Semantic functions and syntactic properties of nouns in Japanese: An examination of appositive nominals and grammaticalized classifiers

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00615
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02070:Japanese linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University (2022); Naruto University of Education (2018-2021)
• Principal Investigator: Mano Miho 大阪大学, 大学院人文学研究科(人文学専攻、芸術学専攻、日本学専攻), 准教授 (10419484)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 同格名詞句 / 類別詞 / 文法化 / 名詞 / 日本語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focuses on nouns and noun phrases in Japanese, which lacks research compared to verbs due to the lack of morphological and syntactic clues. Through the analysis of the linguistic phenomena that have not received much attention (appositive nominals, classifiers grammaticalized from nouns, nominal predicate sentences, and appositive quantifiers), I examined their semantic functions, syntactic properties, and the factors that influence them. The results revealed: (1) the semantic relations of noun phrases in appositive nominals and their similarities with copula sentences, and their binary branching structure, (2) the functions that change when a noun is grammaticalized into a classifier, (3) the characteristics of event predication by nominal predicate sentences, and (4) the similarities and differences between appositive quantifiers and appositive nominals.

Free Research Field

日本語学、語彙意味論、形態論、統語論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、次の3つの点で学術的意義があると考える。①これまであまり研究が行われてこなかった名詞に関わる言語現象（同格名詞句・名詞から文法化した類別詞・名詞述語文の叙述の類型）を扱った点、②複数の言語現象を多角的、統合的に検討し、名詞の特徴を探った点、③それらの特徴と、これまで明らかになっている言語現象の特徴との間に共通する普遍的な統語規則を探った点、である。これらを通し、日本語において、名詞の持つ意味機能と統語的特性の一端を明らかにすることができたと考える。また、これらの研究結果は、今後の日本語教育などに応用が可能なものと考えられ、将来的に社会的に貢献可能なものと言える。