An RRG Analysis of Manner Adverbial Mimetics

要旨

This study offers a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) account of the syntax of adverbial mimetics (onomatopoeias and ideophones), which constitute a subset of manner adverbs in Japanese. It examines which syntactic unit(s) a mimetic can modify in the layered structure of the clause; nucleus, core, or clause. English manner adverbs (e.g., cleverly, clumsily) are analyzed as modifiers of the clause or the core (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997). This study argues that Japanese manner adverbial mimetics are likewise categorized dichotomously but the unit they can modify is one layer inward: i.e., the core or the nucleus. The diagnostic tests employed include relative ordering of multiple adjuncts and the scope relation between the mimetic and the core operator. Evidence for including mimetics in the nuclear adverb category comes from the aspectual character of mimetics, their parallel behavior to linked nuclei in a nuclear juncture, and other characteristics that distinguish them from regular core adverbs.

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