Comparative Semantics of Yaeyaman Verbal Morphology

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12374
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02060:Linguistics-related
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: DAVIS Christopher 琉球大学, 国際地域創造学部, 准教授 (80647339)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: Yaeyaman / verbs / honorifics / Korean / Japanese / semantics / pragmatics / fieldwork

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I conducted fieldwork focused primarily on the verbal system of various dialects of Yaeyaman, and undertook a comparative analysis of the verbal honorific system in Yaeyaman, Japanese, and Korean. Within Yaeyaman my fieldwork was focused on the Hatoma and Kohama dialects, with additional fieldwork on Taketomi, Aragusuku, and other dialects as well.

The primary field research consisted of both grammatical elicitation and the collection, transcription, and analysis of naturalistic texts. The former as focused on eliciting a variety of verb forms with different verbal roots, while the latter was aimed at observing which verb forms were used in different contexts. I plan to archive these recordings and make them available to the public in the near future, once the transcriptions are finalized and final speaker consent is obtained.

Free Research Field

言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

消滅の危機に瀕した琉球諸語の一つである八重山語を対象にした研究として、今回のプロジェクトが主に動詞の活用系や敬語形式に焦点を与えて行ったが、今後の言語継承なども考慮し、自然談話も数多く収集し今後はアーカイブを通して公開する予定である。また、学術意義としては、敬語形式の使われる場面が八重山語の方言によって違いを発見することができ、また八重山語と日本語との違いを見つけることができた。この違いに基づいて論じた結果、さらに朝鮮語まで視野を広めて、動詞の敬語形式の意味論・語用論的な研究成果を国際学会などで発表し、敬語に関する研究を発展することができた。