2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Historical and Contrastive Linguistics Study of Japanese Questions and their Related Constructions
Project/Area Number |
21820023
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
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Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
Research Field |
Japanese linguistics
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Research Institution | Osaka University |
Principal Investigator |
KINUHATA Tomohide Osaka University, 文学研究科, 助教 (80551928)
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Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2010
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Keywords | 疑問 / 選言 / 不定 / 日本語史 / 琉球語 |
Research Abstract |
In this research project, I described the history of questions and their related constructions, particularly focusing on the languages after Middle Japanese. As the result of the survey, it was demonstrated how the particles such as ka and yara, which are used to form questions, acquired various uses. This project aimed also at the linguistic investigation of the historical process by contrasting the historical data of Japanese with Korean and Ryukyuan. One of the patterns which I consider as worth those investigations is the one where a marker of the adjoined clause evolves into a particle functioning in matrix clauses. We showed that this syntactic process can explain the genesis of indefinite use of ka and that of exemplification use of yara.
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