日語的擬聲詞

An RRG Analysis of Manner Adverbial Mimetics

本文以角色指稱語法來探討日語方式副詞中的擬聲副詞之句法功能，並且觀察擬聲副詞在小核心、核心及子句中修飾哪些句法單位。英文的方式副詞被分析為核心或子句的修飾語 (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997)。本文提出日語的方式擬聲副詞也有兩種不同的功能，並且可以修飾的單位為核心及小核心。我們所利用的判定方法包括多數修飾語的排列方式及擬聲詞和核心運符之間的範疇關係。將擬聲詞歸納在核心副詞中的主要證據包括其動貌、在小核心接合結構中與小核心的共同特徵以及跟一般核心副詞的差別。

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.