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A constructional account of the ‘optional’ quotative marking on Japanese mimetics1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2015

KIMI AKITA  and
TAKESHI USUKI
KIMI AKITA*
Affiliation:
Department of Japanese Language and Culture, Nagoya University
TAKESHI USUKI*
Affiliation:
Institute of General Education, Kyoto Sangyo University
*
Author’s address:Graduate School of Languages and Cultures, Nagoya University, B4-5(700) Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 464-8601, Japanakita@lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Author’s address: Institute of General Education, Kyoto Sangyo University, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 603-8555, Japanusuki@cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp
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Abstract

This paper proposes a constructional account of the longstanding issue of the optional quotative to-marking on manner-adverbial mimetics (or ideophones) in Japanese. We argue that this optionality comes from the availability of two morphological constructions – the bare-mimetic predicate construction and the quotative-adverbial construction – to a set of mimetics. On the one hand, the bare-mimetic predicate construction incorporates previously identified phonological, syntactic, and semantic conditions of the bare realization of mimetics. This construction is instantiated by bare mimetics (e.g. pyókopyoko ‘jumping around quickly’) in combination with their typical host predicates (e.g. hane- ‘jump’), and they behave as loose complex predicates with more or less abstract meanings. As with ‘say’- and ‘do’-verbs, these complex predicates involve quasi-incorporation, which is a constructional strategy for the morphosyntactic integration of mimetics into sentence structures. On the other hand, the quotative-adverbial construction introduces mimetics to sentences with a minimal loss of their imitative semiotics. This fundamental function is consistent with the wide distribution of quotative-marked mimetics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , 01 July 2016 , pp. 245 - 275
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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