Japanese A Linguistic Introduction

This comprehensive introduction to the Japanese language consists of six parts. Following the introductory section, it explores the Japanese lexicon, grammatical foundations, major clause types, clause linkage, and language usage. The discussions of formal and structural properties of Japanese such as sound structure, vocabulary, and grammar assist readers as they gain insight into historical and sociocultural aspects of Japanese; some are compared with those of English-speaking nations. An ideal choice for instructors, the book includes twenty-eight chapters, sufficient for approximately ninety hours of hands-on instruction. Each topic has been rigorously selected based on the author’s experience of more than two decades teaching Japanese linguistics. The book’s breadth and depth make it highly appropriate for learners of the Japanese language, for linguistics students interested in Japanese, and for researchers interested in Japanese linguistics. Online resources include exercises and supplementary multimedia materials to enhance the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment. y o k o h a s e g a w a is Professor of Japanese Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Japanese A Linguistic Introduction Yoko Hasegawa

University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107611474 © Yoko Hasegawa 2015 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Hasegawa, Yoko, 1950– Japanese : a linguistic introduction / Yoko Hasegawa. pages cm English and Japanese. isbn 978-1-107-03277-4 (Hardback) – isbn 978-1-107-61147-4 (Paperback) 1. Japanese language–Textbooks for foreign speakers–English. 2. Japanese language–Grammar–Study and teaching. 3. Japanese language–Sound recordings for English speakers. I. Title. pl539.5.e5h27 2014 495.65–dc23 2014023665 isbn 978-1-107-03277-4 Hardback isbn 978-1-107-61147-4 Paperback Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/hasegawa Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

To the memory of Charles J. Fillmore (August 9, 1929–February 13, 2014)

Contents

List of figures List of maps List of tables Preface Abbreviations

page xiv xv xvi xix xxi

Part I Introduction 1

2

3

Typological and historical overview

3

1.1 About the Japanese language 1.2 Historical development 1.2.1 Prehistoric age 1.2.2 Old Japanese (592–794 AD) 1.2.3 Late Old Japanese (794–1192) 1.2.4 Middle Japanese (1192–1603) 1.2.5 Early Modern Japanese (1603–1867) 1.2.6 Modern Japanese (1867 to present)

3 5 5 7 9 10 13 14

Dialects

17

2.1 Introduction 2.2 Okinawan dialects 2.3 Mainland dialects 2.3.1 Divisions by sound system 2.3.2 Divisions by vocabulary 2.3.3 Divisions by verb/adjective conjugation 2.3.4 Divisions by pitch accent patterns

17 18 21 22 25 27 28

Sound system

30

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7

30 34 34 37 38 40 41

The syllable inventory Long vowels and consonants Syllables and moras Vowel devoicing Pitch accent Successions of vowels Sequential voicing (rendaku)

vii

viii

Contents

4

Writing system

43

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

43 47 50 53 54 55

Writing Japanese with kanji Development of kana syllabaries Orthography reforms The frequencies of kanji in Japanese texts Hiragana and katakana conventions Romanization

Part II Lexicon 5

6

Vocabulary

61

5.1 Word categories 5.2 Word classes 5.2.1 Nouns 5.2.2 Verbs 5.2.3 Adjectives 5.2.4 Adverbs 5.2.5 Pronouns 5.2.6 Particles 5.2.7 Numeral classifiers 5.2.8 Ideophones 5.3 Word frequencies

61 64 64 65 65 67 67 69 70 71 72

Word structure

75

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9

75 79 80 81 83 84 85 86 87

Verb conjugation Copula conjugation I-adjective conjugation Casual speech Deriving nouns Deriving verbs Deriving adjectives Compounding Abbreviation

Part III Grammatical foundations 7

8

Grammatical relations and case marking

91

7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7

91 92 94 95 97 99 101

Introduction Intransitive vs. transitive predicates Valence Transitivity Arguments vs. adjuncts Discrepancies between case and grammatical relations Fluctuation between nominative and accusative markings

Subjects and topics 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Identifiability

