Historical Discourse Analysis: Grammatical Subject in Japanese 9783110860528, 9783110117851

Citation preview

Historical Discourse Analysis

Discourse Perspectives on Grammar

3 Editors

Paul Hopper Sandra Thompson

Mouton de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

Historical Discourse Analysis Grammatical Subject in Japanese

by

Noriko Fujii

Mouton de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

1991

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.

© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Fujii, Noriko. Historical discourse analysis : grammatical subject in Japanese / by Noriko Fujii. p. cm. — (Discourse perspectives on grammar; 3) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-89925-506-X (acid-free paper) 1. Japanese language —Noun phrase. 2. Japanese language—Grammar, Historical. 3. Japanese language — Topic and comment. 4. Japanese language — Discourse analysis. I. Title. II. Series. PL571.F8 1991 495.6'5 —dc20 91-24571 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Fujii, Noriko: Historical discourse analysis : grammatical subject in Japanese / by Noriko Fujii. — Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1991 (Discourse perspectives on grammar ; 3) ISBN 3-11-011785-1 NE: GT

© Copyright 1991 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-1000 Berlin 30 All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printing: Gerike GmbH, Berlin. — Binding: Dieter Mikolai, Berlin. Printed in Germany.

To my mother Satoe Fujii

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

xi

List of Abbreviations

xiii

Chapter 1: Introduction

1

1.1.

The influence of Western languages on Japanese

2

1.2.

Historical background of Japanese language contact with Western languages

7

1.3.

Reformation of the language

8

1.4.

Oobun-chokuyaku-tai and its influence

11

1.5.

Changes observed in the grammatical subject

14

1.5.1.

Explicit and implicit representation of subject

14

1.5.2.

Inanimate subjects

18

1.5.3.

Other related changes

20

1.6.

Implications and problems

23

Chapter 2: Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

29

2.1.

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

29

2.2.

The notion of subject in this study

47

2.3.

Summary

55

Chapter 3: Data and theoretical concepts

57

3.1.

Data

57

3.1.1.

Selection of texts

57

3.1.2.

Chapter "Kiritsubo," 'The Paulownia Court'

62

3.2.

Method

63

3.2.1.

Clause level analysis

63

3.2.2.

Topic continuity counting

68

Chapter 4: Explicit and implicit subjects

73

4.1.

Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject

74

4.1.1.

The explicit and implicit manifestations of subjects and quotations

82

4.2.

Implicitness in subjects

83

4.3.

Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms

87

4.3.1.

Topic continuity of different forms of subjects

90

4.3.2.

Implicit subjects and the importance of participants

92

4.4.

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects... 93

4.4.1.

Subjectless sentences

93

4.4.1.1.

Implicit subjects that are not conditioned by the context

94

4.4.1.2.

Implicit subjects and the context

98

4.4.2.

The use of honorifics

4.4.2.1.

Correlation between the use of honorifics

106

and the ratio of explicit/implicit subjects

109

4.4.2.2.

Honorifics in Genji 1

112

4.4.2.3.

Honorific usages in other Genjis

118

4.4.3.

The length of the sentence and cohesion

124

4.4.4.

Switch-reference

129

4.4.4.1.

Switch-reference of conjunctions in Genji 1

134

4.4.4.2.

Switch-reference of conjunctions in Genji 2, 5, and 7

144

4.5.

Summary

147

Chapter 5: Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

151

5.1.

Inanimate subjects with transitive verbs

152

5.2.

Passive constructions and inanimate subjects

153

5.3.

Causative constructions and inanimate subjects

160

5.4.

Summary

163

ix

Chapter 6: The particles ga and no

165

6.1.

Explicit subjects and subject marking particles

165

6.1.1. 6.1.2.

Changes in the occurrence of particles Case particles and particles of discourse

165 167

6.2.

Unmarked subjects

168

6.3. 6.3.1. 6.3.2.

Changes in the function of ga and no The occurrence of ga and no The Process of change

175 175 182

6.3.3.

The difference between nominative no and ga in embedded clauses of twentieth-century Genjis Summary

190 193

6.3.4.

Chapter 7: The topic particle wa

195

7.1.

Background discussion

195

7.2.

Macro function and micro function of wa in present-day Japanese

205

Earlier uses of the particle External influence Summary

213 223 227

7.3. 7.4. 7.5.

Chapter 8: Concluding remarks

229

Notes

233

Bibliography

245

Index

266

Acknowledgements

The preparation of this book was supported in part by a Rackham dissertation grant from the University of Michigan, and by a Research Assistant Grant from the Northeast Asian Council of the Association of Asian Studies. I am grateful for their support. I wish to express my gratitude to my teachers, Alton L. Becker, Peter Hook, J. C. Catford, and William Baxter, and to my colleague Mary Erbaugh, who read an earlier version of the book and made many invaluable comments. Alton L. Becker taught me the importance of looking at discourse data when analysing a language, and I am beginning to realize the scope of the influence I have received from him. I thank Talmy Givön and Russell Tomlin for their support, and for the insight they provided on various issues I deal with in the book. Russell Tomlin, acting Head of my department, made sure that I would not be interrupted by administrative duties during the summer when I was completing the book. Without Talmy's and Russ' support, this book would not have been possible. The participants of the workshop, "Internal and external factors in syntactic change," held at Rutgers University in the summer of 1989, provided useful insights concerning language change, and I thank the organizers of the workshop, Marinal Gerritsen and Dieter Stein, for giving me an opportunity to participate in it. Special thanks go to Sandra Thompson and Paul Hopper, the series editors of Discourse Perspectives on Grammar. They read an earlier version of the book and, as well as encouragement, have offered invaluable suggestions for its revision. Naturally, I am responsible for any shortcomings contained in the present work. I wish to thank Mike Powell for the careful editing of the manuscript; and Larry Hatmaker, Spike Gildea, and TankaSunuwar for the complicated tasks of transferring data and formatting. I am also grateful for the encouragement my colleagues Hiroko Kataoka and Carl Falsgraf have given. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my husband, Tomiyo Ueno, and to my daughter, Amy, for their patience and support, and for helping me keep a balanced perspective. Noriko Fujii August, 1990

Abbreviations

ACC AGT ASSOC CAU CJ CONJ

=Accusative =Agent =Associative marker/linker =Causative =Conjuction =Conjecture

DAT

=Dative

DIR

=Direction/goal particle =Emphasis =Exclamation

EMP EX HUM (HUM) LOC MAN NEG NOM NOMI

=Humble =Humbleness conveyed by lexical item itself =Location particle =Manner

PASS PERF

=Negative =Nom inative =Nominalizer =Passive ^Perfect

PL

=Plural

POL POT

=Polite =Potential

Q QUES

=Quotative marker =Question

RES (RES) SP TOP

=Respect =Respect conveyed by lexical item itself =Sentence particle =Topic

Chapter 1 Introduction

This study will analyze and describe diachronic changes in the structure of the Japanese language with respect to the grammatical subject. Through text analysis, this study particularly examines: 1) the kinds of changes observed in the manifestation of subjects in discourse, inbluding problems such as explicit and implicit representation I

of subjects and the use of postpositional particles; 2) structural and discourse factors affecting the manifestation of subjects in discourse; 3) the use of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions, as a product of the influence of Western languages; and 4) changes in the status of subject in the Japanese language. This study is motivated by claims a number of Japanese linguists have advanced in the area of language contact and borrowing. They (e.g. Umegaki 1963; Inui 1974; Sonoda 1975; Miura 1979) argue that, due to contact with Western languages, especially with English, various changes have taken place in the Japanese language during the past one hundred and fifty years. The structure of the grammatical subject is considered to have been greatly affected, initially by contact with Dutch in the early nineteenth century, and later by contact with English following the Meiji restoration (1868). Particularly, changes have been recognized in: 1) the explicit and implicit representation of subject; 2) the occurrence of inanimate subjects; and 3) the resultant style and rhetoric. In consequence, some scholars have suggested that a fundamental change has taken place in the nature of subject in Japanese: namely, that it has shifted from being a discourse-oriented subject to a syntax- and sentence-oriented subject (as in English). This argument implies, in Li and Thompson's terms (1976), a shift away from topic-comment structure toward subject-predicate as the more basic structure. The above ideas have become important and interesting, especially considering the reexamination of the notion of "subject" and "topic" in recent typological studies. However, these arguments remain largely impressionistic, since they are not solidly supported by empirical analysis. Consequently, many questions remain unanswered. The present study, therefore, attempts to fill some holes in our understanding of the grammatical subject, and of its changes in Japanese. By presenting changes observed

2

Introduction

in a series of colloquial translations of Genji monogatari 'The Tale of Genji,* and of other texts, this study will discuss how changes observed in the various texts relate to the influence of Western languages. This study also deals with the use, and changes in use, of the post-positional particles wa, ga, and no, as they occur throughout the history of the language with respect to subjects. The first chapter of this book briefly sketches the historical background of Japanese language contact with the West, and the influence of Western languages on the grammar of Japanese. Particularly important aspects such as the reformation of the language and the use of Oobun-chokuyaku-tai (the style of direct translation from Western languages) arc discussed in detail. Chapter 2 discusses problems in defining "subject," a term that has been problematic and controversial in the study of the Japanese language. Syntactic criteria to identify subject are discussed. Chapter 3 explains the data and theoretical concepts used in this study. For the data, a historical series of rewritings of the chapter Kiritsubo (The Paulownia Court) from Genji monogatari, 'The Tale of Genji,' is used. Topic continuity counting, a method used in the analysis, is discussed. Chapter 4 treats explicit and implicit representation of subjects. It clarifies how changes in the explicit and implicit representation of grammatical subjects have been influenced by various discourse factors affecting the manifestation of subjects, as well as by the external influence of Western languages. Chapter 5 examines the use of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions, and investigates whether the occurrence of inanimate subjects in these constructions is a new phenomenon, following Japanese contact with Western languages. The last two chapters discuss changes in the functions of particles. Chapter 6 examines ga and no and Chapter 7 treats ha/wa.

1.1. The influence of Western languages on Japanese Past studies examining the influence of Western languages on Japanese have pointed out various changes in the Japanese language which have resulted from contact with those Western languages during the past one hundred and fifty years (Arakawa 1932, 1980; Umegaki 1963; Ozawa 1976; Miller 1967; Lovins 1975; Inui 1974; Miura 1979; Shibauchi and Takai 1967; etc.). These changes have been observed not only on a level of lexicon and phonology, but on a grammatical level as well. The

The influence of Western languages on Japanese

3

phonological and lexical integration of loan words, abundant in the Japanese language today,1 has been studied by both Japanese and non-Japanese linguists (e.g. Arakawa 1932; Umegaki 1963; Ohso 1973; Ozawa 1976; Lovins 1975). These studies have given us a clear understanding of the mechanisms of phonological and lexical adaptations of loan words from Western languages. About seventy years ago, a Meiji Period (1868-1912) literary disciple of the distinguished writer Sooseki Natsume (1867-1916), speaking in reference to Sooseki's writing style, wrote of the strong and rapid influence of Western languages on literary styles: Our language has been shifting with such rapidity that the classical literary style that prevailed ten years ago is no more the style of the day. No matter what may become of this violent change of the language, it is certain that the classical literary mode, ornate with Chinese words and turns of expression, is destined to be superseded by the Western style. (Soohei Morita, "Mr. Sooseki's Art of Writing," 1919. In Inui 1958:5.) The Japanese linguist Minoru Umegaki has also pointed out how in novels of the Meiji period we can find strong evidence of the influence of Chinese; however, in the Taishoo (1912-1926) and Shoowa (1926-1989) periods the influence of Western languages has completely supersedes that of Chinese (Umegaki 1975). Influences on the level of grammar were first noticed in books translated from Dutch during the eighteenth century. Morioka (1972) points out the following characteristics as especially noticeable. 1. The inanimate pronoun, sore 'it', inanimate objects or abstract nouns (e.g. kenkyuu 'research') are used for the subject of a sentence. 2. Many sentences state the subject. 3. Causative expressions are frequently observed. 4. Some new expressions such as ...yori 'by', ...surutokorono 'that, which, who, etc. (relative pronoun)' lit. of place' are observed. (Traditionally, there had been no relative pronouns in the language.) 5. The verb form, dearu 'be' is used. These new phenomena were reinforced as contact with English intensified follow-

4

Introduction

ing the Meiji restoration (1868). Linguists who have studied grammatical influence report considerable grammatical interference in Japanese due to contact with Western languages, especially with English. They have summarized various changes under the following categories. 1. Grammatical subject 2. Passives 3. Causatives 4. Tense marking 4.1. Progressive 4.2. Future 5. Relative clauses 6. 7. 8. 9.

Word order The use of pronouns Semantic change of some words Expressions created through loan translations such as counter-to-fact expressions, cognate objects, comparative and various new idiomatic expressions

10. Punctuation marks As the above list indicates, some of the phenomena concern basic aspects of the structure of the language, such as changes in the use of "subject" and changes in word order. These changes also involve rhetorical strategies and stylistics. The grammatical and rhetorical influences that have been pointed out are interesting in many respects. In the field of language contact and borrowing, a great many linguistic investigations have been carried out on phonological and lexical interference. It was considered that syntactic interference did not occur as easily as phonological or lexical interference. At least it was believed that the latter was less likely to occur (Burling 1970). More recently, specialists in the area of bilingual studies and language contact have shown that the above assumption is not necessarily true and have offered good examples of syntactic interference (e.g., Gumperz & Wilson 1971; Nadkami 1975; Scollon & Scollon 1979; Aitchison 1990; Mithun 1990). However, the study of syntactic interference and change still remains a relatively unexplored area, as is well documented in such works as Gerritsen (1990)

The influence of Western languages on Japanese

5

and Lightfoot (1979). This is due to the following factors: 1. It is difficult to obtain appropriate data to investigate syntactic change. Text selection is a complicated problem, due to differences in terms of genre, style, context, and the limited number of written records. 2. Theories of syntactic change have only recently been developed. 3. The study of variation and change on the non-phonological level is much more complicated than the study of change on the phonological level; for example, sentences are potentially infinite, and nonphonological elements bear a referential meaning. Most of the studies which have investigated syntactic interference have looked at societies in which significant percentages of people were multi-linguals, or where more than two languages were in directcontact in everyday life (Nagara 1972; Scollon & Scollon 1979; Gumpertz & Wilson 1971; Fishman & Nahirny 1966; Weinreich 1953; Aitchison 1990). The situation found in Japan is different. Throughout its contact with Western languages, Japan has basically remained a mono-lingual country and, especially in the Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishoo (1912-1926) periods, when the influence of English was strongly felt, the number of bilinguals was insignificant. In the case of Japanese language contact with Western languages, the influence of the Western languages was indirect in the sense that it came through written materials, such as literary translations and government documents. A conscious effort by intellectuals to absorb aspects of English and other European languages into Japanese was a strong driving force (Shibauchi and Takai 1967; Tanizaki 1935). Thus, the environment in which grammatical interference took place in Japanese is different from that found in many other cases of syntactic interference. Also, it should be noted that new phenomena which appeared because of this influence are considered to have been assimilated into the language in a relatively short period of time. When we consider the points mentioned above, the problem of the grammatical influence of Western languages on Japanese offers a very interesting problem for us to investigate. We may wonder how, even if Japan was eager to become westernized, it was possible to absorb so many grammatical aspects of Western language through indirect contact, to the extent that this new grammar became normal in a relatively short time.

6

Introduction

Among various changes observed in past studies, changes in the grammatical status of "subject" are particularly important and interesting. In terms of influence, they related to, or occurred with, other syntactic and semantic changes, namely changes in passive and causative constructions, integration of new words through loan translation, and the semantic expansion of some verbs (a point which will be explained in detail later in this chapter). The problem of grammatical subject is most tempting, because the term "subject" has been controversial and problematic to the study of Japanese ever since the term came to be commonly used, about 100 years ago, following contact with the West. Particularly interesting is the relationship between the structural manifestation in the language and the conceptual argument concerning that structure. From a historical point of view, understanding the problem will lead to a better understanding of the ontogenesis of "subject" Its development in Japanese will have implications for the understanding of "subject" in other languages, where it is no less vexing a problem. Hence, the present study investigates the problem of "grammatical subject" diachronically.

