Aspectual properties of predicates and negative sentences in Nihon Shuwa (Japan Sign Language)

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370436
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: HARADA Naomi 首都大学東京, 人文科学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (10374109)
• Research Collaborator: Osonoe Satoshi ; TAIRA Eiji ; TAKAYAMA Chieko ; TAKAYAMA Yasuko
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 言語学 / 日本手話 / 統語論 / 意味論 / 語彙アスペクト / 否定表現 / 語順決定

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research project, we investigated the following:(i) The syntactic and semantic characteristics of the aspectuality of the predicates of Nihon Shuwa (Japan Sign Language) (ii) The existential construction in Nihon Shuwa, with particular focus on the predicate alternation pattern and its relation to the semantic feature specification of the existential predicate (iii) The negation in Nihon Shuwa - how it interacts with the aspectual properties of the predicates. The results of the investigations show that the aspectual properties and patterns of negation of Nihon Shuwa, a language with gesture modality, fall within the limits of the framework of Universal Grammar, with apparent deviations stemming from the particular modality and the choice of the semantic features that trigger particular syntacitic phehomena.

Free Research Field

統語論