The Grammar of Mimetics and Its Acquisition: A Generative Approach

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02752
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Nanzan University
• Principal Investigator: Murasugi Keiko (斎藤恵子) 南山大学, 国際教養学部, 教授 (00239518)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: Mimetics / Adjecctival Verbs / Adjectival Nouns / Binomial Adjectives / Agglutinative language / head-final language / Root Infinitives

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Some languages are rich in mimetics, while some are not.　As Japanese is a typical language with rich mimetics, in this project, we attempt to examine the grammar governing the mimetic expressions in Japanese, based on the detailed descriptive studies of Child Japanese and the coined adjectives produced by young Japanese speakers.
We examined the semantic and syntactic properties of the root infinitive analogues and binomial adjectives, and we examine the grammatical principles governing them. We argue that the head-final agglutinative languages allow mimetics to be selected to be the stem by the syntactic heads. The research was reported in international conferences, international journal (e.g., Morphology), and a book published by John Benjamins company.

Free Research Field

Linguistics　（Syntax, Psycholinguistics)

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

なぜ世界には、Mimeticsを豊かに文法に取り入れうる仕組みをもつ言語と持たない言語があるのか。本プロジェクトはその問いに対して、生成文法理論を基盤として、大人の文法、幼児の言語獲得、若者の新造語などの観点から考察し、その問いへの解明に近づいた点に意義がある。
主要部後置言語であり、膠着語である日本語において、Mimeticsが、様々な範疇の主要部の語幹として選択される特徴を体系的に示した本プロジェクトは、一見規則なく自由に作られているように見える幼児言語や若者言葉にみられる「新造語」が、多言語にも通ずる意味的特徴や普遍的な文法があることを示す点においても学術的社会的意義が見いだされる。