2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The semantics and pragmatics of Japanese plurals
| Project/Area Number |
23520463
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | Okayama University |
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Principal Investigator |
KANEKO Makoto 岡山大学, 社会文化科学研究科, 准教授 (00362947)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2013
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| Keywords | 複数性 / 累加複数 / 結合複数 / 特定性 / 指示詞 / 対称性 / similative plural / coordinated whole |
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| Research Abstract |
This study claims that i) Japanese "plural" suffixes TATI and RA may express, differently from English plural form "-s" as in "students", not only additive plural (ex. gakusei-tati "students"), but also associative plural (ex. gakusei-tati "student and associated members"), similative plural (ex. koko-ra "hereabout") and coordinated whole (ex. TATI in Tom and Jerry-tati clarifies that the two animals play a symmetric role in the event denoted);
ii) TATI and RA may convey neutralization of singular / plural distinction;
iii) the definiteness or specificity usually conveyed by TATI and RA is not due syntactically to the projection of an implicit DP, but to a pragmatic constraint imposed on an appropriate use of associative plural (which is analyzed as their basic meaning), according to which the referent of the host NP attached to TATI or RA should be more salient than associated implicit members.
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Research Products
(13 results)
