2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Interrogatives and the Focus Particle "du" in Yaeyaman
| Project/Area Number |
25770152
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | University of the Ryukyus |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
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| Keywords | 琉球諸語 / 八重山語 / 焦点助辞 / 疑問文 / Ryukyuan / Yaeyaman / Focus Particles / Interrogatives |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The focus particle "du" is found throughout Ryukyuan, and plays an especially prominent role in the grammar of Yaeyaman. This project looked into the syntactic and semantic properties this particle plays in Yaeyaman interrogatives, with the following results: (1) I collected new data on the relationship between the syntactic position of "du" and the part of the sentence that it serves to focus. (2) Yaeyaman does not have a Japanese-style question particle, but instead uses "du" in many interrogatives. On the basis of original fieldwork data, I proposed a theory connecting the semantics of "du" with that of interrogatives. (3) I collected data on plural wh-words, and developed theory of their semantics. (4) I created a large archive of Yaeyaman fieldwork sessions and natural speech.
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| Free Research Field |
言語学
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