Verifying the Cognitive Framework of Generics

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00681
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: IWABE Kozo 山口大学, 人文学部, 教授 (90176561)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 総称文 / 認知能力 / 冠詞 / ヘブル語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I assume that generic sentences are two-folded. Every language has its own default form: the bare plural in English, the definite plural in French, etc. In addition, there are more "sophisticated" forms. For example, English has indefinite and definite singular forms. I attested Japanese and Modern Hebrew, which lack the full-fledged article system, also have sophisticated forms. It is known that so-called striking generics are allowed only in the default form (e.g. Sharks attack bathers/??A shark attacks bathers). It is important to note that every language makes use of the two-fold sytem of generics, since we will be able to avoid the social prejudices or discriminations that may be caused by the use of striking generics (e.g. Muslims are terrorists/??A Muslim is a terrorist).

Free Research Field

英語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

総称文にはごくわずかの例にしか当てはまらないのに容認される場合があり，その多くは生命にかかわるような危険を述べたものである。このタイプはデフォルト総称文の形式をとり，有標総称文では不自然になる。例えば，Sharks attack bathers（サメは海水浴客を襲う）/??A shark attack bathers（??サメというものは海水浴客を襲う（ものだ）, のように容認度が異なる。また，このタイプの総称文が人間に適用されると，社会的偏見や差別を引き起こす要因となる（「イスラム教徒はテロリストだ」等）。しかし，有標総称文と正しく使い分けることで，このような弊害を避けることができる。