1.2. Historical background of Japanese language contact with Western languages Japan's contact with the West began in the mid-sixteenth century with the coming of Portuguese traders. The Portuguese brought with them a flood of new words relating to the material culture of Europe. After the Portuguese, the Spanish and Dutch came. In terms of language, the influence of Spanish was quite limited; the influence of Portuguese and Spanish gradually diminished when Christianity was banned by the Tokugawa government (1639) (Miura 1979:3-4). After the country was closed (1641), Holland remained the only Western country that was allowed to trade with Japan.2 The Dutch brought Western civilization to the port of Nagasaki; Dutch, then, was the language through which Japanese learned about Western culture and science. Since mainstream scholarship in the Edo period (1603-1868) was Confucian, a knowledge of Chinese was crucial for scholars. Hence, the influence of Chinese remained strong. However, the infuence of Dutch became quite significant toward the latter half of the Edo period, especially in medicine, chemistry, and other technical sciences. Many Dutch words were absorbed and a number of new Japanese words

Historical background of Japanese contact with Western languages

7

were created through loan translation.3 Representative examples of the importance and influence of Dutch at this time are found in Kaitaishinsho, a Japanese translation of the Dutch version of the German book ofAnatomesche Tabellen, and the first DutchJapanese dictionary, Zufu Haruna 'Doeff Halma' made in 1816 (Miura 1979: 4). The coming, in 1853, of Americans who demanded that Japan open the country, had a great impact on the Japanese, who had been out of contact with Westerners, except for the Dutch, for a long time. It made the Japanese open their eyes to other Western countries and to world affairs. Furthermore, the technological and scientific power displayed by the Americans quickly made the Japanese realize that their country had fallen far behind in science and technology during its isolation. With the opening of the country, the Shogunate encouraged the study of English, with the realization that English would be an important language through which the country could absorb Western civilization. With the coming of Americans, and the opening of the country, new political winds began to blow. Soon after, the Shogunate was overthrown and a new government was established under Emperor Meiji. The capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo, and the name Edo was changed to Tokyo (lit. "east capital"). After more than two hundred years of control, the Tokugawa Shogunate's power was weakening, with internal corruption, a bad economic situation, and so on; the population in general was tired of class society and ready for change. The new government made a tremendous effort to absorb Wes ern civilization in order to modernize Japan. People in different fields were sent to Europe and America to learn about culture, politics, and developments in technology. Reformation was considered in social, political, and educational components of society. During this period of modernization, it was soon realized that one of the problems that the country had to confront was that of language. Therefore, the Japanese language came to be reformed, and in this process significant changes took place. It is during and after this reformation of the language that the influence of Western languages is most strongly felt.

1.3. Reformation of the language The drastic changes which took place after the Meiji restoration (1868) make this period fascinating not only for sociologists, political scientists, historians, and educators, but especially for linguists. Tobita (Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:861) points

8

Introduction

out that the following are basic and important changes: 1. The language was standardized. 2. The class system was abolished; and this resulted in standardization of various styles and expressions such as honorifics which were used to indicate human relationships. (In the Edo period, there was a rigid caste system of (1) warriors, (2) farmers, (3) craftsmen, and (4) merchants. This system, which did not allow the mixing of different classes with respect to marriage, clothing and other aspects of social life, created considerable variation in the social use of the language.) 3. The development of means of transportation brought movement of population. This brought rural languages into Tokyo. 4. The unification of speech and writing was established. The system of punctuation was regulated and standardized. The use of kanji, hiragana and katakana was regulated.4 5. The influence of Western languages had become noticeable. These changes were not independently motivated, but were closely related to each other (Yamamoto 1965, 1981; Morioka 1972; Satoo 1977; Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982). Therefore, by looking at the unification of speech and writing, for example, we may get a basic idea about the nature of the reformation of the language. At the beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912), Japan had a clear separation between spoken and written language. The written language was based on classical Japanese, whose grammar was established around 1,000 A.D. Beginning in the middle Japanese period (around the 13th century), a distinction between spoken and written language had begun to develop, culminating, at the end of the 19th century, in a big gap between speech and writing, not only from the viewpoint of the lexicon and idiomatic expression, but also from that of grammar. This meant that the written language could be read and written only by people with proper education. Furthermore, various ways of writing had come to be used, depending on content, who was writing, and to whom something was being written. Between 1860 and 1880, the following five conventions were common in writing, all of them (except for Chinese) based on the grammar of classical Japanese (Satoo 1977:353):

Reformation of the language

9

(1) Kan-bun (Chinese writing); written in Chinese (using Chinese characters and following Chinese syntax). (2) Kan-bun chokuyaku-tai (direct translation from Chinese language); after each word in a Chinese sentence was translated into Japanese, the sentence was restructured according to the syntax of Japanese. Chinese characters and kana were used for the writing. This style was used in academic and translated books. (3) Wa-bun-tai (Japanese sentence style); this is the style of writing which came to be used among women writers in the Heian period (794-1192). Japanese indigenous vocabulary (not the vocabulary from Chinese), and a colloquial language of the Heian and Kamakura (1192-1333) periods, formed the base for writing. It was also called bi-bun (lit. beautiful sentences) or shinkokubun (lit. new national writing). This style of writing is observed in several novels such as Maihime (A Dancer) by Oogai Mori. (4) Sooroo-bun-tai (Sooroo style writing); this style, which featured the polite verb ending sooroo, was used in letters. The function of sooroo is expressed by masu in colloquial Japanese. (5) Oobun-chokuyaku-tai (direct translation from Western languages); as in Kan-bun chokuyaku-tai, after the replacement of each word in a Western language sentence by Japanese, the sentence was restructured to approximate Japanese word order patterns. This usually created awkward Japanese sentences. This style was used for translated works and novels.3 These complicated language situations, such as the diversity of regional and social variations, the separation of speech and writing and the existence of various ways of writing, were inconvenient when the attempt was made to raise the level of education and to spread it to a wider population. Therefore, a unification of speech and writing, which had already been advocated by Japanese scholars who studied Dutch, came to be seriously considered. More scholars and writers came to realize, through contact with Western languages, that in the West the unification of speech and writing enabled the spread of education, the popularization of new ideas and technology, and consequently contributed to the development of Western civilization (Yamamoto, Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982: 768). Many articles came to be written about how to accomplish this unification, and

10

Introduction

different theories were advanced. Some advocated changing the spoken language so that it would become closer to the written one, which they thought beautiful and refined; others argued for the opposite. There were also some who proposed that both the spoken and written languages be changed to take a middle ground (Yamamoto 1978:1981). Although the second proposal, that the language should be written according to the way it is spoken, gained the strongest support, there was another problem: namely, the problem of which spoken language should be taken as a model.6 The spoken language then varied greatly along both regional and social dimensions. In the Edo period (1603-1868), standardization of the language had been discouraged for political reasons. During that period, the country was divided into feudal clans, and unity within a clan was strongly encouraged. The Shogunate made each clan individually dependent on the central government, and in this way sought to avoid an overturning of the government by coup. This policy was reflected in the encouragement of regional variations, including language (Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:865). Furthermore, stratified society contributed to social variations; different norms were used according to the status of the speaker (dependent upon whether he or she belonged to the class of warriors, fanners, merchants, etc.). A growing awareness of the lack of a standard spoken language motivated attempts to standardize it. For the first time, it was overtly argued that the language spoken in Tokyo should become the standard language of Japan. Writers experimented with the vulgar language spoken in Tokyo, using different styles and verb endings. The numerous levels of politeness also posed a problem. For example, in expressing the verb "be" in such a sentence as "he is a student" Shimei Futabatei used -da in his translation of a few Russian novels (1886-1909). This usage was later criticized for sounding too vulgar. Bimyo Yamada, on the other hand, used -desu, Omuro Saganoya, de arimasu, and Kooyoo Ozaki, de aru {Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:769). These writers played a particularly important role in the unification movement, together with scholars such as Yukichi Fukuzawa and Amane Nishi. Their efforts to apply their ideas, in the search for norms in narrative styles, had a significant impact on the eventual development of written Japanese. In the works of these writers, the influence of Western laguages, e.g. on punctuation, division of paragraphs, and sentence structures, is very noticeable. In regulating and standardizing writing styles, another problem was how to use three kinds of symbols: kanji, the Chinese characters, with two syllabaries, hiragana,

Oobun-chokuyaku-tai and its influence

11

and katakana. Traditionally, kanji and katakana were used for educated readers, while for women and children hiragana with some kanji were used. In the campaign to spread and unify education, some advocated abolishing all the kanji, as observed in the argument advanced in Hisoka Maejima's Kanji ohaishi no gi 'The abolishment of the use of kanji' (1866). Some thought that the use of kanji should be restricted (e.g., Yukichi Fukuzawa, Moji no oshie 'On characters' [1873]), while others claimed that Japanese should be romanized (e.g. Yoshikazu Nanbu, Shuukokuron

4

A theory

of reformation of the language' [1867]). These arguments led to the regularization and restriction of the use of kanji. Interestingly, amid all the difficulties of the reformation, and through an admiration for the English language, even the extreme idea of making English the national language of Japan was advocated—in 1872, by Arinori Mori, who later became the minister of Education (this suggestion fortunately was not put into effect, due in part to strong opposition from the American linguist, Willam Dwight Whitney [Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:408]). Although it faced various difficult problems, the unification movement proceeded. By 1908, all novels came to be written in colloquial language, and the unification movement reached its climax. By 1923, newspapers were generally written in a colloquial language. However, colloquial language did not come into use in governmental documents and official statements until after World War II (1946) (Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:769, Inoue 1983).

1.4. Oobun-chokuyaku-tai and its influence Both during and after the period of the reformation of the language, Western languages influenced Japanese in various ways. Considerable numbers of foreign words were assimilated into Japanese from German, French, and English,7 and new syntactic and semantic peculiarities could be observed. In this context, the style called Oobun-chokuyaku-tai,

'the style of direct translation from Western languages,'

played a significant role with respect to syntactic and semantic influence. Throughout the history of Japan, chokuyaku-tai 'the style of direct translation', had been used as an important means to study foreign languages. When Chinese became the language to learn, kanbun-chokuyaKU-tai 'the style of direct translation from Chinese' was created as a method of learning. Chokuyaku-tai 'the style of direct

12

Introduction

translation' is, as the name indicates, a style created through a word-for-word translation method in which, first, all the words in the original sentences were translated into Japanese, and then realigned to conform to Japanese word order. As Sansom indicates (1928:59), kanbun-chokuyaku-tai continued to develop even after Chinese studies languished (from around the twelfth century), and was used in official documents, correspondence, and records. Therefore, the outward form of Chinese was retained, although its substance, its foundation, was the native language of the day. This means that the subsequent development of kanbun-chokuyaku-tai is a gradual divergence from pure Chinese; and yet it is very different from Japanese. S ansom writes (1928:59) that the sinico-Japanese method had reached the ultimate point of absurdity when, in order for someone to write a simple Japanese sentence, its elements had to be altered and rearranged, and in order for someone to read it, it had to be reconverted into something like its original form. In spite of the complexity of the style, it remained in use for centuries and, at the beginning of this century, it was observed in the formal epistolary language. Considering the situation of kanbun-chokuyaku-tai, it was only natural that, when the study of Dutch became important for absorbing Western technologies and scientific knowledge during the Edo period (1603-1867), oobun-chokuyaku-tai 'the style of direct translation from Western languages' was established by scholars who had studied Dutch. When the study of English superseded that of Dutch, toward the end of the Edo period and after 'he Meiji restoration (1868), the method of translation continued to be used. This translation method, also commonly used by students of Western languages, had meticulous rules which indicated how to translate certain words, tenses, and aspects. For example, all the words in the original had to be translated, and pronouns were translated into pronouns. Each preposition was translated into a particular Japanese word, no matter what the content was. For example, about was always translated as ni tsuite and by as niyotte. (Shibauchi and Takai 1967:59). If we look, for instance, at tense and aspect a little more closely, we find that although traditional Japanese does not necessarily differentiate between past and past perfect, or between present and future in terms of verb forms, in direct translations all the tenses are differently translated. For example, Ί am' was translated by yo ga aru, in which yo indicates T , ga, the nominative case and aru, exist; Ί was' by yo ga arishi, Ί have been' by yo ga atta, and Ί had been' by yo ga atarishi (Tobita in Kokugo-gaku daijiten 1982:865). This direct translation method was very

Oobun-chokuyaku-tai and its influence

13

popular since it was thought to have an educational value, that the process of translation clearly made students aware of the structural differences between Western languages and Japanese. However, as we can easily imagine, Japanese sentences created through this method are usually awkward, not having the natural flow of Japanese. Translated sentences contain new expressions created through loan translations, and all anaphoric references are explicitly stated; although, in natural Japanese, understood references are often left unstated in the discourse. This results in wordy and stiff expressions. Because of the awkwardness and unnaturalness of this sentence style, direct translation later became obsolete, and in the tradition of translation it was superseded by iyaku-tai 'the style of translation according to meaning', which aimed at natural, digested and sophisticated Japanese. Hence, by the Taishoo period (19121926), the direct translation style was no longer used (Shibauchi and Takai 1967; Morioka 1972). Although oobun-chokuyaku-tai was used intensively for a relatively short period of time, this writing style had a significant impact. Morioka (1972) points out that there were more serious students of English in the Meiji period (1868-1912) than there were of Chinese in the Edo period (1603-1867). One reason is that, in the Meiji period, there was an urgent demand for the country to foster the development of specialists in English in order to catch up with the West Students of English were required to practice writing Japanese in oobun-chokuyaku-tai' the style of direct translation from Western languages' as they studied English materials, and so they gradually became used to this rather strange sentence style. Morioka speculates ihataskanbun-chokuyakutai, 'the style of direct translation from Chinese,' had had a significant influence in the formation of thought since Nara (710-784) and Heian (794-1191) Japan, Oobunchokuyaku-tai must have played an important role in constructing new ways of thinking among young Japanese during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Sonoda also remarks how Japanese translators added many syntactic features of English to the Japanese language, and that these soon became assimilated into the main current of modem Japanese (1975:22). Morioka's speculation seems to be supported by the fact that this direct translation style, although it later became obsolete, motivated the formation of a new style called oobunmyaku 'writing in Western style syntax'. Oobumyaku was born in original works by writers of the Meiji period who found the style of oobun-chokuyaku-tai innovative and attractive. The majority of influential

14

Introduction

writers of those days were students of foreign languages, especially English. These writers consciously adopted a style of direct translation for their own writing, trying as much as possible to give a Western flavor to their language (Tanizaki 1935:49-77).® Oobunmyaku is clearly observed in works by writers like Takeo Arishima. S ince these writers who wrote in a westernizing style were widely read, their writing style gradually affected the Japanese language as a whole (Umegaki 1963; Inui 1974; Miura 1979).

1.5. Changes observed in the grammatical subject Past studies have claimed that the influence of Western languages on Japanese is observed particularly in the following: 1) A tendency toward explicit representation of grammatical subject where previously omitted from the sentence, it had remained implicit in the discourse. 2) Abstractor inanimate objects came to be used as subjects. This has led to the development of new rhetorical strategies, including "personification," greatly affecting the universe of discourse in Japanese. In traditional writing, the use of inanimate or abstract subjects has been fairly limited, since it was thought that they could not have any influence over human beings or human activities. And 3) the development of the impersonal pronoun, sore 'it', as a dummy subject in sentences which concern time, weather, and so on; although, traditionally, these sentences had not had any explicit surface subjects (Umegaki 1963; Miura 1979; Inui 1974). Each of these points is examined in detail below.

