Periphery of utterances and (inter)subjectification in Modern Japanese: a case study of competing causal conjunctions and connective particles

要旨

Comparing data from present-day conversation with that from the conversational parts of journals in late-Modern Japanese, this paper investigates the development of two synonymous causal constructions, namely the kara-clause and the node-clause constructions, in terms of the peripheries of an utterance. It illustrates that in Modern Japanese the two constructions are undergoing a similar developmental path, in that the causal conjunctive particles kara and node have been developing into part of the conjunctions dakara and nanode in the left periphery of a clause and developing final-particle-like functions in the right periphery. When they appear in either periphery of an utterance, they express and elaborate the speaker’s (inter)subjective meanings in interaction. They are also in the process of (inter)subjectification.

主題