The Double-Subject Construction in East Asian Languages Restricted to the Possessive Type: A Typological Survey

要旨

The present study is a cross-linguistic survey on the Double-Subject Construction (DSC) in East Asian languages. The DSC is a distinctive typological characteristic of East Asian languages, defined by the seeming coexistence of two subjects in the same clause, one of which generally acts as the main subject of the sentence and the other as the subject of the comment (for example, “As for elephantsSBJ, their nosesSBJ are long”). The possessive relationship between the two subjects, particularly alienability, has been claimed to play a crucial role in the DSC in numerous languages when evaluating the DSC (Modini, 1981, etc.). The present study examined the DSC in three East-Asian minority languages and dialects, the Aragusuku dialect of Miyako Ryukyuan (Japonic), the Shiiba dialect (Japonic), and the She (pronounced as [ʂɤ55]) Speech (Sinitic), and has confirmed that alienability does play a role in the DSC of all languages. The fundamental duality of alienable vs. inalienable possession, on the other hand, proved to be problematic. Rather, it has been demonstrated that a finer differentiation of various types of alienability works better. The Possession Cline (Tsunoda, 1991; body part > attribute > clothing > kin > pet animal > product > others) is a valuable technique for assessing the DSC in all three lects. Our further contribution to the DSC and Possession Cline typology is that the position of the category product should be reassessed, because the constituents are not homogenous (for example, in Standard Japanese, zi, which is normally classed as product, should be considered attribute while expressing ‘handwriting’, but product when representing ‘calligraphy’.).

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