Development of Pragmatic Markers of Sino-Japanese Expressions in the Kanji Cultural Sphere

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00650
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02070:Japanese linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: Takahashi Keiko 東洋大学, 人間科学総合研究所, 客員研究員 (60865814)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 歴史社会語用論 / 語用論的標識 / 漢語 / 漢字文化圏 / 「結果」 / 「勿論」 / 「無理」 / 「正直」

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project aims to explore the development of pragmatic markers originating from Chinese expressions in the Chinese Character Cultural Sphere, focusing on the Japanese language. As part of a collaborative research project with Chinese and Korean researchers, an article on the Sino-Japanese pragmatic marker “so no jitsu (its fact)” was published in the international academic journal East Asian Pragmatics. In addition, a project involving an international collected volume of papers on the development of pragmatics markers originating from Chinese expressions in the Chinese Character Cultural Sphere was accepted, to which we contributed papers on “kekka (result)”, “mochiron (no argument)”, and “daitai (generality)”. Furthermore, we have explored the pragmatic uses of the Japanese words “muri (no reason)” and “shoojiki (honesty)”, and examined politeness expressions associated with the Japanization of Chinese expressions.

Free Research Field

日本語学、歴史社会語用論、談話研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

歴史社会語用論は新しい研究分野であり、コーパス言語学の目覚ましい進展などに基づく新たな研究成果が大いに期待されている。また、漢語は、日本語において大きな比重を占めるだけでなく、漢字文化圏という個別言語を超える枠組みにおいて、言語の普遍性と特殊性の探究を可能にする。本研究はその一端を担い、漢語由来の語用論的標識の発達の歴史を探究し、日中韓の異同を明らかにすることで、言語変化の特質の解明に寄与し、学術的・社会的に貢献し得るものである。