Japanese Modality: Exploring its Scope and Interpretation

311 Pages·2009·2.375 MB·English

by  Barbara Pizziconi, Mika Kizu (eds.)

Japanese Modality
AlsobyBarbaraPizziconi
TAIGUUHYOOGENKARAMITANIHONGOKYOOKASHO–KYOOKASHO5SHU
NO BUNSEKI TO HIHAN [Politeness Expressions in Japanese Textbooks – an
AnalysisandCritiqueofFiveTextbookTypes]
AlsobyMikaKizu
CLEFTCONSTRUCTIONSINJAPANESESYNTAX
Japanese Modality
Exploring its Scope and Interpretation
Editedby
Barbara Pizziconi
and
Mika Kizu
DepartmentofJapanandKorea
SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies
UniversityofLondon
Selectionandeditorialmatter©BarbaraPizziconiandMikaKizu2009
Chapters©theirindividualauthors2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009
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Contents
ListofFigures vii
ListofTables viii
Preface ix
NotesontheContributors xi
Introduction 1
BarbaraPizziconiandMikaKizu
Part I ContextualizingandDefiningJapanese
Modality
1 Modality,ModaritiandPredication–theStory
ofModalityinJapan 9
HeikoNarrog
2 ModalityfromaJapanesePerspective 36
TakashiMasuoka
3 WestmeetsEast:aKindaichianApproachtoSubjective
Modality 56
LarsLarm
4 WhatIsandIsnotLanguage-SpecificabouttheJapanese
ModalSystem?AComparativeandHistoricalPerspective 87
TetsuharuMoriyaandKaoruHorie
Part II JapaneseModalityfromSemanticand
SyntacticPerspectives
5 TenseandSettlednessinJapaneseConditionals 117
SetsukoArita
6 ConditionalModality:TwoTypesofModalAuxiliariesin
Japanese 150
YukinoriTakubo
v
vi Contents
7 JapaneseModalsattheSyntax–PragmaticsInterface 183
MikaKizu
Part III JapaneseModalityinDiscourse
8 OntheModalityofNounPhrasesasMinorSentencesin
Japanese 207
TerukoShin’ya
9 TheAcquisitionofJapaneseModalityduringStudyAbroad 231
SuwakoWatanabeandNorikoIwasaki
10 TheInteractionalConsequencesofEpistemic
Indexicality–SomeThoughtsontheEpistemic
Marker-kamoshirenai 259
BarbaraPizziconi
SubjectIndex 287
LanguageIndex 295
NameIndex 296
GrammaticalFormIndex 299
List of Figures
1.1 ModalityinJapanesesentencestructure,accordingto
Nitta(1989:1) 13
3.1 Therelationshipbetweenformanddegreeofsubjectivity 78
3.2 (a)Representationofexample(41)(b)Representationof
example(42) 78
6.1 Pitchcontourin(38) 162
6.2 Pitchcontourin(40) 163
9.1 ACTFLOPIratingsoffivestudents 240
9.2 Proportionofpredicateswithmodalexpressions 242
9.3 Proportionofepistemicmodalexpressions 242
9.4 Proportionofkedo 243
9.5 Proportionofndesu 243
9.6 Sentence-finalparticles 244
vii
List of Tables
4.1 AmbiguousmodalauxiliariesinOldJapanese 94
4.2 Co-occurrencerestrictionsofOldJapanesemodal
auxiliaries 101
4.3 Co-occurrencerestrictionsofModernJapanesemodal
auxiliaries 101
4.4 TheinventoryofJapaneseandKoreanmodalauxiliaries 103
5.1 Conditionalsandsettledness 125
7.1 RelevantpersonpropertiesobservedinUeda(2008) 195
9.1 ACTFLproficiencylevelsandkeycriteria 239
viii
Preface
Introducing a book on modality is not an easy task. As a cursory look
at the content of this volume concisely demonstrates, the concept of
‘modality’isrelevanttoverymanyaspectsoflanguage,andisanobject
of interest to a broad range of disciplinary fields. But the very defini-
tionofmodalityisacontentiousissue,whichreflectstheplasticity(and
therefore the vagueness) of this ‘umbrella’ term, and at the same time,
theelusivenessandhugevarietyofthephenomenathatresearchaimsto
capture.Theeditorsofthisvolumedonotintendto‘takesides’.Instead,
wewishtopresentanon-dogmaticoverviewofmodalitystudies,toput
thisverydiversityondisplay,providefoodforthought,andletreaders
make up their minds as to the most effective and fruitful approach, to
pursuemuchneededfurtherresearch.
But this book, the first collection on Japanese modality (or rather
‘Japanese Modariti’) in the English language, also intends to be a dis-
playofmodalityresearchonJapanese,aconsiderableamountofwhich
has only appeared in Japanese, and is unknown or little known to the
worldwideacademiccommunity.Someofthechaptersinthiscollection
not only reference but address issues emerging from the traditions of
Nihongogaku(‘Japaneselinguistics’)orKokugogaku(‘Japanesephilology’),
whichwehopewillprovideaglimpseoftheirveryrichlandscapes.
ThisvolumeistheoffspringoftheinternationalconferenceRevisiting
JapaneseModality,heldon24and25June2006,attheSchoolofOriental
and African Studies, University of London. Two of the most promi-
nent authorities in the field, professors Takashi Masuoka and Yukinori
Takubo, provided thoughtful and thought-provoking plenary sessions.
Over50participantsfromJapan,AmericaandotherEuropeancountries
contributedtotwodaysofinsightfulandconstructivediscussionacross
disciplinaryborders.Thechaptersinthisvolume(withtheexceptionof
those of the editors, which are later additions) represent a selection of
theconferencepapers,andwethankallthecontributorsfortheircon-
tinuedenthusiasmandcollaborationthroughouttheserpentinejourney
topublication.
The success of the conference led to an additional workshop on
Japanese modality for Japanese language teachers held in London in
October2007,andeventuallytothispublication.Ourprojectwouldnot
have materialized without the generous financial support of the Japan
ix