15.1. Explicit and implicit representation of subject Although there has been no systematic linguistic analysis of referential choice in Japanese discourse until recently (e.g. Shibamoto 1983; Clancy 1980; Givön 1983; Hinds 1983; Hinds et al. 1987), it has been understood that an already introduced and easily understood referent was usually elided or left unstated in the discourse. Besides sentences in which the subject is almost always implicit, such as those which refer to time, weather, and situation, and sentences in which the subject refers to people in general ("you", "they", and "we"), any sentence may have an implicit

Changes observed in the grammatical subject

15

subject in the discourse when the identity of the referent can be understood from context, prior text, knowledge shared by the speaker and hearer, and so on. However, past studies dealing with the influence of Western languages have noticed that there was a change in the manifestation of subjects after the contact Namely, that subjects became more frequently and explicitly expressed. The point made here will be easily understood if we compare the following two examples: Example (1) is from Shibun ama no saezuri, (a translation of The Tale ofGenji; 1723) and example (2) is from Yoonen jidai 'Childhood' written by Saisei Muroo in 1920. (1) a. kono kooi this

asa-yuu no

otsutomekata ni

court-lady morning and evening service

tsukete mo hito no ki no atsu-yoonaru koto nomi ni te concerning EMP people of feeling be-aroused that only urami sonemi ο owase-tamau ga tsumori-tsumorite grudge jealousy ACC give RES NOM accumulate ni ya ariken is-it-because? 'Everything this court-lady did offended someone. Is it because (she) aroused feelings of resentment and jealousy (in others)?' b. ito o-ki omoni wazurawashiku rooshoo no yoo ni nariyukase-tamai very weak and sick serious seem become —RES tsutsu

monogokorobosogeni-te go-yoojoo no tame

while

looking—downhearted

RES-health

to te

care for saying

o-sato e sagari-gachi ni se-sase-tamae-ba mikado wa home DER tend to return do-RES-RES-while emperor TOP

16

Introduction lyoiyo o-kokorozoe mo kototaranu hodo ni more and more care EMP not enough to-the-extent go-fubin

naru

mono

ni

pitiful

be

person

oboshimeshi

hito

no

(RES) think

people

ASSOC

soshiri azakeri-tatematsuru ο mo speak-ill-of laugh-at-HUM ACC even e-go-enryo-nasarezu cannot-take-into-consideration-RES matsudai

made no

subsequent-years till nasare-kata

of

nanika-ni-tsukete in-many-cases

hikirei ni mo

narinubeki

example

should-become

even

nare ba

way-to-treat be

since

'(She) fell seriously ill and began to spend more time at home than at court. The emperor felt that (she) was so pitiful, and no longer cared what others might say. (He) behaved in such a way that he would become an example (of an infatuated person) in later years.' Besides the length of the sentences, it will be noticed that, in this example, kono kooi 'this court lady', who was introduced at the beginning of the paragraph, is not explicitly referred to after the second clause. The same thing can be said concerning mikado' the emperor'. When the writer' (and reader's) attention shifts from the courtlady to the emperor, the emperor is explicitly introduced. However, in succeeding clauses he is referred to implicitly. Example (1) illustrates a typical pattern of encoding referents in the text. As we can observe here, once a referent has been entered in the discourse registry, and its identity become easily recoverable from the context, the referent is not explicitly mentioned; therefore, in the text as a whole, referents including those in the subject position remain implicit to a great extent. The comparison of Example (2) with Example (1) shows a difference in the system

Changes observed in the grammatical subject

17

of encoding subjects. In Example (2), the subject watashi wa Τ is explicitly stated every time it is referred to. This novel is written with oobunmyaku (writing with Western style syntax), a style which I have discussed earlier. (2) kono toki watashi wa yoko-gao ο nagurareta. watashi this time I TOP side face was-hit I hidari no hoho ga shibireta-yoona left cheek NOM become-numb-like soredemo although

Id ga shita. feeling NOM occurred

watashi wa damatteita. watashi I TOP remained-silent I

wa TOP

koko de korosarete mo here killed even

mono ο things ACC

yuumai to yuu not to say that

kenmei-na

nintai

doryoku to

no

tameni

strenuous

patience and

effort

ASSOC

for

to

watashi wa watashi-no kuchibiru ο I TOP my lips ACC watashi wa I

kono zen-sekai

TOP this

fukoo-mono

de

no

all-the-world ichiban

hidoi

fukai deep

kanda. bit

uchi de ichiban in

the most

kurushimi ο

unhappy-person and the most harsh

pain

otte iru mono is suffering person

kanjita. felt.

no yooni ASSOC like

wa TOP

ACC

'At that time, I was hit in the side of my face. I felt that my left cheek was becoming numb. Still I remained silent. I bit my lips because of my determined strenuous patience and effort, thinking that I would keep silent even if I were to

18

Introduction be killed. I felt that I was the unhappiest person who was suffering from the most painful thing in the world.' (From the novelyoonen jidai 'Childhood,' 1920 by Saisei Muroo. Inui 1974:37; emphasis is mine.)

In light of present-day written Japanese, the style in example (2) is marked because of the frequent use of pronouns and overt mention of understood referents. As I have discussed earlier, in direct translation, all the anaphoric references were translated explicitly. This phenomenon is clearly observed in Shibauchi and Takai's study (1967), in which they examine the 1878 version of the translation of a popular English textbook of the time, "National Fourth Reader." In the text, all the grammatical subjects of the original are translated into Japanese explicitly. Example (2) indicates the influence of oobun-chokuyaku-tai on oobunmyaku. It is considered that, through the process oobunchokuyaku-tai —>oobunmyaku, new features were incorporated into the Japanese language.

15.2. Inanimate subjects Linguists also observe how, due to the influence of Western languages, inanimate nouns have come to be used as subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions (Inui 1974; Umegaki 1963; Shibauchi and Takai 1967; Miura 1979). For example, in expressions such as (3) and (4), abstract or inanimate objects are described as agents that have influential power over the patients. These sentence styles are considered to result from the influence of rhetorical styles of Western languages; they are often observed in oobun-chokuyaku-tai 'the style of direct translation from Western languages' and in oobun-myaku 'writing in Western style syntax', which were discussed earlier (Morioka 1972; Shibauchi and Takai 1967; Umegaki 1963; Miura 1979). (3) Shiga

subete ο

death-NOM all-ACC

attoo shita. overwhelmed

'Death overwhelmed everything.' (From the novel Chiisaki mono e 'To little ones', 1920, by Takeo Arishima. In

Changes observed in the grammatical subject

19

Inui 1974:13) (4) Jisei

ga

karerao

the times NOM them

kijin

ni

shite-shimatta.

ACC strange people DAT made

'The times made them strange people.' (from the novel Chikuma-gawa no sukecchi Ά sketch of Chikuma-river' ,1912, by Tooson Shimazaki. In Inui 1974:14) In (3), the inanimate subject shi 'death' is described as an agent. In (4), the inanimate noun jisei 'time' is the subject of the transitive verb, suru 'make', 'turn something into'. Along with the use of inanimate subjects, the impersonal pronoun sore 'it' has also come to be observed as a dummy subject in sentences which concern time, weather, and so on; although, traditionally, these sentences have not had any explicit surface subjects. Observe: (5) Sore wa nigatsuno aruyoi datta. it TOP February one evening was 'It was one evening in February.' (From a novel by Kan Kikuchi, 1919. In Umegaki 1963:197) (6) Sore it koto thing

wa hatsuyuki no dondcn furishikiru TOP first snow incessantly snow

yoru no night

datta. was

'It was a night of an incessant snow, the first snow of the season.' (From Takeo Arishima's sentences. In Miura 1979:15) Miura (1979) observes that nowadays sore 'it' is used by some writers to indicate the time of a past event regarding which they are about to tell a story. It seems that the use of sore as a purely dummy subject did not penetrate the language deeply, and in recent writings it is not commonly found.

20

Introduction

15.3. Other related changes Changes in grammatical subject relate to other changes: for instance, changes in passive and causative constructions. It is said that, originally, typical Japanese passives were, in Kuno's terms, adversity passives, which might feature not only transitive verbs, but intransitives as well (Miura 1979:9). The adversity passive expresses the recipient's being adversely affected by the action of the agent or the event. For example, the following sentence conveys that Mr. Tanaka was troubled by the death of his wife. (7) Tanaka-san wa kyonen Mr.Tanaka

okusan

last year his wife

ni

shinareta. die-PASS-PAST

'Mr.Tanaka had his wife die on him last year.' When the verb is transitive the adverse connotation may not be as clearly seen as when the verb is intransitive. Furthermore, adverse connotation does not directly relate to the distinction between intransitive and transitive verbs (see Howard and Niyekawa-Howard 1976 for further discussion). In either case, however, a subject in this passive construction has always been animate before contact, according to past studies. Categorizing as "pure passive" a passive that turns a direct object into a subject in ways familiar to speakers ofEuropean languages, Martin says that the "normal" passive appears to have developed largely under the influence of English, and that hence it is sometimes called the "translation passive" (1975:287-294). Translation passives are, like passives in English, made only from transitive verbs, and normally presuppose active counterparts. It is also stated (Inui 1974; Miura 1979:9; Martin 1975:294) that a new kind of passive which takes an inanimate or an abstract thing as patient (and therefore, surface subject in the passive) has emerged in modem Japanese under the influence of English and other European languages. The following example illustrates a passive construction with a transitive verb and an inanimate subject.

(8) Issho-ni soto

ο

arukoo to

together outside ACC walk

Q

sasowareta. Wakaooji was invited

Changes observed in the grammatical subject kara sosui no nagare ni (suite from canal

flow

ginkakuji e

following

michi

ga

erabareta.

street

NOM

choose-PASS-PAST

21

deru

to come out

Ί was invited to go for a walk together... .The way that leads us to Ginkaku-ji from wakaooji when we go along the canal was chosen.' (From the novel Munakata kyoodai'Munakata sisters' by Jiroo Osaragi. In Inui 1974:16) Here, the inanimate noun, michi 'way, road' is the subject of the sentence. Inui points out (1974:15) ho w the development of the new type of passive, free from adversative connotations, has affected rhetorical strategies in that what was traditionally expressed in the active voice has come to be stated in the passive voice. For instance, in the following examples, Inui says that (a) is a rather recent way of saying the same thing as (b). (9) a.

Amerika

wa

koronbusu

America TOP Columbus

niyotte by

hakken-sareta. find-PASS-PAST

'America was discovered by Columbus.' b.

Amerika wa

koronbusu

America TOP Columbus

ga

hakken-shita

NOM

discovered

'Columbus discovered America.' or 'As for America, Columbus discovered it.'

A similar change is observed in causative constructions. That is, due to contact with Western languages, causative expressions have expanded, and thus inanimate or abstract objects may appear as agents of causation. Causative constructions in classical Japanese had allowed only animate subjects.

22

Introduction

(10) Nani

ga

kunihiko-san ο

what-NOM kunihiko

soo saseta

ACC so

no

made

kashira.

NOMI I wonder

Ί wonder what made Kunihiko do so.' (From the novel ningen moyoo 'Patterns of human life' (1948) by Fumio Niwa. In Inui 1974:17) (11) Kono

jiroo no joodan ga

this

jiroo's

joke

rmnna

ο

fukidasaseta.

NOM everybody ACC burst into laughter-PAST

lit. This joke of Jiroo's made everybody burst into laughter.' (From the novel Arashi, 'Storm' by Tooson Shimazaki. In Inui 1974: 17) The above two examples illustrate a new type of causative, in which an inanimate noun is the subject and is presented as an agent causing humans to do something. Other changes have occurred in the semantic properties of subject. Inui points out (1958:14) that some new predicates, introduced through loan translations (e.g., uragaki suru 'endorse') or through the expansion of meaning in some words (e.g., yakusoku suru 'promise', yurusu 'allow'), are the direct outcome of the syntactic and stylistic influence of English. (12) Konkai

no

shoori

wa

kare ni

akarui

this time ASSOC victory TOP him DAT bright

shoorai ο future

ACC

yakusoku suru. promise 'This victory promises him a bright future.' (13) Kono

jiken

this incident wa

ni-taisuru

yoron

no

toward

public opinion

ASSOC reaction

keisatsu-gawa

no

TOP on-the-part-of-the-police of

taida

ο

hannoo

yurusanakatta.

laziness ACC allow-NEG-PAST

'The reaction of the public toward this incident did not allow any laziness on the

Implications and problems

23

part of the police.' Before the contact with Western languages, the verbs yakusoku suru and yurusu could have taken only animate subjects. However, as in (12) and (13) these verbs can now take inanimate subjects. As the discussion above indicates, the use of abstract or inanimate subjects added a new rhetorical strategy of "personification" to Japanese discourse. A way to convey metaphorically that inanimate or abstract objects may be equipped with the power to influence human activities did not exist in the language before (e.g., Umegaki 1963; Inui 1974; Shibauchi and Takai 1967). It is claimed that, through the development of personification, the universe of discourse in Japanese was greatly affected. The use of inanimate subjects will be examined through Genji texts in Chapter 5.

1.6. Implications and problems Observations made in recent studies of grammatical subjects in Japanese raise many interesting questions. Here I will point out a few implications of these questions, and then argue that, although past studies have broached the problems raised, these studies are unable to serve as a firm foundation from which to search for solutions, since their arguments are impressionistic. First of all, the claim that subjects became more explicitly stated, and Umegaki's statement that Western languages made Japanese aware of the role of subject, seem to suggest that the subject in Japanese has shifted, to some extent, from an essentially discourse-oriented subject to a more sentenceoriented subject (as in English). It is likely the case that the direct translation style made Japanese aware of the role of the grammatical subject in Western languages; that Japanese became aware of its own lack of the subject; and that this awareness brought a more explicit representation of subjects into Japanese. To what extent did such a change take place? To what extent did the more explicit representation of subjects bring about the grammaticalization of subjects? Relating to these questions, Umegaki suggests that contact with Western languages introduced into the Japanese language a concept of subject which had not existed in the language before. He argues that zhe nominative case, which was merely a complement in a sentence, gained more important status, and hence that it became

24

Introduction

more appropriate to call it "subject"(1963:200-201). In Japanese linguistics, "nominative complement" has been used by some Japanese grammarians (Mikami 1975:366) who hold the view that all adjuncts of a predicate have equal weight, and that the nominative case does not have any primacy over other cases (in the way that the subject in English has primacy over other NPs). Furthermore, whether "subjects" are explicitly mentioned or not is determined totally on the level of discourse, not on that of clause or sentence. Whether or not the phenomenon that subjects are often absent from surface sentences warrants the view that there is no category called subject will be examined in Chapter 2. In Japanese linguistics, the manner in which we consider "subject" and the term "subject" has always been problematic, since the term was only imported into Japan about 130 years ago. Some do not think it a problem to analyze the language in terms of subject and predicate dichotomy, while others oppose this view (Mikami 1975:187). A question to be asked here is whether the problem of "subject" is due to changes in the status of "subject" motivated by the influence of Western languages; or whether the problem is simply a reflection of a change in terminology itself. The terminological problem concerning the subject will be dealt with in Chapter 2. How internal changes in the language relate to this problem is alfco a question worth asking. Particularly, the disappearance of some discourse particles, such as zo, namu, and ya, and the emergence of the nominative particle, ga, concern us here. In Old Japanese, there are several discourse particles, such as zo, namu, koso, and ya, which no longer exist in colloquial Japanese. These particles convey various kinds of discoursal effects, such as emphasis or contrast (marked by ha), emphasis on a particular word, phrase, or a clause (zo, namu, and koso), and the feeling of question (ya, ka). Not only semantically, but also syntactically, these particles have a particular agreement with the form of the predicate: the particle ha (the origin of wa in presentday Japanese) agrees with the sentence-final form of the VP; zo, namu, ya, and ka demand the VP to be in the attributive form of the VP, and so on.9 In Old Japanese, this agreement has a primary importance in the use of tne language, while grammatical relations such as subject and object have a secondary importance. Particles which indicate grammatical relations, such as subjects and objects, do not have any agreement with the VP; those adjuncts are often unmarked (or marked by 0 particle). Coinciding with the change in the use of particles, we see a shift in linguists' attention analysing the language. Before the Meiji Period (1868), the main work had been done

Implications and problems

25

on discoursal relationships. However, after the contact, linguists have been paying more attention to grammatical relations. Thus, the relationship between this internal change of the language, and the influence of Western languages and linguistics, has to be considered. Another implication of observations made in past studies is, as scholars have suggested, that the development of inanimate subjects and translation passives has affected rhetoric and stylistics in Japanese. The development of passives enabled one to express in the passive what was originally stated in the active voice, and this development of "personification" created new kinds of expressions. These new phenomena are considered to have affected the noetics (the way of forming, relating, and retrieving knowledge) of Japanese, since our world is in large part constructed lingually. Observations made concerning the use of abstract or inanimate subjects also explain speculations made in differently motivated studies. That the use of abstract or inanimate subject is a rather recent phenomenon will explain why inanimate nouns are, even today, not normally appropriate subjects of passive sentences in Japanese, an observation made by Howard and Niyekawa-Howard (1976:215). This also explains why Hirosawa's judgement, that inanimate objects cannot be the subjects of transitive verbs in Japanese (1982), may be inappropriate. Rather than stating that Japanese does not allow inanimate subjects for transitive verbs, she might simply note that transitive sentences with inanimate subjects are stylistically marked.10 Past studies on changes in grammatical subjects in Japanese raise several questions. However, there is a crucial weakness in that these studies are not based on systematic data analysis. Although the studies make inferences about changes in the language, except for Shibauchi and Takai's work (1967), no systematic comparison of the language from the pre-contact and post-contact period is made. Therefore, from these studies we are unable to learn how new features are periodically assimilated into the language, whether they maintain their place as relatively deviant usages, or whether they gain the status of normal usage. Sentences by writers like Tekeo Arishima, famous for their Westernizing style, are often cited as examples of these new grammatical features. This, however, does not tell us how representative these sentences are, or how they are to be seen in relation to the whole range of Japanese sentence structures. Some of the past studies are based on secondary sources. For example, Umegaki

26

Introduction

(1963) depends on Inui's earlier work. For this reason, they may draw inadequate conclusions. Let me give one example here. In the study, "The influence of English on Japanese grammar," where Miura also discusses changes in grammatical subject, he states the following concerning the use of punctuation marks: Although in present-day Japanese, punctuation marks are taken for granted, classical Japanese used to be written with no punctuation marks at all. Marks such as o , ! , ? , . . . . , - , ( ) , [ ] , r j , etc. werefirst introduced into Japanese by writers like Tsubouchi Shooyoo and Yamada Bimyoo, who, under the influence of European languages, consciously tried to make written Japanese easier to read. (Miura 1979; 27; emphasis mine) However, the use of punctuation marks (which can, incidentally, even lead to a concept of sentence), is not described correctly in Miura's study. My own investigation of the use of punctuation marks shows them to have been used in literary works antedating the contact; the marks ·, \, and ο are indeed ones that came to be used after contact with Chinese. These punctuation marks were used inconsistently, however; the influence of Western languages was more a contribution to the regularization and standardization of their use (Fujii 1984). Considering the weaknesses of past studies, and realizing also that the problem of subject has not been fully investigated in its historical dimension, I am convinced that diachoronic changes in the grammatical subject deserve further investigation; to get a clearer picture of the changes, comparison of data from different periods seems crucial. In this spirit I will examine a series of texts written during different periods. Two major questions are asked: what kind of changes have taken place in theJapanese grammatical subject during the historical period and how do these changes relate to the influence of Western languages? More particularly, did subject come to be more explicitly stated and, if so, is it due to the influence of Western languages? Are there any internal changes which, perhaps in concurrence with the influence of Western language, led to more explicit representation of subject? Is the use of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive and causative constructions observed only after contact with Western languages? Study examining these questions inevitably involves particles which occur with grammatical subjects such as wa, ga and no, and changes in their use. The topic dealt with in this study is potentially vast, and I leave many

Implications and problems

27

questions unanswered. However, I hope that the discussions in the following chapters arc interesting from the viewpoints of historical linguistics, the study of syntactic interference, the typology of subject, and the relationship between sociocultural change and language change.

