Referential Structure in Japanese: a Diachrony

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Here, "reference" is construed as the relation between a linguistic expression and a "referent". The latter is understood as an image in the speaker's mind, which can represent either a real or an abstract entity. Full noun phrases (proper and common names) and reduced noun phrases (pronouns and zero forms) constitute the main "referential devices" in a language. In most cases, the choice between them depends on how much a referent is "activated" in the speaker's mind: the higher the degree of activation, the higher the possibility that a reduced noun phrase will be used. There have been numerous suggestions regarding the factors, which determine the degree of a referent's activation (Kibrik 2011: 390-393).While other scholars considered these factors separately, Kibrik (2011: 60-61) suggested that the degree of activation is determined by all of them collectively and can be measured quantitatively with his cognitive multi-factorial (CMF, henceforth) method. I will apply the CMF approach to several diachronic stages of the Japanese language. The CMF approach has been previously applied to Contemporary Japanese by Efimova (2006). While her study has achieved a breakthrough in the field, it still suffers from a serious limitation. Efimova uses the x2 test for her statistical analysis which only allows to establish a correlation between two parameters: in her case, between each activation factor and a referential device. In other words, this statistical method is not adequate to her multi-factorial analysis, since it cannot reflect the interaction between activation factors. In my research, the multinomial (polytomous) logistic regression will be used.Key research questions:1) Have the strategies of referential choice in Japanese written narratives changed diachronically? 2) If so, what are the morphosyntactic mechanics of this change? 3) Which of the activation factors affect referential choice in different epochs and genres? 4) Has the use of 3rd person pronouns and passivisation (instead of topicalisation) actually become more extensive in Modern Japanese under the influence of European languages (Li 2000)?The theoretical significance of the proposed research is two-fold. Firstly, to my knowledge, no investigation of referential choice at any synchronic stage of pre-Modern Japanese has been conducted before. Meanwhile, a study like this might shed new light on some issues, concerning the use of null elements and pronouns. Secondly, the proposed research will contribute to the general theory of discourse linguistics, since there has been no extensive study on the diachrony of referential structure in any given language. The only attempt in this direction has been undertaken by Song (2021), who applied "referential density" tests to three stages of the English language (Old, Middle, and Modern) and demonstrated that the stable increase of "referential density" (number of overt arguments over the number of predicates) reflects major changes in argument structure, valency, and transitivity. I will also apply the "referential density" tests to different stages of Japanese as well. As for practical significance, the findings of this research will be useful in solving the perennial problems of machine translation such as the resolution of zero elements and pronoun reference.