research proves that AUX2 is derived from the verb SEE because of their similarity in phonetic configuration. However, close observations of these two sign languages by Smith and Fischer do not elucidate the developmental process of AUX1. Sapountzaki’s (2012) comparative study of 11 sign languages hypothesizes that AUX1 is “a smoothed series of indexical pronouns,” but his argument is not supported by either TSL or JSL-e data. Observing newly collected data from the JSL’s western dialect ( JSL-w), which has both AUX1 and AUX2, our analysis proposes an alternative hypothesis that “AUX1 was created as the result of grammaticalization of the verb SEE (MIRU) by way of AUX2.” Our research also investigates the adequacy of the new hypothesis.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] 日本手話における主語／目的語標示の助動詞について (2014)
  • Author(s): 今里典子
  • Journal Title: 言語研究 Volume: 146 Pages: 31-50
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] Crosslinguistic tendencies in the intralinguistic variations of motion descriptions: An experimental study of manner, path, & deixis
  • Author(s): Yo Matsumoto
  • Organizer: 12th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference
  • Place of Presentation: University of Alberta in Edmonton, (Alberta, Canada)