Chapter 2 Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

Many studies concerning subject in Japanese leave "subject" undefined, treating it as a well understood category; studies dealing with the influence of Western languages on Japanese grammar are no exception. In the analysis of other languages, too, grammatical categories such as "subject" and "object" are often taken for granted. However, even a brief survey suggests that linguists have been hard pressed to characterize "subject" in Japanese and have used the term with different understandings of what it means. Problems in defining the notion of subject in Japanese are twofold: historical and language specific. The historic problem arises because there have been various definitions of subject in the history of linguistics; some are syntactic, some semantic, and still others pragmatic. Analyses of Japanese have naturally been affected by these various definitions. Moreover, problems specific to Japanese, but not only to Japanese, such as frequent ellipsis of subject, close correspondence between surface cases and grammatical relations, and lack of subject-verb agreement, have complicated the issue. In this chapter, I will discuss controversies over the notion of subject in Japanese, and then explain how the term is used in this study.

2.1. The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese Before Western linguistic theories came to be adopted in the study of the Japanese language about one hundred and thirty years ago, Japanese grammarians had never analyzed the language in terms of "subject" and "predicate." The study of Japanese originated and developed through traditional annotations of classical literature. In the Edo period (1603-1868), linguists showed most interest in the use of various particles and verb inflections (e.g., works by Norinaga Motoori, Shuntei Motoori, Nariakira Fujitani, and Akira Suzuki). However, the importation of grammatical theories and terms toward the end of the

30

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

Edo period brought a drastic change in the tradition of Japanese language studies. Western grammatical terms were first introduced by scholars of Dutch, and many of the Japanese linguists who learned Western linguistic theories in the Meiji period drifted from the traditional approach to new approaches. At the same time, studies before the Meiji period came to be belittled because the way the language had been analyzed and categorized was completely different from the way a language was analyzed in the West. Only approaches similar to European linguistics (e.g., works by Hakuseki Arai) came to be valued (Tokieda 1968:2-3). New approaches used terms that were created through loan translation, such as shugo 'subject' (lit. main word) Jutsugo 'predicate' (lit. describing word), hinshi 'part of speech' (lit. kind of word), bunshoo-ron 'syntax' (lit. sentence theory), and so on (Yamada 1950; Tokieda 1950). Furthermore, many linguistic definitions in English were imported without much examination (i.e., without questioning whether they represented the linguistic reality of Japanese). Grammar books of those days (e.g., Ootsuki's koo-nihon-bunten 1896), stated, for example, that a sentence consists of subject and predicate (Kasuga 1968:134). Yamada (1950:86) points out that although the particle wa, which is classified as topic/theme particle in contemporary analysis of Japanese, was traditionally analyzed in terms of kakari-musubi (a phenomenon that indicates particular agreements between particles and forms of predicates), it came to be categorized as a subject particle after the adoption of Western grammatical theories gained popularity. Furthermore, the particles wa.ga, and no were classified as subjec t marking particles or nominative case particles in grammar books. In more recent descriptions of Japanese, these particles are called theme/topic particle, nominative particle, and genitive particle respectively. According to Hino (1968:100-101), many of the works of those days did not go beyond "imitation" of Western grammatical analysis. It should be noted that around the same period some valuable works were also produced by non-Japanese linguists, such as Chamberlain and Hoffman, and that their analyses of Japanese became influential in the establishment of modern grammatical theories in Japan.1 When the infatuation with Western linguistic theories and methodologies cooled toward the end of the Meiji period (around 1910), linguists started reconsidering the structure of the Japanese language and its correspondence to grammatical theory. It soon became apparent that some definitions and categories in Western linguistics did not fit the reality of the Japanese language. A realization of the differences between

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

31

the structure of Western languages, and those of Japanese, and a deeper understanding of grammatical theories, developed into new grammatical analyses of Japanese—the establishment of Yamada Grammar, Matsushita Grammar, Hashimoto Grammar, and Tokieda Grammar—and these analyses are considered to be the bases of school grammars used today. These grammars reexamined linguistic definitions which had been taken for granted in earlier studies, including "sentence" and "subject" They noted that the earlier definition of sentence (that a sentence consists of subject and predicate) is not applicable to the Japanese language, since subject is often missing in sentences, and since the explicit mention of subject may result in stylistically marked sentences (Yamada 1950; Tokieda 1950). In each of these grammars, subject is defined differently. For example, in Hashimoto subject is defined not in abstract terms, as it is in Yoshida shown below, but with respect to actual sentences.

The following is quoted from Mikami

(1975:197). A sentence requires a subject, which is the topic of the predication, and a predicate, which talks about the topic (Yoshida 1912). (1) (2) (3)

suzume ga tobu. jinsei wa mijikai. are wafune desu.

4

A sparrow flies.' Life is short' 4 That is a ship.' 4

In the above sentences, (1) expresses that something does something, (2) that something is in some condition, and (3) that something is something. In a sentence, the thing that indicates an action, condition, or identity, as tobu in (1), mijikai in (2), andfune desu in (3), is the predicate of the sentence. The thing that indicates 'what/who?' as suzume ga in (1), jinsei ga in (2), and are wa in (3), is called the subject of the sentence (Hashimoto 1933). (The translation is mine.) Arguments concerning subject in Japanese have centered on the following three properties: 1) the so-called "subject" is often absent in a sentence; 2) there is no verbal agreement between the "subject" and the "predicate" of a sentence, as there is in English; and 3) the use of two different particles wa and ga to mark "subject"

32

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

"Subjects" can be marked by these different particles, as in the following examples, which express the same propositional content. (1) Hana ga saita. flower bloomed '(The/A) flower bloomed.' (2) Hana wa saita. flower

bloomed

'(The/A) flower bloomed.' The use of these particles is pragmatically conditioned. I will come back to these particles later in this chapter and in chapter 7. Here it will suffice to point out that the use of these particles has created considerable controversy, since the sentences can be given an identical translation. Two ways of dealing with the controversial category of "subject" have been recognized in Japanese linguistics. One is to keep the term "subject" and follow Hashimoto's definition, discussed above. The other is to abolish the term "subject" and use "topic" or "nominative case" instead. The former has been supported by the majority of traditional Japanese grammarians, and the latter by some linguists among whom Mikami is the best known. Mikami was particularly influenced by Tokieda's analysis, developed through the study of traditional grammar produced before contact with the West and through textual analysis of literature. He also valued the communicative roles of the language (Tokieda 1950; 1968; Suzuki 1968). He believed that sentence patterns of Japanese could be best described in iriko-gata 'nested box/layered box' descriptions. For example, according to this description, the sentences, ume no hana ga saku. 'Plum flowers bloom.' and ume no hana ga saita. 'Plum flowers bloomed.' can be analysed as follows.

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

33

ta PAST

(4)

Iriko-gata description shows dependency relationships among the constituents of a sentence. Figure (3) shows that the particle no is attached to the noun ume, and that the noun phrase ume no modifies the noun hana. The particle ga is dependent on the noun phrase ume no hana, and the noun phrase modifies the base form of the verb saku. Since the present tense happens to be expressed by the base form of the verb, φ brings the sentence to the communicative level and completes iL On the other hand, in (4) the past tense marker ta determines the scope of the statement at the communicative level, and therefore is considered to have a scope of modification that includes all other elements of the sentence. Similarly, when a sentence conveys, for example, a speaker's conjecture, the modal daroo is considered to have a scope of modification over all other elements of its sentence. In this analysis, the subject is not a unit in contrast to the predicate, and the subject and the verb do not show agreement. Rather, all the constituents of a sentence are nested inside the modal. This analysis also explains the essence of nested construction frequently observed in the language Noting that there are many verb phrases in which the "subject" and "predicate' relationship is subsumed, such as mebaeru 'sprout, bud, burgeon* (lit. 'a bud comes out'), hara ga tatsu 'get angry' (lit' (one's) stomach stands'), lei ga nagai 'patient' (liL'(one's) feelings are long'), Tokieda (1950:265) claims that a "subject" can be a part of the "predicate" in Japanese.

(5)

kare he

wa

ti

feeling

ga

nagai long

'He is patient.' Based on the above analysis and the observation that "subject" is often absent in a sentence, Tokieda argues that the function of "subject" in Japanese is to clarify and specify the meaning of the "predicate" and in essence is the same as that of verb modifiers (as hayaku 'fast' in kare wa hayaku hashiru. 'He runs fasL'). As a verb modifier, "subject" is not an obligatory category (Tokieda 1950). Although Tokieda

34

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

keeps the term "subject," he thus attempts to reanalyze its function in the language. Agreeing with Tokieda's observations, some linguists, such as Mikami, Uemura, and Hayashi, believe that what has been called "subject" should really be called "nominative complement," and that the term "subject" should be discarded in the analysis of Japanese, since its use may veil real differences between English and Japanese. Mikami, who advocates abolishment of the term, argues that although both NP+wa and NP+ga are often classified as subject, wa and ga are different in significant ways, and that neither NP+wa nor NP+ga behaves like a subject in English. He demonstrates that wa is a particle of discourse, while ga's scope is limited to the inside of a clause. Wa often corresponds semantically to the final predicate of the sentence, no matter how many clauses the sentence may contain, and it may keep its NP as the topic of the succeeding sentence. Ga, on the other hand, modifies the stem of the verbal in the clause, and therefore ga usually appears to mark the nominative case inside an embedded clause. This difference in the functions of ga and wa, therefore, make them absolutely uninterchangeable in some cases. For example, (6) a.

Kare wa naijoo ο shitte-iru kara shinpai-shita. he internal situation ACC know because worry-PAST 'He worried because he knew the internal situation.'

b. Kare ga naijoo ο shitteiru

kara

shinpai-shita.

4

1 (or someone else) worried because he knew the internal situation.'

(7) Watashi wa Katsuragi-fujin no I Mrs. Katsuragi ASSOC

me-no-mae-de in-front-of-her-eyes

kanojo no otto ate no tegami ο kaita koto her ASSOC husband to ASSOC letter ACC wrote thing ni hidoku manzoku-shi-nagara kodomo ga steppu-suru very satisfied -while child NOM step yooni yuki ο like

tokidoki

keri

snow ACC sometime kick

yukkuri kubochi no slowly

potholes ASSOC

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese toori ο

35

aruite-itta.

street ACC walked on Ί slowly walked on a rough street and, like a child stepping, I sometimes kicked up snow, satisfied with the fact that I wrote a letter to Mrs. Katsuragi's husband in front of her.' (From the novel Banka, by Yasuko Harada. In Mikami 1975:326) (6a) naturally means that the person who worried is Icare 'he*. However, when wa is replaced by ga, the sentence no longer conveys that the person who knows the internal situation and the person who worried are the same. Instead, it naturally reads that the speaker or someone else worried, since he (kare) knew the internal situation. Similarly, in (2) watashi wa semantically corresponds to the final predicate of each clause and to the final predicate of the sentence, and thus the sentence reads as it appears in the translation. However, when we change the wa to ga, the relationship of watashi ga to the final predicate becomes very remote, and the relationship of the NP becomes limited to the verb kaita 'wrote* in the embedded clause. Therefore, the sentence conveys that perhaps someone else was satisfied and walked slowly. Like Tokieda, Mikami believes that an NP+GA is only relevant with respect to a finite verb stem of a clause, and that it neither semantically nor syntactically controls the finite verb form. Mikami also points out that wa may stand in place of other case markers such as ο (accusative), no (genitive/associative), and ni (oblique) (Mikami 1960; 1963; 1975). Based on the above observations, Mikami argues that neither an NP+WA nor an NP+£Ö should be called "subject," and that the following facts of the language make it inappropriate to posit the category of subject for Japanese: (1) there are many sentences that do not have a subject; (2) there is no agreement between the subject and the predicate; and (3) if sentences are analyzed in terms of subject and predicate, then many sentences turn out to have multiple subjects. These objections are made in the context of the treatment of subject in earlier studies of European languages, by Sweet and Muller for example, who were widely read in Japan, and for whom the notion of "subject" was so clear (Yamada 1950; Mikami 1963; Hino 1968:119). With respect to point (2) above, we can consider the following definition of "subject."

36

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

S is the noun or noun-equivalent with which the finite verb is in grammatical accord, and Ρ this finite verb. (M. Sandmann, "SubjectandPredicate" (1954:100). Quoted in Mikami 1975:195) Concerning (3), we can think of sentences like the following. (8) zoo wa hana ga nagai. elephant nose long 'Elephants have long noses(trunks). /As for elephants, their noses are long.' (9) ichi-tangen no gakushuuwa heikin one unit

of study

san-jikan

average three hours

ga

medo

desu.

standard be

'The standard number of hours for one unit is three. /For the study of one unit, three hours is the standard.' (Mikami 1975:409) The above sentences appeared to be problematic to Mikami, since multiple subjects were not discussed in European languages. Mikami concludes (1960; 1963; 1975) that wa is a particle that marks the topic of a sentence, and ga a predicate complement According to him, Japanese sentences can be correctly analysed with topic-comment distinction, and the behavior of so-called case particles can be characterized in the following way. (10) A gaB ο Cni shookaishita. Ά introduced Β to C.' A ga Β ο C ni This analysis shares some similarities with Tesniöre's position, which treats "subject" as merely another complement to the verb (Fillmore 1968:17-18; Becker 1967:3). It is interesting that Mikami's and Tesnifere's ideas were developed around the same time, although totally independently.

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

37

With respect to the function of the particles wa and ga, the argument that wa marks topic was, in fact, already advanced in earlier studies by Matsushita (1928). Referring to the difference between such sentences as (1) and (2) discussed earlier, Matsushita argues that (1) indicates description of an event made directly, without establishing a topic, but that (2) establishes a topic and makes judgement upon iL Matsushita defines the notion of topic as "a word that presents the object ofjudgement" (Shibatani 1990:264-267). The above argument by Matsushita and Mikami was influential in that, in more recent studies such as Alfonso (1966) and Kuno (1973), wa is treated as a topic marker and ga as a subject marker. Kuno distinguishes two kinds of wa and three kinds of ga. They are "thematic wa," "contrastive wa," "neutral description ga," "exhaustive listing ga, " and "objective ga," as illustrated below. I will discuss "objective ga" later in the chapter. Wa: (1) Wa is either thematic or contrastive. a.

