Grammaticality in Japanese clipping

要旨

This paper analyzes the role of morphology in the clipping process of the Japanese language. Contrary to views that clipping is either not morphological or should not be accounted for in the grammar (cf. e.g. Scalise, 1984, p. 94; Spencer, 1991, p. 461; Mel'čuk, 2006, p. 311), Japanese clipping appears to be morphologically motivated and is a productive process in the language. A review of the relevant literature on clipping shows that the process is vaguely defined and often considered arbitrary in how its outputs are formed. I propose a unified definition of clipping on the basis of which I analyze examples from a database of over 600 Japanese clipped outputs. My own model of how clipping might fit into the grammar is based on the application of the Process-and-Paradigm Morphology framework (Pounder, 2000) and expansions upon that framework by Winters (2017). In this model, I create representations of word-formation operations which are able to account for many of the forms found in Japanese clipping while also giving an account of when clipping happens in word-formation. The retention of class-specific affixes and morphemes in Japanese clipped outputs provides evidence for patternability in clipping and an awareness of morphological structures by speakers, which demonstrates that clipping exhibits grammaticality and belongs within morphological theory.

主題