Title: Grammaticalization as an Issue for Defining a Clause in Japanese
The present paper is a report of a joint research project in progress concerning Theme in Japanese. One of the crucial issues in considering what constitutes Theme and in examining its function is the setting up of criteria for the clause boundary in Japanese. In this paper, we will present our findings with regard to grammaticalization of processes. This issue draws our attention since it often poses a question as to the ways in which we decide the number of clauses in a given clause complex. For example, (1) is problematic because it may contain one clause only or two clauses depending upon how we interpret mukat-te:
(1) Raihoosha ni mukat-te soo it-ta.
guests LOC face-CON so say-PAST
"(He) said so, facing to the guests."
(Shiina Makoto, Sayonara, umi no onna-tachi)
The two readings are that (i) mukat-te is a full lexical item, i.e., the verb in the te form, and (ii) it is rather a grammaticalized item functioning as a preposition. Note also that the same problem arises with (2):
(2) Kabe ni mukai, hitorigotooit-te-ita.
wall LOC face talk to (oneself)-be-PAST
"Facing to the wall, (s/he) was talking to (her/himself)."
We will show our working hypothesis concerning plausible
functional criteria for judging such cases.
References:
Hopper, Paul J. and Elizabeth Traugott 1993. Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yamanashi, Masa-aki 1996. "Spatial Cognition and Egocentric Distance in Metaphor." Poetics, 46, 1-14.