102 102 103

Contents 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15

9

Anaphoric topics Generic topics Unique topics Non-subject topics Topic–comment vs. event reporting sentences Attribute description Focus Contrastive wa Negative-scope marker wa Dependent clauses The wa–ga construction Staging A case study

Tense, aspect, and taxis 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9

Introduction Tense Aspect Taxis Reference time -Ta and -ru in discourse The perfect The resultative Summary

ix 104 105 105 105 106 107 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

115 115 116 118 120 121 122 123 125 127

Part IV Major clause types 10

Measurement and comparison 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5

11

Causatives 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7

12

Measurement Comparison Measured difference Less/fewer Modifying nouns

Introduction Case marking of the causee Animate vs. inanimate causers and causees Causative vs. transitive verbs The permissive causative The intermediary causative The structure of the causative construction

Passives 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6

Introduction Direct vs. indirect passives Adversity in the indirect passive Agency in passives Stative verbs in passives The ni-yotte passive

131 131 134 136 138 140

142 142 143 146 147 149 150 151

152 152 153 155 158 159 160

x

Contents 12.7 The structure of the passive constructions 12.8 The causative passive

13

14

Benefactives

164

13.1 Introduction 13.2 Donatory verbs 13.2.1 Directions of transfer 13.2.2 Relative status of giver and receiver 13.3 Benefactive constructions 13.3.1 Two types of beneficiary 13.3.2 The event benefactive 13.4 Implicit meanings of donatory verbs 13.5 The -te morau causative 13.6 The causative þ -te itadaku 13.7 -Te kureru vs. -te kuru 13.8 Malefactive rendering

164 164 165 167 167 168 169 169 170 172 173 174

Noun modification and complementation

175

14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9

15

162 163

Introduction The gapped externally headed relative clause The internally headed relative clause The gapless relative clause Extraction from adverbial clauses Extraction from relative clauses Questioning a constituent inside relative clauses Tense in relative clauses Noun complementation

Nominalization 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4

Introduction No vs. koto No/koto vs. to The n(o) þ copula construction 15.4.1 External negation 15.4.2 Metalinguistic negation 15.4.3 N(o) da as a nominal predication 15.4.4 N(o) da to supply background information 15.4.5 N(o) da and the expression of spontaneity

175 175 178 180 181 181 182 184 186

188 188 189 190 192 192 193 194 196 197

Part V Clause linkage 16

Temporal clauses 16.1 Introduction 16.2 P0 ≺ Q0 16.2.1 P-te Q 16.2.2 P-te kara Q 16.2.3 P-ta ato (de) Q 16.2.4 P-ta ato ni Q 16.2.5 P-tara Q 16.2.6 P-ru to Q 16.2.7 P-ta toki Q

201 201 202 202 202 203 204 205 206 207

Contents 16.3 Q0 ≺ P0 16.3.1 16.3.2 16.3.3 16.4 P0  Q0 16.4.1 16.4.2 16.4.3

17

18

xi P-ru mae ni Q P-nai uchi ni Q P-ru toki Q P-nagara Q P-ru aida/uchi ni Q P-ru aida/aida-jū (zutto) Q

207 207 208 209 210 210 210 211

Causal and concessive clauses

212

17.1 Introduction 17.2 Causal connections in Japanese 17.2.1 Kara 17.2.2 Node 17.2.3 Tame ni 17.3 Concessive connections 17.3.1 English 17.3.2 Japanese

212 214 214 217 219 219 219 221

Conditional clauses 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Content conditionals 18.3 Epistemic conditionals 18.3.1 P0  Q0 or P0 ≺ Q0 18.3.2 Q0 ≺ P0 18.3.3 Counterfactual conditionals 18.4 Generic (tenseless) conditionals 18.5 Speech-act conditionals 18.6 Summary

223 223 225 228 228 230 233 235 237 238

Part VI Pragmatics (language usage) 19

Speech acts 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7

20

243

Introduction Apologies Commands Compliments and responses Invitations and requests Refusal Thanking