Thematic John wa gakusei student

desu is

'John is a student b.

Contrastive: Ame wa futte rain

imasu ga...

falling is

but

'Rain is falling, b u t . . (2)

Themes must be anaphoric or generic. Nonanaphoric nongeneric themes res ult in ungrammaticality.

(3)

On the other hand, nonanaphoric nongeneric noun phrases can be contrasted.

Ga: (4)

Ga marks the subject of the sentence in either neutral description or exhaustive listing.

38

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject a.

Neutral description: John ga kita. came 'John came.'

b.

Exhaustive listing: Johnga gakusei desu. student is 'John and only John is a student. It is John who is a student'

(5)

If the predicate represents an action, existence, or temporary state, the subject with ga is ambiguous between neutral description and exhaustive listing.

(6)

If the predicate represents a stable state, the subject with ga can receive only the exhaustive-listing interpretation.

(7)

However, when the subject contains a numeral or quantifier, the neutraldescription interpretation is possible even with a stative predicate.

(8)

Ga also marks the object of stative transitive verbals. (Kuno 1973:59-61)

Then Kuno attempts to demonstrate that any major constituent can become a theme through the process of THEMATIZATION, i.e. attaching wa to some major constituent and preposing the "constituent +wa" to the beginning of the sentence. Kuno's analysis has been adopted in many of the linguistic studies of Japanese. Also, Kuno's explanation that ga marks the subject of a sentence in neutral description seems to have triggered, in my opinion, the misunderstanding thatga marks unmarked subjects, and that wa marks particularly focused and emphasized subjects. Similarly, Fillmore has noted that the particle ga is the particle of "primary topicalization" and that the particle wa is the particle of "secondary topicalization" (1968:65). Primary topicalization for English involves position and number concord.

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

39

Stylistic changes involving stress assignment, late word-order changes, and possibly the "cleft-sentence construction" fall under "secondary topicalization" (1968:57). The notions of "primary topicalization," and "secondary topicalization" are covered by the terms "subjectiflcation/subject" and "thematization," respectively, by Martin (1975) in his reference grammar of Japanese. However, the classification that wa marks topic/theme, and ga subject, does not satisfy all linguists (e.g. Teramura, 1975), especially since subjects of English sentences are, most of the time, translated into (NP+wa)s in their Japanese counterparts, and since noun phrases in Japanese are more often accompanied by wa than by ga. This is because, as discussed later in detail, subject in English may take the form of ΝΡ-#α, ΝΡ-ννα, and other forms, when translated into Japanese. A terminological problem concerning "subject" is also observed in Kuroda (1976), who gives a different account of "subject" in Japanese (based on the notion of "subject" developed in Western philosophy and logic) from Kuno (1973) and Martin (1975). The linguistic concept of "subject" is basically derived from the logical concept of "subject." In traditional logic, it was claimed that the content of a single judgement must take the form of affirming or denying the attribution of some property to some subject. That to which a judgement affirms or denies the attribution of a property is called the subject of the judgement, and that which the judgement affirms or denies of the subject is called its predicate. The proposition is then composed of two ideas, corresponding to the subject and the predicate of the judgement (Kuroda 1976:2; Strawson 1974). Modern formal logic, however, denies this position and assumes that a proposition consists of a "predicate" and a number of "arguments." The positions of traditional logic and modern formal logic have been transferred to linguistic analysis in such a way that the former assumes subject-predicate distinction in a sentence, while the latter claims that none of the arguments is assumed to have any particular role as "subject." Therefore, if we have the sentence, "The Persians were defeated by the Greeks," the traditionalist would analyze "Persians" as subject and the rest of the phrase as predicate; and the formalist schematically, "Defeated (the Greeks, the Persians)," in which both the Greeks and the Persians are related to "defeated" with equal weight (Kuroda, 1976:3). Notice that these two positions are also the positions that caused controversy among Japanese grammarians, as discussed earlier.

40

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

Kuroda argues that in Japanese there are two different forms of judgements, one with the subject-predicate structure—he calls this "categorical"— and the other without—"thetic." Hence, he claims, traditional logic is partially correct since it recognizes the form of a judgement with subject-predicate structure, but itis incorrect in that it assumes all judgements are necessarily of this form. In Japanese, sentences with subject-predicate structure have a sentence-initial wa phrase, which he calls the "subject of a sentence." On the other hand, sentences without a sentence-initial wa phrase are thetic. In the following examples from Kuroda (1976:6), (11) and (12) express thetic judgement and (13) and (14) categorical judgement. (11) Inu ga hashitte iru. A/The dog(s) is/are running. (12) Inu ga neko ο oikakete iru. A/The dog(s) is/are chasing a/the cat(s). (13) Inu wa hashitte iru. The dog(s) is/are running. (14) Neko wa inu ga oikakete iru. Cats/The cat(s) are/is chased by (a/the) dog(s). The subject of a sentence, Inu wa in (13) ex Neko wa in (14), represents the subject of the judgement that the sentence represents. Notice also that Kuroda's term, "subject," exactly corresponds to Mastushita and Mikami's "topic." In fact, the subject-predicate paradigm in traditional logic closely corresponds to the so-called topic-comment construction in Japanese.2 What Kuroda indicates by "subject" is expressed in other studies by the term "theme" or "topic" (e.g., Kuno 1973; Halliday 1985; Li and Thompson 1976). Finding that various explanations of the use of the particles wa and ga, in terms of subject and topic, are rather confusing and unsatisfactory, some linguists have attempted to explain the distribution of these particles from a different point of view. Aoyama (1982), for example, analyzes the function of the two particles from a purely pragmatic point of view, i.e., in terms of focus. He claims that all the uses of wa and

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

41

ga can be explained by showing that wa indicates high focus, and ga low focus. As can be understood from the discussion so far, that "subject" has been controversial in Japanese does not solely reside in the nature of the language itself, but in part in the fact that the concept of "subject" has undergone changes or reexamination in the history of linguistics. The notion of subject dates back as far as the Greek distinction of onoma and rhema. Subject was then defined in the same way as topic is defined in contemporary linguistics; i.e., subject was what the judgement was about. Hence, "topic" of the topic-comment dichotomy in contemporary linguistics is reminiscent of the earlier notion of subject. Of course, we observe a different notion of "subject" from earlier works, in Bloomfield (1933),3 Chomsky (1965), and many contemporary linguistic works. As Shibatani (1990:267) correctly points out, the terminological problem arises because in the majority of English and other Western languages subject as a syntantic category is not distinguished from the discoursepragmatic category, topic. Although subject and topic are closely related, they have independent roles. An NP may have the role of both subject and topic, or of either subject or topic, or neither. For example, in Hockett's example sentences below, John in (15) has the role of both topic and subject. / in (16) has the role of subject but not of topic, and that new book by Thomas Guernsey in (16) is the topic of the sentence, but not the subject (Hockett 1958:201-202). (15) John went to the store. (16) That new book by Thomas Guernsey I haven't read yet. Many topics are, in fact, also subjects. In the case of English, subject and topic coincide in the majority of sentences; and in such cases, there is no structural distinction between subject and topic. However, not all languages code subject and topic in the same way. According to Li and Thompson (1976), languages in the world can be divided into the following four types: 1) languages that are subject-prominent; 2) languages that are topicprominent; 3) languages that are both subject-prominent and topic-prominent; and 4) languages that are neither subject-prominent nor topic-prominent. Languages of the Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Finno-Ugric and Semitic families, Dyirbal, Indonesian, and Malagasy, belong to (1). Languages such as Chinese,Lahu (Lolo-Burmese), and Lisu (Lolo-Burmese) belong to (2). Among the languages that belong to (3), we

42

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

find Japanese and Korean. Tagalog and Docano can be characterized under (4). The characterization of (l)-(4) is not a distinct one and it may be better represented as a continuum (Li & Thompson 1976:483). The above typology suggests that each language has a different way of accomplishing the same communicative goal, expressing topic and grammaticalizing topic in a different way. Li and Thompson claim that in topic-prominent languages and languages that are both topic-prominent and subject-prominent, topic-comment sentences are basic and not derived from other sentence types. This position rejects some transformationalists' position that, in Japanese for example, sentences with a topic marked by wa are derived from other sentences through the process of thematization. Li and Thompson's claim is based on the following observations: first, there are topic-comment languages in which sentences are marked in terms of topic-comment relationships, but neither word order nor morphology allows a grammatical distinction (i.e., agent/patient, subject/object, etc.) between nouns in different relationships with the verb. For example, in Lisu, which is a verb final language, a simple declarative sentence with a transitive verb will only indicate which noun phrase is the topic, but not which noun phrase is the agent. Therefore, the sentence is theoretically ambiguous, although in actual communication linguistic and/or extra-linguistic contexts provide a number of semantic cues to clarify it. For example, (17) iathyu nya

änä khjf-$

people topic marker dog bite declarative marker 'People (topic), they bite dogs.' 'People, dogs bite them.' (Li & Thompson 1976:472) Second, many normal topic-comment sentences whose topics have no selectional relationship with the verb in the comment have no subject-predicate sources. For example, in Mandarin Chinese, we observe the following sentence (Li & Thompson 1976:479). (18) Zei-jian shiqing ηί bu n6ng guSng mäfan yige r6n this-classifier matter you not can only bother one person 'This matter (topic), you can't just bother one person.'

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

43

Third, in pseudo-passive constructions there seem to be no surface clues by which a subject can be identified. In the following "pseudo-passive" construction in Mandarin Chinese, it is impossible to identify a noun phrase as subject, for there seems to be no process which refers to subject and no surface clue by which a subject can be identified (Li & Thompson 1976:480). (19) Ζέϊ-jian xinwen guängbö le this-classifier news broadcast aspect 'This news (topic), it has been broadcast.' Fourth, in "double subject" constructions, although it has been suggested that NP1 has the relationship of inalienable possession to NP2 (e.g. Fillmore 1968:61-65), a genitive relationship only exists for a subset of "double subject" sentences in Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. Example (9) can be cited here again. (9) ichi-tangen no gakushuuwa heildn san-jikan ga medo desu. one unit of study average three hours NOM standard is 'For the study of one unit, three hours is the standard.' (Mikami 1975:409) We do not see the relationship of inalienable possession between the NP, ichi tan gen no gakushuu 'the study of one unit,' and the NP, sanjikan 'three hours'. Shibatani (1990:275) indicates that, in these constructions, NP1 and NP2 are related so thatNP2 refers to an entity that makes the comment structure construable as a statement saying something about the topic. This "aboutness condition" exists between the topic and the comment. Fifth, topic-comment sentences do not necessarily show the restricted distribution that is often claimed for them. In particular, it is said (Hopper and Thompson 1973) that they may not occur as freely as other sentence types in restrictive relative clauses and non-asserted complements. However, in Mandarin Chinese, clauses which must be analyzed as having topic-comment structures can be embedded as restrictive relative clauses and as non-asserted complements. For example,

44

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

(20) Wö bu xViuSn ηέί I

not like

zhöng yi jin

that kind

sänshi kuäi-giän de

one catty 30

dollars

döuzi

rel. marker beans

Ί don't like those kinds of beans that cost 30 dollars a catty.' The source sentence for the relative clause is the following topic-comment sentence. (21) Nei that

zhöng döuzi yi

fln

s3nshi

kind beans one catty 30

kuäi-giän dollars

'Those kinds of beans (topic) one catty is 30 dollars.' Many of the points raised by Li and Thompson arc also applicable to Japanese and suggest that topic-comment structure in Japanese has to be considered basic. Li and Thompson's study gives an example of recent typological studies that attempt to reexamine the notion of subject in linguistic analysis (e.g. Keenan 1976; Comrie 1981; Shibatani 1982; Andrews 1986). The problem of defining subject is not peculiar to Japanese.

It has been repeated that in the analysis of Philippine

languages (Schachter 1976;1977), South and Southeast Asian languages (Cardona 1976; Verma 1976), and languages that have ergative constructions (Comrie 1981), "subject" is not easy to define. In fact, we find that in many cases there is a lack of agreement in the use of the term "subject"; with different assumptions about its meaning, it is not clear whether the resultant cross-linguistic similarities or differences come from the use of the terminology or from actual similarities or differences between the languages. Comrie (1981:98) points out, "the need does arise as a serious empirical problem to establish criteria for declaring a given noun phrase to be or not to be a subject." However, many of these studies also suggest that the notion of subject is not as clear-cut as often assumed, and that there is no conclusive, universal definition of subject. Although we can talk about subject in terms of properties that a noun phrase has,itmaybedifficulttosayanounisorisnotasubject(Comrie 1981;Keenan 1976). Comrie (1981:101) notes that the prototype of subject represents an intersection of agent and topic, that since ag^nt and topic are logically independent notions and need not coincide in a given sememe, a given noun phrase has certain subject properties, but not all. Therefore, instead of simply saying that a noun is or is not a subject, he

The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese

45

suggests characterizing a noun phrase as being a subject to a certain degree. Keenan (1976), in the search for a universal definition of subject, gives 30 properties of subjecthood, and suggests that "subject" is determined by the degree to which an element has the properties of subjecthood. In light of these contemporary studies, the two phenomena in Japanese that Mikami thought would make a strong case for abandoning the category "subject"—i.e., that sentences do not necessarily state the subject, and that there is no verb agreement between the subject and the predicate in a sentence—are no longer considered to be upsetting factors in discussing "subject." Mikami's notion of subject is based on an earlier understanding of subject in which these factors had very important implications. It is interesting that, with the reexamination of the notion of subject in typological studies, Mikami's arguments, which once made sense, seem to have lost their power. Recent typological studies also reveal that subject and topic are in fact very closely related, although subject is a syntactic category, and topic a discourse notion. As mentioned earlier, Comrie argues (1981:60) that many facets of subjecthood can be understood by regarding the prototype of subject as the intersection of agent and topic. Keenan's properties of subject (1976) delineate what I consider topic and subject in Japanese. For example, in the following sentence, his definition selects the NP, kono hon 'this bocrfc', as a strong candidate for the subject of the first clause. (22) kono hon wa mada yonde-inai ga omoshiro-sooda. this book TOP not yet haven't read but interesting-look 'As for this book, (I) haven't read yet but (it) looks interesting.' This problem does not usually occur with respect to simple sentences, when the topic of a sentence is also the subject For example, Keenan*s properties select Tanaka-san in (23) and Yamada-san in (24) as the subject of the sentence, and they select Hanako as the subject of both clauses of (25). (23) Tanaka-san ga kimashita. NOM came 'Mr./Ms. Tanaka came.'

46

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

(24) Yamada-san wa sonohon ο kaimashita. TOP that book ACC bought 'Mr./Ms. Yamada bought that book.' (25) Hanako wa kaette-kite TOP return and

hitoride shizukani shokuji ο alone quietly meal ACC

shita. had

'Hanako came home and had a meal alone quietly.' On the other hand, in (22), although kono hon 'thisbook' is the topic of the sentence, it is not the subject of the first clause. Some of Keenan's properties tend to favor a topical NP, which is marked by wa, over other entities, as the subject of the clause. The following of Keenan's properties particularly relate to this problem, since a topical sentence-initial NP+wa usually has these properties, no matter what its grammatical relation. (26) Basic subjects (b-subjects) are always among the possible controllers of stipulated coreference. a. b-subjects are among the possible controllers of coreferential deletions and pronom inalizations. b. The possible controllers of backwards pronominalization and deletions include b-subjects. (27) The NPs which control "switch-reference" indicators include b-subjects. (28) b-subjects are the easiest NPs by which to stipulate the coreference across clause boundaries. The NPs which can be coreferentially deleted across coordinate conjunctions include b-subjects. (29) b-subjects are normally the topic of the b-sentence, i.e., they identify what the speaker is talking about. In many languages, switch-reference is controlled by subject noun phrases (Keenan 1976; Andrews 1986), but Akiba (1977) points out that in classical Japanese, when there is a conflict between the subject and the topic of the sentence in controlling the

The notion of subject in this study

47

distribution of the particles with switch- reference function, the topic is the one which has stronger power to determine the use of particles. The above phenomena are not surprising when we consider that Japanese is a language in which subject-predicate and topic-comment structures are basic. However, this complicates the matter of defining the subject In the next section, I will discuss how this problem is dealt with in this study.

