Referential Structure in Japanese: a Diachrony

日语中的指称结构：历时性

• 批准号: 2733065
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2733065
• 关键词: Referential; Structure; Japanese; Diachrony

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.

在这里，“指称”被解释为语言表达和“所指”之间的关系。后者被理解为说话者头脑中的一个形象，它可以代表一个真实的或抽象的实体。全称名词短语（专有名词和普通名词）和简化名词短语（代词和零形式）构成了语言中的主要“指称手段”。在大多数情况下，它们之间的选择取决于一个所指在说话者的头脑中被“激活”的程度：激活的程度越高，一个简化的名词短语将被使用的可能性就越高。关于决定指称激活程度的因素，有很多观点（Kibrik 2011：390-393），其他学者分别考虑了这些因素，而Kibrik（2011：60-61）认为激活程度是由所有因素共同决定的，可以用他的认知多因素（CMF，以下简称CMF）方法进行定量测量。我将把CMF方法应用于日语的几个历时阶段。Efimova（2006）曾将CMF方法应用于当代日语。虽然她的研究在该领域取得了突破性进展，但仍存在严重的局限性。Efimova使用x2检验进行统计分析，仅允许建立两个参数之间的相关性：在她的情况下，每个激活因子与参考器械之间。换句话说，这种统计方法不适合她的多因素分析，因为它不能反映激活因素之间的相互作用。本研究采用多项逻辑回归分析方法，主要研究问题：1）日语书面记叙文的指称选择策略是否发生了历时性变化？2)如果是这样，这种变化的形态句法机制是什么？3)在不同的时代和体裁中，哪些激活因素影响指称选择？4)在欧洲语言的影响下，第三人称代词和被动化（而不是主题化）的使用在现代日语中实际上变得更加广泛了吗？所提出的研究的理论意义是双重的。首先，据我所知，在前现代日语的任何共时阶段都没有对指称选择进行过研究。同时，这样的研究可能会对一些有关空成分和代词使用的问题提供新的启示。其次，由于目前还没有对任何一种语言中指称结构的历时性进行广泛的研究，因此，本文的研究将有助于话语语言学的一般理论。在这方面唯一的尝试是由宋（2021）进行的，他将“指称密度”测试应用于英语的三个阶段（旧，中，现代），并证明了“指称密度”的稳定增长（显性论元的数量超过谓词的数量）反映了论元结构，配价和及物性的重大变化。我也将把“参照密度”测试应用于日语的不同阶段。从实际意义上讲，本文的研究成果将有助于解决机器翻译中的零元消解和代词指称等长期存在的问题。