Principles and Mechanisms of Semantic Coercion for the Interpretation of Derived Adjectives in English

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20031
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Hiroshima Shudo University
• Principal Investigator: Ishida Takashi 広島修道大学, 人文学部, 助教 (90907007)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 名詞修飾 / 派生形容詞 / 名詞由来形容詞 / 関係形容詞 / 形容詞化 / 解釈強制 / 意味論 / 形態論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study analysed noun modification by derived adjectives in English and revealed the following three points. (1) The appearance of relational adjectives (RAs) in predicate position, which are known as attributive-only modifiers, is related not only to factors discussed in previous studies, but also to the qualia structures of the head nouns. (2) It has been thought that the expressions RA+N (e.g. atomic bomb) and N+N (e.g. atom bomb) were fully synonymous, but the analysis based on the derivation of RAs suggests that the former has a narrower range of denotation. (3) The unique meaning of noun-modifying expressions using lexicalised -ed adjectives (e.g. forked road) can be compositionally obtained based on the hypothesis, proposed by the principal investigator's (Ishida 2021) doctoral dissertation on noun modification.

Free Research Field

人文学・言語学・英語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は次の3点である。（1）形態論分野において、形容詞を基盤とした研究は極めて少ないため、当該研究分野に対する貢献が大きいことが期待される。（2）他の複雑語に比べて、派生形容詞の研究は遅れていると指摘される中、本研究の成果は、未開拓の部分が多い派生形容詞の性質を解明するだけでなく、英語形態論の内部構成に関する理解をより一層深めることにもつながる。（3）形式と意味の間のずれについて議論される中、なぜそのようなずれが生じるのかという言語学上の問いに対し、形態論と意味論それぞれの既存の理論を統合した独創的なアプローチによって、より原理的な説明を与えられる。