2.2. The notion of subject in this study Although Hashimoto's definition, discussed earlier, is useful in dealing with many Japanese sentences, we need more rigorous criteria in dealing with cases that are not clear-cut. Hashimoto's definition is a semantic one, and so we need syntactic criteria to discuss the syntactic notion, subject. Comrie writes (1981:60): ...in order to say that a given grammatical relation exists in a given language this claim must be justified both language internally and cross-linguistically. Language internally, this means that a number of logically independent criteria must be established that serve to identify the grammatical relation in question as being syntactically significant in the language in question. Following Comrie (1981), this study will consider subject to be a syntactic category that is differentiated from topic, which is a discourse notion. This is followed by the following assumption, which is a slightly modified argument of Li and Thompson's (1976: 461-466) with respect to Japanese subject: 1.

Although "topic" does not necessarily have a selectional relation with some predicate in the sentence, a selectional relation must exist between the "subject" of a sentence and some verb in that sentence.

2.

Verbdetermines"subject"butnot"topic." This means that ifa verb occurs with an agent as well as with other noun phrases, the agent will become the subject, unless a special construction is resorted to, such as the passive. If the verb is intransitive, it is likely that either the patient or the actor, depending on whether the verb is a Stative verb or an action verb, will be the subject. If the verb is

48

3.

5.

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject causative, the causer will be the subject. The functional role of "subject" can be defined within the confines of a sentence, while the functional role of "topic" is determined with respect to staging in the discourse. The "subject" plays a prominent role in such processes as reflexivization, equiNP deletion, verb-serialization, and imperativization.

It is important to note that grammatical relations are not necessarily indicated by case-marking particles. In Japanese, confusion has arisen because of the close relationship between case-marking particles and grammatical relations. Because, typically, a ga-marked NP is the subject, an ο-marked NP is the object, and a m'-marked NP is the indirect object of a sentence, it is often assumed that ga marks subject, ο a diiect object, and ni an indirect object. However, as observed in many languages, in Japanese there are some cases where grammatical relations and case marking do not correlate. For example, as S ugamoto (1982:425) and Shibatani (1990) correctly point out, in some cases ga marks a focused topic. (30) Yamada-san ga otoosan ga nakunatta. Mr ./Ms. NOM father NOM pass-away-PAST 'Mr./Ms. Yamada is the one whose father passed away.' (31) Honda ga sutairu ga senrensareteiru. NOM style NOM is-sophisticated 'It is Honda that the style of the cars is sophisticated.' (30) can be uttered to a question, Dare ga otoosan ga nakunatta n-desu-ka? 'who is the one whose father passed away?' or in a context in which someone has mistakenly said "Tanaka-san wa otoosan ga nakunattan desu ka." 'As for Tanaka, did his father pass away?' and the speaker asserts the coirect information, saying (30) '(No,) Yamada is the one whose father passed away'. (31) can be uttered in a similar situation, in which cars and the makers are the topic of discussion. To an opinion that other car makers offer nice style, the speaker may disagree, saying (31). In these examples, the first NPs are not the subjects, but rather focused topics of the sentences. The use of case particles as determiners of grammatical relation becomes even more

The notion of subject in this study

49

inappropriate in dealing with pre-modern texts. In classical Japanese, noun phrases are often not marked by particles, and the use of particles differs depending on the historical period. Also, neither word order nor verb agreement helps in identifying subject in Japanese, since the word order is relatively free and there is no subject-verb agreement. In this study, following Shibatani (1978, 1990), syntactic phenomena, namely honorification and the use of reflexive form, jibun 'self, are used to identify subject.4 The honorific form, called sonkei-go 'respect language* or 'subject honorification' in Japanese, involves the conversion of the verb into the ο V-ni naru form. (32) a.

Watanabe-sensei

ga

warat-ta.

prof. NOM laugh-PAST 'Prof. Watanabe laughed.' b.

Watanabe Sensei ga o-warai-ni-nat-ta. (subject honorific version of 32a)

The phenomenon of this honorific form only referring to subject, when there is more than one NP, can be illustrated by the following example from Sugamoto (1982:433). In (33) and (34), the honorific predicate, o-mimai-ni-natta 'visited', identifies koogo 'empress' as its controller. (33) koogoo ga byoonin ο o-mimai-ni-nat-ta. empress NOM patient ACC HON-visit-PAST 'The empress visited the patient.' (34) byoonin wa

koogoo ga

o-mimai-ni nat-ta

patient TOP empress NOM HON-visit-PAST 'The empress visited the patient.' or 'As for the patient, the empress visited him.' The following sentence describes the speaker's brother visiting the empress who is sick. The same honorific form cannot be used, since the controller of the honorific predicate is identified as otooto 'my younger brother', who cannot take the respect

50

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

form. The second NP, koogoo 'empress', can be the controller semantically, but it is not what is selected by the predicate. (35) *otooto ga koogoo ο o-mimai-m-nat-ta. brother NOM empress ACC HON-visit-PAST 'My brother visited the sick empress.' Rather, the non-subject honorific form (or humble form) must be used to indicate respect toward the empress. (36) otooto ga koogoo ο o-mimai-shi-ta. brother NOM empress ACC HUM-visit-PAST 'My brother visited the sick empress.' Example (34) also shows that subject honorification is used in reference to the subject, rather than in reference to the topic. Example (37) from Shibatani (1990:290) illustrates the same phenomenon. In (37), the topic is kimi 'you', a non-honorific form of the second person pronoun that is used typically among friends, or by a superior to an inferior in terms of status, age, and so on. The person so referred to would not be honored, and thus the acceptability of the following sentence indicates that it is the subject of the comment sentence, ryoosin 'parents', that triggers the honorification process. (37) Kimi wa ryoosin ga go-rippa da kara. you TOP parents NOM HON-respectable COP because 'Because you are such that your parents are respectable...' A second phenomenon controlled by the subject is the use ofjibun 'self, which is neutral for person, gender, and number. Consider the following: (38) Ken ga

Mariko ni

Taroo ο

jibun no ie

de

syookaishita.

NOM DAT ACC self of house in introduced 'Ken introduced Taroo to Mariko at his house.'

The notion of subject in this study

51

(39) Ken ga Masaru ga jibun no kurasu de ichiban sukida. NOM NOM self of class in best like 'Ken ι likes Masaru the best in hisι class.' In examples (38) and (39) above, jibun can only refer to the subject, Ken.

In

Japanese, as in many languages, reflexive pronouns are used when an NP is to be coreferential with the subject of the clause that contains it (Andrews 1986:117). In complex sentences, the interpretation ofjibun may become ambiguous.5 In the following sentence, jibun can refer to both the subject of the first clause and to the subject of the main clause, which is also the topic of the sentence. (40) Yamada sensei wa okusan ga jibun no heya de prof. TOP wife NOM self of room in o-machi na-node isoide dete-irassyaimashita. HON-wait because hurriedly HON-leave-PAST 'Prof. Yamada left hurriedly because his wife was waiting for him in his/her room.' The verb irassyaru is an honorific form of the verb iku 'go'. Instead of taking the form ο V-ni-naru, a few verbs take other forms for honorification. Here, iku is used in the compound verb de-te-iku '(lit) go out and go' ='leave\ The above example shows that in some complex sentences the use of reflexive alone may not determine the subject However, when we consider both subject honorification and the use of reflexivejibun, the problem resolves. In(41), Yamada-kun, 'Mr. Yamada' is the topic of the sentence as well as the subject of the main clause. From the use of kun 'Mr.', which is used for a person of equal or lower status than the speaker, we know that the honorific predicate refers to gakubuchoo 'the dean of the college', although the reflexive noun can refer to either Mr. Yamada or the dean. (41) Yamada-kun wa

gakubu-choo ga

Mr. TOP dean

jibun no

NOM self

heya

of room

52

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject de o-machi-na node isoide deteitta. in HON-wait because hurriedly left * Mr. Yamada,, because the dean. was waiting for him in his^.room, left in a hurry.'

The criteria discussed above help determine the subject noun phrase in controversial cases. One such case is double nominative construction. As observed in (39), verbs such as suki 'like', wakaru'understand', dekiru 'can do', and aru 'have' can take two NPs that are marked by nominative ga. (42) Ken ga Masaru ga sukida. NOM NOM like 'Ken likes Masaru.' (43) Kataoka-sensei ga eigo ga wakaru. prof. NOM English NOM understand 'Prof. Kataoka understands English.' (44) Kataoka-sensei ga

Supein-go ga

dekiru.

prof. NOM Spanish NOM can do 'Prof. Katoka can do Spanish (i.e. speak, read, etc.).' (45) Tanaka-sensei ga musume-san ga futari prof NOM daughter NOM two-people 'Prof. Tanaka has two daughters.'

aru have

Dealing with these sentences, one argument is that the second NPs, Masaru in (42), eigo in (43), Supein-go in (44), and musume-san in (45). are the subject (Alfonso 1966; Martin 1975). This argument is supported by the fact that (1) in many of these sentences the first NP can be marked by dative, as shown in the a-sentences of (46)(48), and that (2) in real language use these sentences sound more natural if the first noun is marked by the topic/theme marker wa, as indicated by the b-sentences of (46)(48).

The notion of subject in this study

53

(46) a. Kataoka-sensei ni eigo ga wakaru. prof. DAT English NOM understand 'Prof. Kataoka understands English.' b. Kataoka-sensei

wa eigo ga wakaru. TOP 'Prof. Kataoka understands English.'

(47) a. Kataoka-sensei ni Supein-go ga dekiru. prof. DAT Spanish NOM can do 'Prof. Kataoka can do Spanish.' b. Kataoka-sensei wa Supein-go ga dekiru. TOP 'Prof. Kataoka can do Spanish.' (48) a.

Tanaka-sensei ni musume-san ga futari aru. prof. DAT daughter NOM two people have 'Prof. Tanaka has two daughters.'

b. Tanaka-sensei wa musume-san ga futari TOP 'Prof. Tanaka has two daughters.'

aru.

However, subject honorification and use of reflexive jibun indicate that the first noun phrase is the subject. Observe (49), which is (39) again and (50), (51), and (52). (49) KengaMasaru ga jibun no kurasu de ichiban sukida. 'Ken likes Masaru the best in his class.' I

I

(50) Kataoka-sensei ga kodomo ga o-suld-da. Prof NOM child NOM HON-like 'Prof. Kataoka likes a child.'

54

Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject

(51) Kataoka-sensei

X J

Prof.

Supein-go ga o-deki-ni-naru. ga ,ni ΓΝΟΜ [Spanish NOM HON-can-do

(52) Tanaka-sensei

musume-sanga futari o-ari-ni-naru.

DAT \ J 'Prof. Kataoka can do Spanish.'

'Prof. Tanaka has two daughters.' The above phenomena show that the first NPs, rather than the second NPs, are the subjects. It also becomes clear that although the first NPs in the a-sentences of (46)(48) are marked by dative ni, they have subject properties. Thus, in these sentences, the first NPs are identified as the subject. When we look at other languages, it is not uncommon for certain verbs, such as "like" and "want," to take the subject in the dative rather than in the nominative. These verbs are of low transitivity (Sugamoto 1982). We find this phenomenon in South Asian languages, Russian, Kannanda, Modern Icelandic, etc. For example, (53) is Modem Icelandic and (54) Malayalam (Andrews 1986:107 and 118). (53) Μer like/liker peir me(DAT) like(PL/SG) them(MASC NOM PL) Ί like them.' (54) Raajaawins swanfam bharryaye yull-anam king(DAT) self s wife(ACC) pinch-DESIDERATIVE 'The king, wants to pinch his, wife' In these cases, it is syntactic phenomena, not case markings, that identify the subject.

Summary

55

23. Summary This chapter reveals that there has been a lack of agreement over use of the term "subject" in the analysis of Japanese, as well as in the analysis of other languages. Although it is not difficult to identify a prototypical subject, which is the intersection of agent and topic, recent typological studies show that there are cases in which such an identification is not clear-cut. They also argue that, although grammatical relations cannot be understood in their entirety unless they are related to semantic and pragmatic rules, we need syntactic criteria to establish subjecthood in any given language. With an understanding of the complexities pointed out above, this study uses syntactic criteria, namely reflexivization and subject honorification, to identify subject in Japanese. It is clear that syntactic criteria help to determine subject, even when regular correspondence between case marking and grammatical relations breaks down, or when there is no consistent marking of noun phrases with particles in classical Japanese. These syntactic criteria also distinguish between topic and subject when topic and subject are expressed by different NPs.

Chapter 3 Data and theoretical concepts

In Chapter 2,1 explained the notion of subject used in this diachronic study. In this chapter, I will discuss the data used in the study and the method of its analysis. The data used here naturally limit the scope of the study. The findings and conclusions discussed in the later chapters are restricted to the data examined. However, implications of these findings are significant in understanding language change as observed in the Japanese written language.

3.1. Data 3.1.1. Selection of texts The present study investigates changes in subject particularly during the past two hundred years. However, the choice 3f texts to be examined can be difficult in this kind of diachronic study. Particularly, we have to consider the problem of stylistic variations. Norms of language use differ depending on the genre; even in the same genre, each writer has a different style. Particularly, written works before the Japanese unification of speech and writing show a great variation, a much greater variation than today. Since society was divided by a class system, the language in literary works showed considerable variation, depending on the socioeconomic class of expected readers. Therefore, it becomes important to choose texts written in the same genre, having little variation in content, and intended for the same readership. Furthermore, texts chosen from before the unification of speech and writing need to have been written in the colloquial language, or a variety of language close to the colloquial, since the formal written language would at best convey a structure and vocabularly from much earlier days. I have thus chosen to examine a series of colloquial translations of Genji monogatari 'The Tale of Genji' from later stages of Japanese, translations made

58

Data and theoretical concepts

during different periods. From among thefifty-fourchapters of The Tale ofGenji, this study undertakes a close analysis of the language in the first chapter of each Genji, Kiritsubo 'The Paulownia Court', and compares it with respect to use of the grammatical subject. The Tale ofGenji is considered to be the supreme masterpiece of Japanese prose literature. It is believed by the majority of scholars to have been written by a court lady known as Murasaki Shikibu in the eleventh century. (Not much is known about the author, and the question whether or not the story was written by a single author will remain a problem to delight and occupy scholars.) It is a very long romance, which describes the court life of Heian Japan, from the tenth century into the eleventh. The first forty-one chapters have to do with the life and loves of a nobleman known as Hikaru Genji 'the shining Genji', Genji or Minamoto being the name given him as a commoner by his father, an emperor. Genji is bom in the first chapter, Kiritsubo, but he is fifty-two by the last chapter in which hefigures.Following that chapter, there are three transitional chapters. The hero of the last ten chapters is Kaoru, who passes in the world as Genji's son, but who is really the grandson of Genji's best friend. Thus, The Tale ofGenji is, in large part, episodes in the eventful life of Genji, who was born beautiful and talented. Genji, who loses his mother when he is very young, pursues the image of his mother, and of womanhood, through associations with women. The story reflects pathos, beauty, sadness, and Buddhist philosophy in a subtle and oblique way. The Tale of Genji has been translated into English by Arthur Waley, Donald Keene, and more recently by Edward G. Seidensticker (1976).1 Also, the fact that Japanese has changed considerably since the original Genji was written has demanded that the tale be re-translated at various times into colloquial language. The first faithful translation into the colloquial language appeared in 1723 by Hanshichi Taga (his pen name is Choosuishi) (Yamagishi 1953:113). This translation is incomplete, including only the first few chapters. Since the unification of speech and writing, several more translations have appeared. This study examines the following: (1)

Genji monogatari 'The Tale of Genji': original work by Murasaki Shikibu in the eleventh century. The text is from the Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei series, the uniform edition of the Japanese classics published by Iwanami Shoten. The Genji in this series is based on the manuscript copy, Sanetaka aobyooshishoohon

Data

59

from the fourteenth century. Aobyooshi or the "blue book" line of texts derive ultimately from the work of Fujiwara Teika, a great poet and scholar of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. (2)

Shibun ama no saezuri: a translation of The Tale of Genji by Hanshichi Taga, published in 1723. The "Shibun" in the title contains the Chinese characters for Murasaki (Shikibu), and ama no saezuri is taken from a scene in the "Akashi" chapter of the original Genji (Taga 1975:334). This translation is incomplete, since only the first few chapters are translated. The text used here is taken from chinsho kankoo kai gyoosho vol. 1., 'rare books publishing association,' published by rekishi-tosho-sha in 1975.

