A Comprehensive Study on the Mechanism which Controls the Selection and Omission of Referential Expressions and Nominalizing Forms in English and Japanese

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520534
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Niigata University
• Principal Investigator: OTAKE YOSHIO 新潟大学, 人文社会・教育科学系, 教授 (60272126)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 日英語比較研究 / 指示表現 / 名詞節化形式 / 実情や結末の判明を伝える構文 / 接続表現 / It is that節構文 / It turns out that節構文 / I hate to say it構文

Outline of Final Research Achievements

English and Japanese have been compared and contrasted, and some interesting characteristics have been revealed. In this research, we have made a comprehensive exploration of the mechanism which controls the selection and omission of English and Japanese linguistic forms such as the referential expression "it" in English, the "that"-clause, and the nominalizing form "no" in Japanese. First, we have provided a unified account for similarities and differences between the It is that-clause construction with the It turns out that-clause construction, paying close attention to information processing by referential expressions. We have also pointed to some of the hitherto neglected semantic and pragmatic aspects of the I hate to say X construction. We have extensively discussed that the referential expression "it" or "this" shown in the X of the I hate to say X construction is selected to convey information that has previously been established but unknown to the hearer.

Free Research Field

英語学