243 245 247 248 250 251 253

Politeness and honorifics I

255

20.1 Introduction 20.2 Addressee honorifics 20.2.1 Verbs 20.2.2 I-adjectives 20.3 Referent honorifics 20.3.1 Verbs 20.3.2 Combination of verb honorifics

255 256 256 256 258 258 262

xii

Contents

20.4

20.5 20.6 20.7

21

20.3.3 Adjectives 20.3.4 Nouns Humilifics 20.4.1 Verbs 20.4.2 Nouns Humilifics as addressee honorifics Beautification Honorifics as an indication of refinement

Politeness and honorifics II 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5

Introduction Objections to Brown and Levinson’s theory Counter-arguments to Ide’s theory Honorifics and politeness Problems with Brown and Levinson’s theory 21.5.1 Combining positive and negative politeness 21.5.2 One strategy per FTA 21.5.3 Risk avoidance as the sole motivation for politeness 21.6 Reconciling Brown and Levinson’s theory and Japanese politeness 21.6.1 Robin Lakoff’s theory 21.6.2 Honorifics as a different politeness mode 21.6.3 Modifying Brown and Levinson’s theory

22

Speech style shift 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6

23

Introduction Affective distance Social roles Domains of information Awareness of the addressee The use of soliloquy to express intimacy and deference simultaneously

Sentence-final particles 23.1 Introduction 23.2 Common sentence-final particles 23.2.1 Ka 23.2.2 Kashira 23.2.3 Ke 23.2.4 Na 23.2.5 No 23.2.6 Sa 23.2.7 Wa 23.2.8 Ya 23.2.9 Ze 23.2.10 Zo 23.3 Ne and yo in conversation 23.4 Ne and yo in soliloquy 23.4.1 Ne 23.4.2 Yo 23.5 Acquisition of sentence-final particles

262 262 264 264 265 266 267 267

269 269 271 272 273 274 274 274 277 277 278 278 279

282 282 282 284 286 287 288

293 293 293 293 294 295 296 297 297 297 298 298 299 299 302 302 303 304

Contents

24

Modality and evidentiality 24.1 Modality 24.1.1 Deontic modality 24.1.2 Epistemic modality 24.2 Evidentiality 24.2.1 Sō da 24.2.2 -Tte 24.2.3 Yō da/mitai da 24.2.4 Rashii 24.2.5 Other types of evidential expressions 24.3 Information territory 24.3.1 The theory of territory of information 24.3.2 Four cases of information 24.3.3 Obligatory vs. optional ne 24.3.4 Hearsay

25

Backchanneling 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4

26

Demonstratives 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4

27

Introduction Deixis and anaphora Anaphoric use of Japanese demonstratives Ko-so-a in soliloquy 26.4.1 Ko26.4.2 So26.4.3 A26.4.4 Chafe’s model of consciousness

Represented speech 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6

28

Introduction Frequencies of backchannels in Japanese and American English Timing of backchannels The co-construction puzzle

Introduction Deixis in represented speech Omission of verbs of saying/thinking Blended speech Free indirect speech Self-quotation

Gendered language 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5

Introduction Formal characteristics of Japanese gendered speech Role language Origins and development of gendered language in Japanese Gendered language in soliloquy

References Index

xiii

307 307 307 308 309 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318

319 319 322 323 327

331 331 334 335 337 337 338 339 341

344 344 345 347 348 349 352

355 355 357 360 361 365

369 384

Figures

1.1 4.1 4.2 5.1 13.1 13.2 15.1 15.2 16.1 20.1 21.1 24.1 27.1

xiv

Hattori’s analysis Pictographs Vowel insertion Word frequency of use Ageru and kureru Morau Sequential scanning Summary scanning P-nai uchi ni Q Addressee vs. referent honorifics Strategies for doing FTAs Territories of information Two speech situations

page 9 44 55 73 166 166 195 196 208 256 270 316 346

Maps

1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

The Japanese archipelago Okinawa The regions of Japan The Itoigawa–Shizuoka Tectonic Line Pitch–accent patterns

page 6 19 22 27 28

xv