A contrastive study of the relationship connecting the main and relative/participial clauses and the determining factors in English and Japanese

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520560
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Setsunan University
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Hideki 摂南大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (50341186)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 日英対照研究 / 関係詞節 / 連体修飾節 / 分詞構文 / 論理関係 / 理由・条件 / 指示性 / タイプ・トークン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated the logical relationship between the main and the subordinate clauses, and the determining factors in English and Japanese. In English, the relationship between the main and the relative clauses has more factors than the participial clause, because relative clauses, unlike participial clauses, have their own overt subject (i.e. relative pronouns). In other words, in the case of relative clauses, the semantic and pragmatic relationships between two full clauses are taken into account.
This study also examined the clausal connections in the Japanese language, which does not have any relative pronouns. It was argued that the logical relationship between the main and relative clauses is sensitive to the referentiality of the antecedent. This logical relationship then affects the acceptability of floating quantifiers.

Free Research Field

英語学（統語論・意味論）