(3)

Nise-murasaki inaka genji (1830): Nise-murasald 'lit. fake Murasaki' indicates that the author is not Murasaki Shikibu but rather an impostor, and inaka (lit/rural') expresses lack of sophistication. As the title suggests, this is not a translation of The Tale of Genji. However, the author, Tanehiko Ryuutei, created this work as a popular and commercial book based on The Tale of Genji, using the same participants and events of that story, with alterations in participants' names and in settings. For example, the first two chapters of Inaka genji correspond to the "Kiritsubo" chapter, and the participants show the following correspondence (Shuzui in preface to Ryuuti's inaka gengi 1952:9-11): The characters in Inaka Genji

The Tale of Genji

Ashikaga Yoshimasa Toyoshi no mae

Kiritsubo-tei Kokiden

Hanagiri Sugihae

Kiritsubo no kooi Myoobu and other court-ladies

Ashikaga Jiroo

Hikaru Genji

The characters in

Although this is not a translation of Genji in a strict sense, this work is examined here since there is no translation of The Tale of Genji produced around the same time. The first and second chapter were published in 1830, and the text used here is from Iwanami Bunko, published in 1952.

60

Data and theoretical concepts

(4)

Shinyaku genji monogatari 'New translation of The Tale of Genji'(1914): a translation by Akiko Yosano after the unification of speech and writing. This is the first complete translation of The Tale of Genji into a contemporary colloquial language. The text used here is published by Kanao Bunendoo.

(5)

Shin-shin-yaku genji monogatari 'New new translation of The Tale of GenjΓ(1936): Another translation by Akiko Yosano. Unsatisfied with the hasty translation and consequent lack of sophistication of her first translation, she attempted another translation of the tale. The text used here is taken from Nihon koten bunko 4, which was published by Kawadeshoboo-shinsha in 1976.

(6)

Genji monogatari (1959): a translation by Junichiroo Tanizaki. Of the several translations he has attempted, the text used here is his newest, published by Chuuoo Kooronsha.

(7)

Genji monogatari (1972): translated by Fumiko Enchi, published by Shinchoosha.

(8)

Genji monogatari (1978): translated by Tadayoshi Imaizumi, published by Koodansha.

These texts are referred to hereafter as Genjisl, 2,3,4, 5,6,7, and 8 respectively. Some may wonder why I am including Genji 1, since I have said earlier that this study concerns changes in the grammatical subject under the influence of Western languages, and therefore should be limited to the past two hundred years. Genji 1 is included for the following two reasons: 1) all other Genjis derive from Genji 1; and 2) through the analysis of the texts, it became important for me to understand changes in the last two hundred years in the wider context of long-term changes in the language. The selection of a series of versions of Genji monogatari 'The Tale of Genji' has the following advantages: 1) they belong to the same genre; 2) they are based on exactly the same story; 3) they are written for a wide population (except for the original Genji, which was written for nobles); and 4) all the translations are written in the colloquial language. Concerning (3) and (4), the main purpose of translating

Data

61

The Tale ofGenji at various times has been to update the language so that the general public can read it without much difficulty. Choosuishi(=Hanshichi Taga), who is the author of Genji 2, says that he attempted the translation to introduce the story to people of lower socioeconomic classes, who did not have the sophisticated educational background to read the original work with annotations. He thought that by writing in a language which was close to the spoken language he could accomplish his purpose and let people know that The Tale ofGenji was not a pornographic work (as it was often believed to be in the Edo period) but a literary work that was educational, with practical wisdom and Buddhistic teachings (1723 [1975]:333-341). Because of the factors indicated above, the Genji texts provide us with more consistent data than would randomly selected texts. Also, they allow us to see the kinds of adjustments each translator had to make in translating the tale into the colloquial language. Of course, since some of these works are written not only as mere translations but also as literary works, the process of appropriation (Ricoeur 1981) is reflected in each writer's literary style. This means that stylistic variations are inevitably present. In any kind of text analysis, we cannot be completely free from the problem of personal variation. Some of the problems we are concerned with in this study, such as the explicit/implicit representation of the grammatical subject and the use of inanimate subjects, are affected by personal sty listic variation as well as language change. To estimate how much personal stylistic variation may have affected my conclusions, I have included Genji 6 and two different translations from the 1970s. Assuming that the language did not change a great deal during the time spans between Genjis 5 and 6, and between Genjis 6,7, and 8, the examining of these texts will show how much to attribute individual variation. It is unfortunate that there are not enough translations before the twentieth century to compare them in the same way for personal differences. It should also be noted that the style of an individual writer often reflects the trends and values of the literary world, of the society in which he/she creates a work, and vice versa. Both Yosano's translations (1914 and 1936) have a brisk, simple, and vivid style. It is said that her way of thinking and her literary style were influenced both by Western languages and ideologies and by the study of Chinese (e.g. Nakamura 1976:384). Her translations reflect this. On the other hand, Tanizaki's Genji has a softer, curvier, and more conservative style, although his was written after Yosano's.

62

Data and theoretical concepts

He aims as much as possible at reproduction in colloquial language of the shadows, beauties, subtleties, and obscurities of the original work. What we see in these two different versions is differences in tastes in literary styles, and ways of thinking prevalent in society at a given time. Yosano's first Genji appeared right after the unification of speech and writing, and intellectuals were wholeheartedly directing their eyes to the West and to modernization. Therefore, it was most meaningful for Yosano, and for others of that time, to write a "modern" The Tale of Genji. Tanizaki aimed to reproduce the world of the original Genji at a time in Japanese society when original Japanese beauty and peculiarities had come to be valued once again. Considering individual variations in the Genji texts, I am also using three elementary school textbooks, from 1875, 1900, and 1936. They are to teach the Japanese written language to Japanese children (fourth to sixth grade). Since the process of creating the textbooks and the selection of writings in them are government supervised (all the textbooks used from elementary school to high school have been government-regulated and supervised since the Meiji period), it is considered that they represent a conservative variety of the language, the language that would set the norm in standard Japanese. In dealing with the use of particles in Old Japanese, this study also includes an analysis of The Tale of Taketori (tenth century). In glossing examples from Genji, I have frequently consulted Seidensticker's translation (1976). In order to convey the structure for some of the sentences, I give literal translations, even though they may sound awkward. Also, Tamagami (1964) and Shirako (1965) have been used whenever necessary as reference books with respect to Genji 1.

3.1.2. Chapter "Kiritsubo," 'The Paulownia Court'. Chapter "Kiritsubo" was chosen because of the availability of versions, not because it was the most interesting chapter. Genji 2 has only the first few chapters translated, and therefore the first chapter, "Kiritsubo," was a safe choice. Many Genji scholars who have examined the style of different chapters of The Tale of Genji believe that "Kiritsubo" was not the first chapter written, although it comes at the beginning of the tale, and is presumably there, at least partly, for the sake of giving cohesion to the story.

Method

63

As its name implies, "Kiritsubo" 'Paulownia Court' is about Genji's mother; italso tells of the birth of Genji, and of the eventual death of Kiritsubo. The following is a sketch of what happens in this chapter. Although she is not a woman of the highest status, Kiritsubo receives tremendous affection from the Emperor. Other ladies, including the Emperor's first wife, Lady Kokiden, cannot tolerate this, and their jealousy and resentful treatment of Kiritsubo put a great deal of pressure on her. Kiritsubo gradually becomes weak. However, she bears a baby boy—Genji. Because of his exceptional beauty, he comes to be called "shining Genji." The Emperor adores him. After the birth of Genji, the Emperor begins treating Kiritsubo much more respectfully, and therefore some worry arises that Genji may be chosen as the crown prince even though he is not the first son of the Emperor. However, a few years later, Kiritsubo falls seriously ill and soon after dies suddenly. No one can console the Emperor in his sadness and depression. At first Genji is sent back to his mother's home after her death. Yet the Emperor misses him so much that Genji is brought back to court. Instead of choosing him as the crown prince, the Emperor gives him the common name Genji, or Minamoto, thinking that making him the crown prince would endanger his life, since he does not have the strong support of his mother's family. The appearance of Fujitsubo, whose resemblance to Kiritsubo leads the Emperor to bring her to court, gradually consoles the Emperor after Kiritsubo's death. Fujitsubo is the only one who can cheer up the Emperor. Genji also admires her. When Genji is twelve, he undergoes the ceremony of attaining manhood and marries a lady of high status. However, he does not like her very much and misses Fujitsubo. Later, Genji falls in love with Fujitsubo and she bears his child. This is the content of chapter "Kiritsubo," whose eight versions are here used as main data texts.

3.2. Method 3.2.1. Clause level analysis

In the analysis, each chapter "Kiritsubo" is divided into clauses, and grammatical subjects are analyzed, in terms of their forms with respect to the use of particles, the pragmatic phenomenon of topic continuity, and so on. The first 400 clauses were

64

Data and theoretical concepts

looked at particularly closely (this amounts to somewhere between 11 and 36 pages, depending on the size of the characters of a text), and statistically dealt with. The rest of chapter "Kiritsubo" was examined, and may be referred to in the study, but it is not included in the quantitative analysis. In dividing sentences into clauses and relative clauses, indirect quotations are not counted as separate clauses. However, subordinate clauses are counted as separate clauses. Therefore, the following underlined clauses are not counted. (The examples are from Genji 7.)

(1) gosho de. kono kata no. court at this person SUB J

t(mwattäru receive

o-juukyo RES-residence

wa kiritsubo de-atta. TOP was 'The residence this lady was given at Court was Kiritsubo.' (2) Quoted parts: doo-naru—ni-shite-mo kono-mama koko-ni no-matter-what-will-become-of-(her) as it is here oite nariyuki Q mite to mikado wa oboshimeshita ga keep outcome ACC want to see Q emperor TOP (RES) think-PAST 'The emperor thought that no matter what would become of (her) he would like to keep (her) and see the outcome but...' (3) onna mo muri q. ooserareru no ο kiku hodo woman EMP unreasonable thing ACC (RES)say ACC hear extent 'The more the woman hears that (the emperor) says unreasonable things...' In example (4), (4a) and (4b) are each counted as a clause.

Method (4) a.

sehen demo dandan

kore ο

komatta

65

koto ni torizata-shite

world even gradually this ACC troublesome thing as treat 'Even in the world, people started treating this as an annoying incident and' b. gensoo-kootei ga yookihi no iroka ni obore-te kuni emperor NOM Yang Gui-fei of charm by attracted country ο

katamuketa tameshi nado

made hikareru yooni-natte-kuru-to

ACCfall-PAST example and-so-on even cite

come-to-and then

'even the example of Emperor Gensoo's infatuation with Lady Yang Guifei which led to the destruction of the country came to be cited.' Genjis 1 and 2 are characterized by sentences having long clause chains. The clause level analysis sometimes turns out to be a real problem, especially in these texts, and the problem has made me wonder, from time to time, about the appropriateness of clause divisions in earlier Genjis. In these Genjis, the relationship between clauses is not necessarily discrete; complicated dependency relationships are found between clauses and between elements inside a clause. For example, in Genji 1 the phenomenon which I call "double function" makes it almost impossible to analyse the grammatical subject on a clause level or to divide elements of a sentence into discrete clauses. Double functioning phrases/clauses are the ones that have one relationship with the immediately preceding phrase/clause and another relationship with the immediately following phrase/clause.2 In the following example sentence, the word tsuyukeld shows a semantic double function in which it conveys the meaning "be moved to tears," in relation to the preceding phrase, nutate matsuru hito sae, 'even the people who look at (the emperor)', and at the same time conveys the meaning of "dewy" in relation to the word aJfcz 'autumn,' that immediately follows it. (5) tada namida ni only tears

in

hijite

akashi

kurasase-tamahe

soaked-in continuously live-RES-RES

ba since

66

Data and theoretical concepts mitate

matsuru hito

sae

tsuyukeki

aid

(HUM)/see humbly people even makes cry/dewy autumn

nari. is

'Since (the emperor) has spent days in tears, even people who look at (him) are moved to tears, and it is already dewy autumn.' Although this kind of sentence is highly valued for its beauty and subtleties, it is omitted from the quantitative treatment because of its complex structure, which makes it difficult to treat the elements of the sentence discretely. A clause, too, may have a "double function." For example, we sometimes observe that the relationship between clauses gradually shiftsfromone type of subordination to another, and that clauses in transition have both functions. In (6), Clause c is connected with Clause b by the conjunction wo 'and therefore', and c is connected wi th d by the gerundive-te. Clause d is also linked with e, but only by the marked part of e having gerundive -te. The part that is marked in e is a part of the relative clause that modifies Kokochi 'feelings'. The relative clause seems to involve Clause d and probably Clause c. However, we cannot definitely say that the relative clause starts from c, since Clause c has a sequential relationship with b, which also has a sequential relationship with a; and separating c from the previous part would destroy the flow and the meaning. When we read the sentence from left to right (from a to e) we find that the relationship between clauses gradually shiftsfromone type of subordination to another type of subordination, i.e., relative clause. When we get to kokochi 'feeling,' we find that, for the first time, the previous clauses which explain a sequence of events are modifiying this NP, and the sentence is focusing on Kiritsubo's mother's feeling after she went through the events. This comes out as a surprise since, when we start reading the sentence, we are following the sequence of events, and Clause a cannot be a part of the relative clause. Therefore, we have to interepret at least c and d and the underlined part of e to have double function in terms of clause relationships. This gradual shift cannot, of course, be easily conveyed by English translation. These double function words and clauses are completely syncronic phenomena, highly valued as literary devices for evoking images not otherwise possible. The fact that Japanese is a verb-final language and a modifier precedes the head noun makes it possible to have such a construction.

Method

67

(6) a. kagiri are-ba limit exist-since 'Since everything has its limit,' b. rei no sahoo ni osame tatematsuru wo usual manner bury (HUM) and therefore 'it was decided to bury (her) in due form, and then' c.

haha

kita nokata onaji

mother (RES)Ms.

keburi ni mo

the same

noborinamu to

smoke in EMP will

rise

Q

nakikogare-tamai te cry and miss-RES and 'Kiritsubo's mother cried so much missing her and saying "I want to rise in the same smoke.'" d. ohon-okuri no nyooboo no kuruma ni shitai RES-escort

court-ladies' carriage

nori-tamahi

follow geton-RES

te and

'and followed the escort lady's carriage and got on it,' e.

otasi to-yuu tokoro ai iL·1 ikameshiu sono sahoo shitaru ni called place

to very solemnly

owashi- tsuldtaru kokochi ikabakarika (RES) arrive

feeling how

the-funeral carry on wa

ariken.

TOP/EMP conjecture

' what would be her feelings, and (she) arrived at the place called Otagi where Kiritsubo's funeral had been solemnly carried on.' Sentences like (6) make it difficult to divide the text into discrete clauses and I had to impose clause boundaries sometimes. This problem brings into question the relevance of the notion of clause in the language. Unfortunately, however, this study is not the place to explore this problem and it remains without resolution for future study.

68

^ t a and theoretical concepts

In the discussion of data analysis, a quantitative method of topic continuity counting is sometimes referred to in this study. This method is developed by Givön (1983), and utilized in this study to show some discourse phenomena quantitatively.

3.2.2. Topic continuity counting Efforts to describe referential choices quantitatively are developed into a concrete quantitative method by Clancy (1980) and Givön (1983), and are used in such studies as Givön (1983) and Watanabe (1989). In her comparative study of referential choices between English and Japanese, Clancy (1980) develops a method to quantitatively measure factors that influence referential choices (e.g. the choice of a pronoun rather than a full noun in English). The quantified factors are: 1) the number of clauses after the previous mention; 2) the number of sentences after previous mention; and 3) the number of other referents intervening between the two references. Through this quantitative study, she has found similarities and differences in referential choices in Japanese and English narrative discourse. For example, English pronominalization and Japanese ellipsis play a similar role in the discourse in their treatment of old information. And, in both, the number of intervening characters plays an important role in the selection of nominal references, pronouns, or ellipsis. Also, the passages of individual clauses have a weaker effect in eliciting nominal reference than has the occurrence of sentence boundaries or intervening referents (1980:140-141). Clancy finds that in Japanese there is stronger tolerance for ambiguity, and that ellipsis in Japanese is not subject to the strong semantic and syntactic constraints which hold in English. Her study shows that quantitative measurement is useful in the examination of discourse phenomena. S imilarly, Givön (1983) has developed a useful way of measuring topic/participant continuity. In this study, he also challenges the notion of "topic." In contemporary linguistics, "topic" is often discussed in terms of the topic-comment dichotomy. In this distinction, sentences are divided into two distinctive components; one of them is "comment" ("theme," "focus," "new information"), and the other is "topic" ("theme," "old information"). Although this notion of "topic" is understood with respect to the discourse function of an NP, "topic" is considered to be an atomic, discrete entity, a single constituent of the clause. In relation to the notion of "subject,"

Method

69

some describe "subject" as grammaticalized topic (Li & Thompson 1976; Givön 1976), and as discussed in Chapter 2, Li & Thompson (1976) suggest a typology based on the extent to which this grammaticalization of topic is observed in different langauges. Givön (1983), however, points out that at the functional level every noun phrase has some kind of topicality. For example, observe the following. (7)

a.

