Verification of Distributed Morphology: With Special Reference to Japanese Onomatopoetic Predicates and English Conversion

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02816
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: Urushibara Saeko 北九州市立大学, 基盤教育センター, 教授 (00264987)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 分散形態論 / 統語論 / オノマトペ / コピュラ / 形容詞 / 形容動詞 / 複雑述語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Japanese has abundant onomatopoeia, which can be used as predicates accompanied by the copula 'de a-ru' and the light verb 'su-ru.' Therefore,this phenomenon is the best case for the verification of Distributed Morphology, one of whose main tenet is that roots are not specified with category.
Research led to the conclusion that the phenomenon can be explained by elaborating on Vocabulary Insertion rules relevant for morphological realization of the functional categories which determine the category of the root.
The results were presented in "Syntax and Semantics Viewed from Morphology: Light Verb Constructions, Degree Expressions and Onomatopoeia", Workshop at the 36th Conference, 2018 (Hideki Kishimoto, Akira Watanabe and Saeko Urushibara), and "On the Representation of Information Necessary at Syntax-Phonology Interface", Symposium at the 37th Conference, 2019 (Hiroko Kimura, Hiroki Narita, Hiroaki Tada, Akira Watanabe and Saeko Urushibara), both in English Linguistic Society of Japan.

Free Research Field

言語学（生成文法）

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

オノマトペはソシュールの「言語記号の恣意性」の反例ともされ、その音韻的側面、および音象徴（Sound Symbolism）の観点からは多くの研究がなされてきた。また、昨今では認知言語学の立場から類像性（iconicity）に関する研究もおこなわれている。
しかしながら、生成文法の枠組みによる研究はほとんどなかった。本研究では、語根の反復（reduplication）、鋳型による形態論（templatic morphology）などの生成音韻論の概念と手法によってオノマトペの音韻と意味の対応を分析すると共に、派生された語幹の分散形態論の範疇決定機能範疇による述語化という革新的な分析を提示した。