Reexamination of Japanese morphological and phonological history based on the uneven distribution of consonants in Romanised Christian materials

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25884041
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Japanese linguistics
Research Institution	Ochanomizu University (2014) Osaka University (2013)
Principal Investigator	TAKEMURA Asuka お茶の水女子大学, 大学院人間文化創成科学研究科, 助教 (10712747)
Project Period (FY)	2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	拗音 / 口蓋化 / キリシタン資料 / 子音 / 動詞 / アクセント / 音韻 / 形態 / 日本語学 / 硬口蓋化 / 上代特殊仮名遣
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research examined the following 3 phonological and morphological problems. With the phonological knowledge of uneven distribution of consonants appeared the yo-on syllable (i.e. palatalized syllable) in Romanized Christian materials. I investigated (1) what factors are concerned with the similarity of the uneven distribution of consonants of Jodai-tokushu kanadukai in the Nara period, (2) whether this uneven distribution can be found in the conjugation of Japanese verbs, and (3) whether the pitch accent participates in this distribution besides palatalization in Romanized Christian materials. As a result of the research, the following 3 points were shown. (1) Diachronic and cross-linguistic common character of palatalized consonants could affect the uneven distribution of consonants. (2) The uneven distribution of consonants can confirm the conjunction of Japanese verbs, that is the morphological aspect. (3) The pitch accent is partially reflected in Romanized Christian materials.