2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Existential Sentencs in Present-day English in the Diachronic Context
Project/Area Number |
18K00672
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Review Section |
Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
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Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
Principal Investigator |
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Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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Keywords | 文法化 / 静的文法化 / 定型表現化 / 存在文の進行形 / 存在文の受身形 / raising verb |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
This project has two purposes: 1. to clarify subject raising verbs/phrases which are used in there existential sentences: 2. to clarify the functions of there + NP + -ing/-en structures in present-day English. Three papers were produced, two of which were published. In 1, the research found the reason why be bound to is used the most often in semi-auxiliaries in present-day English. In 2, it was found that the contexts in which there+NP+-ing/-en are used are very similar to those of ordinary existential sentences. This could lead to a hypothesis that there+NP+-ing/-en is actually a structure in which -ing and -en small clauses are not the main elements in the sentence. This research found that although Quirk et al. (1985: 1409) say it is progressive or passive structure, the results show that it is not.
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Free Research Field |
英語学
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
2つの研究成果が得られた。1点目は、thereを主語としてみなすことで、フレーズや動詞が文法化を起こしているときのメカニズムを明らかにすることができた。be bound toとthereの相性の良さは定型表現化していることが起因となっていることがわかった。2点目は、there+NP+-ing/-enが進行相や受動態を表すのではなく、spend+time+-ing/-en構文の中の-ing/-enのように準述詞として機能していることが考えられ、存在文の進行形や受身形は果たして存在するのか次の研究課題を提示することができた。面白い現象を提示することができた点で、学術的意義は大きい。
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