Attitudinal and Aspectual Properties of Two Aspect Morphemes in West Japanese Dialects - and Oru

要旨

The present thesis is concerned with describing the aspect morphemes toru and yoru, as well as the existential verb oru, prevalent in the dialects of western Japan in general, and the central Kinki region in particular. We will discuss the semantic properties of these morphemes in five dialects using a survey of predicate structure in Japanese dialects. With the aid of an informant from Osaka we will also discuss the attitudinal dimension that these expressions carry. The purpose is to make available to an English speaking audience some of the results that have been available and well-known in Japanese for quite some time. Given that the obtained results are applicable, we find in Kobe an aspectual system similar to that of Uwajima, and we also find that the dialect of Tsu is dominated aspectually by toru, leading to the hypothesis that pejorative yoru might be ready to enter the dialect. Furthermore, with the informants aid we find that oru is not felt to be pejorative by native speakers of Osaka Japanese, in contrast to statements by other researchers in the area.

主題