The Hierarchical Structure of Sentence-Final Particles in Late Early Modern Edo Japanese

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K20802
• Project/Area Number (Other): 18H05594 (2018)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2019); Single-year Grants (2018)
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: HWANG HYOSUN 東北大学, 文学研究科, 専門研究員 (80828848)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-08-24 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 体系 / 承接 / 階層性 / 基本的な意味 / 終助詞 / 江戸語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A set order of succession can be observed when multiple sentence-final particles (SFPs) are used together in Late Early Modern Edo Japanese. We can break Edo Japanese SFPs into three groups (A,B,C) based on their behavior when co-occurring with other SFPs. Group A SFPs (ka, wa, ze, zo) always come first in a chain of SFPs. Group B SFPs (ya, yo, i, sa, na) can both precede and follow other SFPs in a chain. Finally, group C SFPs (no, ne, e, su) always come at the end of a SFP chain. When SFPs from the three groups are used together as compound particles, they always occur in the order A > B > C, demonstrating a hierarchical structure of SFPs in Edo Japanese.

Free Research Field

日本語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、文末に用いられている江戸語の終助詞が相互承接する際に承接順による階層性があり、一定の体系があることを明らかにした。また、終助詞の体系のなかには終助詞の意味が関係することを概略的の分析を行ったものである。このように終助詞だけを中心にして、意味と体系を明らかにしようと研究は日本語史上にみられないもので、研究史上重要な位置を示す。また現代語の終助詞の研究にも役に立つものであると思われる。