The Process of Diachronic Change of Quotative Particles and Formal Nouns in Japanese : Grammaticalization, Subjectification and Lntersubjectification

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The goal of this study was to investigate the process of diachronic change of morphemes which frequently occur in conversational language (including old texts reflecting conversational language of that time), while referring to the concepts of "grammaticalization," "subjectification" and "intersubjectification. " The main target of analysis includes quotative particles (especially tte) and formal nouns (especially wake). I investigated how changes in meaning, function, and surrounding constructions occurred, while also presenting thoughts about the reasons and directions of these changes. The diachronic data includes the documentations of conversational language from the Edo period through present-day Japanese, with the tokens grouped according to time periods. This grant enabled me to create a database, containing information on morphological and structural environments and semantics and discourse functions of all the tokens. Furthermore, I presented the results in conferences and journals, both in Japan and overseas, in English and Japanese. Two panels at the International Pragmatics Conference (Italy in 2005, Sweden in 2007) were especially significant since I was able to make contributions both as a co-organizer and speaker. Here, as well as at many other conferences, I obtained useful feedback through interactions with scholars specializing in a variety of languages and themes. The conclusions of the 2005 panel have been published in the form of a book (Special issue of Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 8.2), for which I acted as a co-editor and also a contributor. The papers from the 2007 panel are going to be published as a volume in a series called Studies in Discourse and Grammar (John Benjamins Publishing Company). I have started working as a contributor, as well as co-editor, for this volume.