Semantic analysis of adjectival forms in Japanese: A comparison with Turkish adjectival participles

Abstract

Please fill up the following information accurately. (Please use Times New Roman, 12 pt.
Semantic analysis of adjectival forms in Japanese: A comparison with Turkish adjectival participles
Adjectival participles have been classified by their syntactic and semantic functions in many languages. Among the semantic functions, it is proposed that "reversible/irreversible interpretation" of those forms have a distinctive property. Like English, German, Greek and Turkish, it is claimed that Japanese adjectival forms have reversible/irreversible distinction as well. This study aims to verify the reversible/irreversible interpretation of Japanese adjectival forms proposed by Morita (1988) and clarify the factors related to this interpretation based on some concrete examples. To verify Morita’s (1988) claim, we analyzed Japanese adjectival forms based on some semantic diagnostics proposed in previous studies (Kratzer 2000, Embick 2004, Gürer 2014). In contrast to previous proposals, our findings indicated that Japanese reversible/irreversible distinction behaves in the same way that Turkish does; reversible/irreversible interpretation is mainly related to the verb to which adjectival forms attach to and the modified noun. Our results obtained in this study are significant in that reversible/irreversible distinction of adjectival forms, which does not only occur in Turkish but also in Japanese, have a possibility to become indispensable semantic diagnostics for future contrastive researches.
Information about Author(s)*
Author 1
Author (Last name, First name)	Kıra, Esra
Affiliated institution (University)	Okayama University
Country	Japan
Email address	[e-mail]
Department & Rank
Corresponding author (Yes/No) Write only one corresponding author.	Yes
Author 2
Author (Last name, First name)
Affiliated institution (University)
Country
Email address
Department & Rank
Corresponding author (Yes/No)
Author 3
Author (Last name, First name)
Affiliated institution (University)
Country
Email address
Department & Rank
Corresponding author (Yes/No)
Author 4
Author (Last name, First name)
Affiliated institution (University)
Country
Email address
Department & Rank
Corresponding author (Yes/No)

Keywords

• Adjectival forms; reversible/irreversible; semantic analysis; Japanese; Turkish

References

1. Abe, Y. (1993). Dethematized Subjects and Property Ascription in Japanese. Language, Information and Computation. Thaehaksa, Seoul.
2. Anagnostopoulou, E. (2003). Participles and voice. In A. Alexiadou, M. Rathert & A. von Stechow (Eds.), Perfect Explorations (pp. 1-36). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin.
3. Embick, D. (2004). On the structure of resultative participles in English. Linguistic Inquiry, 35(3), 355-392.
4. Gürer, A. (2014). Adjectival participles in Turkish. Lingua 149, 166-187.
5. Jacobsen, W. M. (1982). Vendler’s Verb Classes and the Aspectual Character of Japanese. Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 373-383.
6. Kindaichi, H. (1950). Kokugo Doosi no Itibunrui (A Classification of Japanese Verbs). In
7. Kindaichi, Haruhiko (Ed.), Nihongo Doosi no Asupekuto (Aspect of Japanese Verbs) (pp. 5-
8. . Mugi Shoboo.

9. Kindaichi, H. (1955). Nihongo Doosi no Tensu to Asupekuto (Tense and Aspect of Japanese Verbs).
10. In H. Kindaichi (Ed.), Nihongo Doosi no Asupekuto (Aspect of Japanese Verbs) (pp. 27-61).
11. Mugi Syoboo.
12. Kinsui, S. (1994). Rentai Syuusyoku no -ta nituite (The Modifier -ta). In Y. Takubo (Ed.), Nihongo
13. no Meisi Syuusyoku Hyoogen (Noun Modifiers in Japanese) (pp. 29-65). Kurosio Syuppan.
14. Kratzer, A. (1994). The Event Argument and the Semantics of Voice. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MS.
15. Kratzer, A. (2000). Building statives. Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society: General Session and Parasession on Aspect, 385-399, Berkeley Linguistics Society, CA.
16. Morita, Y. (1988). Nihongo no Ruii Hyoogen (Synonymous Expressions in Japanese). Sootakusya.
17. Ogihara, T. (2004). Adjectival Relatives. Linguistics and Philosophy, 27(5), 557-608.
18. Parsons, T. (1990). Events in the Semantics of English: A Study in Subatomic Semantics. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
19. Teramura, H. (1984). Nihongo no Sintakusu to Imi Ⅱ (Syntax and Signification of Japanese). Kurosio Syuppan.