A Study of Accommodation Process in Emergence and Acceptance of Grammatical Deviations in English

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00680
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Toru 山形大学, 人文社会科学部, 教授 (70216414)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 文法 / 逸脱表現 / 意味解釈 / 言語使用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The emergence and reception of innovative expressions, which are often regarded as deviant from standard English grammar, were analyzed from multiple perspectives, referring to corpus studies, stylistics, and historical research. The results of the study include: (1) seemingly deviant combinations of activity verbs and adjectives are analyzed in a complex network of related expressions, resulting in multilayered semantic interpretation, and (2) the pseudo-transitive use of the verb "think" is paired with its intransitive counterpart as a marked option with the omission of the preposition "of/about", where the interpretation of the transitive frame is negatively derived from the intransitive frame. Based on the survey of COCA, it was also shown that the pseudo-transitive usage is in the process of being established as a network of mutually related expressions, each carrying its own discourse and pragmatic functions for specific genres and situations.

Free Research Field

英語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

一般的には文法逸脱とみなされる事例の創発と受容のしくみの研究を通じて、その背後には相互に位置づけられる関連表現のネットワークがあり、それぞれの表現は特定のジャンルや場面に対応した独自の解釈や談話・語用論的機能を担い、慣習的な表現として一定の拡がりを見せて定着しつつあることがわかった。インターネットの普及による多様なスタイルの可視化とメディアの拡張、そしてインターネット・コーパスの発達は、逸脱的な表現が可視化される契機になるとともに、フォーマルなテクストに依存するところの多い従来の文法記述を、言語使用に関わる側面を包摂したより多面的な文法モデルとして再構築する必要性を示唆している。