L-dislocation: John, we saw him yesterday.

b.

R-dislocation:

c.

Simplex: J / g saw John yesterday.

saw iiim yesterday, John.

Conventionally, it has been analyzed that in (7a) and (7b) John is the topic. However, in the discourse, we and him have some topicality, although different in degree from that of John. In fact, any noun phrase can be a discourse topic and the degree of topicality depends on the importance of the noun phrase in the discourse. Also, there are correlations between the degree of topicality of a noun phrase and its grammatical relation: subject, object, etc. (Givön 1983,1989). It is often the case that, as demonstrated in Chapter 4, important characters, i.e., characters of high topicality, are coded as subject Based on the above notion of "topic," Givön assumes that the degree of difficulty speakers/hearers may experience in identifying a topic in discourse is influenced by four major factors, as follows: (8)

a.

Length of absence from the register

b.

Potential interference from other topics

c.

Availability of semantic information; i.e. the availability of so-called 'redundant' semantic information within the clause in question may play an important role in facilitating topic identification.

d.

Availability of thematic information: thematic information available from the preceding discourse could help in topic identification.

"Register" here means "discourse register." When a referent is in the discourse register, the referent is activated in the reader's/listener's short term memory, and therefore the referent can be easily identified.

70

Data and theoretical concepts

Although these four factors are equally important, (8c) and (8d) are difficult to quantify; hence, Givön 's quantitative method to measure topic continuity is based on factors (8a) and (8b). This method contains the following three discourse measurements: 1) referential distance; 2) potential interference (ambiguity); and 3) persistence or decay. Referential distance (RD) measures the degree of continuity of the topic NP in terms of its previous occurrence in the discourse and its current occurrence in a clause. The gap is expressed by the number of clauses between the two occurrences. The minimal value that can be assigned is one clause, and Givön arbitrarily sets the maximum value at twenty. Potential interference (ambiguity) (PI) measurement assesses the disruptive effect which other referents within the immediately preceding register may have on topic availability or identification within a clause. Persistence/decayreflectsthe topic's importance in the discourse and the speaker's/ writer's topical intent It is measured in terms of the number of clauses to the right, i.e., in subsequent discourse from the measured clause—in which the topic/participant continues its presence as a semantic argument of the clause.3 Thus, one would typically expect a highly topical NP in the discourse to have a low value for referential distance and a high value for persistence/decay, and a nontopical NP to be characterized by the opposite relation. In this study, topic continuity counting is applied to assess the topicality of different forms of subject, the topicality and importance of different participants, and the function of particles. From among the three measurements of referential distance, potential interference, and persistence, I have utilized two: referential distance and persistence. Although potential interference is important (this is also shown in Clancy's study [1980]), it is not utilized in this study, since I find that many ellipted topics make it difficult to assess the degree of interference. Particularly, the following two questions come to mind: 1) to what extent does an ellipted/implicit reference work as interference? and 2) can we measure the effect of interference by an explicit reference the same way we measure it by an implicit reference? In the application of referential distance, I set the maximum value at thirty, instead of Givön's twenty, for in Genji 1 very distant topics can be referred to with 0 anaphora. The notion behind topic continuity counting is discourse coherence. Human

Method

71

communication, i.e. discourse, is multipiopositionai and coherence is accomplished in various ways, such as referential choice, location, time, action, or event. These factors interact in a complex way in a discourse. Some interesting problems have surfaced in applying topic continuity counting, and these problems have demanded arbitrary decisions. Such problems show that a discourse is woven in a complex way, that the threads of discourse cannot be easily untangled and quantified. In this sense, the method of topic continuity is heuristic. Let me state some of the problems. Topic continuity counting assumes that a sentence can be divided into clauses and that a clause is the minimum unit in the analysis. However, in some cases this assumption, as well as the linearity of the analysis, becomes a problem. For example, there are nested constructions in Japanese. In nested constructions, we may observe that the topic which is mentioned at the beginning of a sentence relates to the final predicate of the sentence, bypassing clauses which are nested in the sentence. The nested clauses, of course, relate to the topic of the sentence semantically, but may do so only indirectly. Topic continuity counting, which treats the relationship between clauses linearly, has difficulty in handling the overlapping relationships of nested constructions. nested constructions

A

For example, in Genji 1, we have the following sentence. (9) a.

e

ni kakitaru yookihi-no-katachi

picture in

drawn

ha

the-figure-of-Yookihi- TOP

'Speaking of the figure of Yookihi in a picture,' b.

imijiki eshi

to

talented painter Q

ihedomo even if (we) say

'no matter how the painter is talented,'

72

Data and theoretical concepts c. fude kagiri areba brush limit there-is-since 'there is limitation in the power of a brush,' d. ito rtihohi nashi very beauty there-is-not 'and therefore it does not convey the live beauty.'

In this sentence, clauses (9b) and (9c) arc nested in the sentence, e ni kakitaru yookihi no katachi ha ito nihohi nashi (=9a+9d) 'The figure of Yookihi in a picture is not lively.' S ince the measurements of topic continuity count linearly, the fact that the NP, e ni kakitaru yookihi no katachi, is the topic of the sentence as a whole cannot be taken into consideration since it is not directly referred to in clause (9c). This nested construction has a topic marked by the particle ha. This kind of construction is also observed in present-day Japanese. In this kind of construction, I consider the topic NP marked by ha/wa to continue throughout the sentence even when there is no direct mention of the topic in embedded clauses. The topic particle ha/wa is dealt with in detail in Chapter 7. Ellipted/implicit topics can be a problem in counting distance and persistence, as Clancy (1980) has noted. In this study, I attempted to take all implicit topics into consideration, considering them with respect to the scope of verbs (i.e. valency requirement) and context.

Chapter 4 Explicit and implicit subjects

The preceding three chapters have given the background of this study. This and the following Chapters will present results from an analysis of Genji and other texts and discuss implications for changes in the expression of subject, as such changes have been proposed in previous studies. As explained in Chapter 3, sentences in chapter "Kiritsubo" of all eight Genjis have been divided into clauses, and the subjects of each have been carefully examined. This chapter deals with explicit and implicit subjects and discusses the extent to which subjects are explicitly/implicitly expressed in chapter "Kiritsubo"of each Genji. Specifically, this chapter has four goals: 1) to show that subjects are more explicitly stated in the versions written between 1910 and 1940, the transition period and the period immediately after it in terms of contact with Western languages; 2) to demonstrate the importance of subjects in the discourse; 3) to point out that the explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects is influenced by changes in other discourse factors; and therefore 4) to argue that c hanges in the manifestation of explicit/implicit subject in a series of Genji texts cannot be explained solely by the external factor of the influence of Western languages. In order to demonstrate (1), the manifestations of subject in Genji texts are statistically examined. (2) is analyzed in terms of characteristics of subjects in the discourse and the viewpoint of topic continuity. Also, the relationship between implicit noun phrase and grammatical relations such as subject and direct object is examined. After it becomes clear that subjects play a very important role, in terms of staging in discourse, and that referential choices in the subject position closely relate to various discourse factors, I will examine a few discourse factors in detail in order to find out whether there is any correlation between changes in the discourse factors and changes in the explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects. The factors examined here are the use of honorifics, the unit of sentence, and switch-reference function of conjunctive particles. The examination of these discourse factors and their relation to the manifestation

74

Explicit and implicit subjects

of subjects makes it clear not only that a discourse is like a piece of cloth, carefully and richly woven with various threads, but also that some changes in the discourse structure, that is, some internal factors, affect changes in the explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects.

4.1. Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject First, in order to find out whether subjects are more explicitly expressed in Genjis that were written after contact with Western languages, let us consider to what extent subjects are explicitly/implicitly manifested in each Genji. Table 1 shows the ratio of explicit as opposed to implicit subjects, and is portrayed graphically in Figure 1. Table 1: Explicit/Implicit manifestation of grammatical subjects Genji Explicit Implicit

1

2

3 30.75 31.0* 42.0 69.25 66.0 57.0

4 57.4 41.2

5 6 52.0» 31.5 46.75 68.5

7 35.7 64.3

8 42.1 58.0

•Explicit subjects and implicit subjects do not total 100, as there are cases in which subjects cannot be easily identified.

According to Figure 1, as far as a series of Genji texts is concerned, we do not observe any gradual increase in the explicit manifestation of grammatical subjects. Genji 4 shows a sudden increase of explicit subjects, and the degree to which subjects are explicitly manifested is also high in Genji 5. Interestingly, we see a sudden drop in the percentage of explicit subjects in Genji 6. Genjis 7 and 8 are not very different from Genji 3 with respect to the explicit manifestation of subjects. Table 2 shows explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects in the elementary textbooks from 1875, 1900, and 1936. The ratio of implicit subjects is slightly higher in the 1936 textbook, showing a similar tendency to Genji texts. In the series of Genji texts examined here, as well as in the textbooks, subjects are more explicitly stated in versions written between 1910 and 1940. This is particularly significant when we consider the fact that this period coincides with a time when the influence of Western languages was strongly felt in many phases of the language.

Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject

75

%

70 60 50 40 30 20 -10 - o -I

Genji 1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Figure 1. Percentage of increase/decrease in explicit subject However, interestingly, the tendency for more explicit representation of grammatical subjects does not continue in later Genjis. Genjis 6,7, and 8 appear not to show any great impact of Western languages, in terms of the manifestation of subject In fact, in Genji 6 the writer seems to be archaizing his style. Thus, the reader will intuitively feel that Genji 6 is much more similar to Genji 1 than it is to Genjis 5 or 8 in terms of the flow of the language. Table 2: Explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects in textbook Year

1875

No. of clauses

150

Explicit subjects Implicit subjects

42.7% 57.3%

1900 171

1936

42.1%

58.2% 41.8%

57.9%

165

Why does Genji 5 appear so modem and Genji 6 so "old fashioned"? Several reasons come to mind. It may be due to the writer's esthetic taste. It is also likely that the author's esthetic taste reflects the esthetic taste of the society for which these texts were written. As I suggested in Chapter 3, the reason why Tanizaki tried another translation (Genji 6) may have been to convey the world of Heian and Genji as faithfully as possible. His effort reflects some kind of reaction to the sentence styles in Genjis 4 and 5—brisk, simple, and modern styles. Here, the comparison of the

76

Explicit and implicit subjects

sentence styles of Genjis 5 and 6 may be of interest The following passages in Genjis 5 and 6 both describe the same scene: Kiritsubo falls seriously ill, to the point that the emperor has to let her leave the court in order to take care of herself at home. It is difficult for the emperor to let her leave him, and sad for him to see that she has become so weak. First, compare (1) from Genji 5 and (2) from Genji 6. (1) a. kono-ue todomeru koto wa fukanoo dearu to furthermore keep that TOP impossible COP Q mikado wa oboshimeshite emperor TOP (RES) think 'Thinking that it would be impossible to keep her any longer,' b. kooi ga dekaketeiku tokoro ο miokuru court-lady NOM leave scene ACC see-off koto no dekinu go-sonki no that ASSOC cannot-be-done RES-respectful ASSOC on-mi no monotarinasa ο taegataku RES-self ASSOC dissatisfaction ACC unbearable kanashinde-oideninatta. (RES)-was-feeling-sad 'the emperor was feeling unbearably sad about his frustratingly respectful status—due to which he cannot see off the court-lady,' c. Hanayakana kaodachi no bijin ga hijooni gorgeous facial-feature ASSOC beauty NOM very

Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject

77

yasete-shimatte has-become-thin 'the beautiful woman with gorgeous facial features became very thin,' d. kokoro no naka ni wa mikado to mind of inside LOC TOP emperor with owakareshite-iku mugen-no kanashimi ga atta ga HUM-go leaving infinite sadness NOM existed but * and although in her heart, there was infinite sorrow about being separated from the emperor,' e. kuchi ni wa nanimo dashite yuu koto-no-dekinai mouth LOC TOP nothing put-out say cannot no ga kono hito no seishitsu-dearu that NOM this person ASSOC characteristics-COP 'it was the characteristic of this person that (she) could not express it outwardly and explicitly,' f. Aruka nakika ni yowatte-iru no ο exist? do-not-exist? MAN be-weak NOMI ACC go-ran-ninaru to RES-see when 'When (the emperor) saw her extremely weak,' g. mikado wa kako mo mirai mo makkura-ni natta emperor TOP past also future also pitch-dark became

78

Explicit and implicit subjects ki ga asobasu-no-deatta. feeling NOM (RES)do-NOMI-cop-PAST 'he felt that his past and future were thrown into complete darkness.' h. nakunaku iroirona tanomoshii shoorai no yakusoku weepingly various reliable future ASSOC promise ο asobasaretemo ACC (RES) do even 'Even though (the emperor) makes various bright promises with tears,' i.

kooi wa o-henji mo dekinai-nodearu court-lady TOP RES-reply even cannot-do-ASS 'the lady could not even reply.'

(2) a. Nani-goto ni mo kagiri ga arimasu kara everything in EMP limit NOM there-is since 'There is an end to everything.' b. okami mo soosoo o-tome-mnaru wakenimo-ikazu emperor even easily RES-keep cannot-reasonably 'It won't do that the emperor keeps her,' c. miokutte-yaru koto sae mo odekininaranu o-kokoro-motonasa see-off thing even EMP RES-can-NEG RES-uneasiness ο iiyoo-mo-naku oboshimesare-masu ACC there-is-no-way-to-express (RES) think 'and therefore (he) feels that there is no way to express his uneasy feeling that (he) cannot even see (Kiritsubo) off.'

Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject

79

d. Heiso wa taihen irotsuya mo yoku usually TOP very complexion also good utsukushii hito-de-arare-masu no ga hidoku beautiful person-(RES)-be NOMI NOM terribly omoyatsure-shite shimijimito mono-omoi ni shizumi worn-out seriously thought in sink nagara kotoba ni dashite wa yoo-mooshiagezu while words to put-out TOP cannot-say(HUM) aruka nakika ni kieiru yooni exist? not-exist? MANNER disappear as if shite-orareru no ο go-ran-ninari-masu to behave-RES NOM ACC RES-see-POL when 'Usually (her) complexion is good and (she) is a beautiful person, but (she) is worn-out and seriously sunk in some thought—however, (she) cannot say it explicitly and (she) looks as if (she) is disappearing. When (the emperor) sees it,' e. kishikata no koto mo wakaranaku onarinasarete past ASSOC thing even unknown RES-become-and 'he loses the sense of even his past and' f.

iroiro-no-koto ο nakunaku o-yakusoku-asobasu no-desu ga various-thing ACC weepingly RES-promiseNOMI-COP but 'promises various things with tears,'

g. on-irae ο nasaru kiryoku mo arimasenu RES-reply ACC (RES)do energy even there is not 'but there is no energy to reply (in her).'

80

Explicit and implicit subjects

A comparison of (1) and (2) brings out differences in sentence style between Genji 5 and Genji 6. First of all, Genji 5 uses plain verb ending forms as in (3), while Genji 6 uses the polite verb ending masu as in (4). Compare: (3) a. kanashinde-oideninatta RES-was-feeling-sad '(the emperor) was feeling sad.' b. kono hito no seishitsu dearu this person ASSOC characteristics COP '...is this person's characteristics' c. makkura-rd-natta Id ga asobasu-no-deatta pitch-dark-became feeling NOM (RES)do-NOMI-COP '(the emperor) felt that ....became pitch daik.' (4) a. oboshimesare-masn (RES) think-POL '(the emperor) thinks...' b. utsukushii hito de-arare-masu no ga beautiful person (RES) COP-POL NOMIbut '(Kiritsubo) is a beautiful person but...' c. kiryoku mo arimasenu energy even there-is-POL-NEG 'there is even no energy.' Genji 5 uses ta, dearu form, and Genji 6 uses the more polite masu form. The verb ending form -dearu first came to be used in translation from Western languages (Morioka 1972). Genji 5 employs this rather innovative form of those days. The degree to which other honorifics are used is different in each. In Genji 5, no honorific verbal auxiliary is used for Kiritsubo. On the other hand, in (2) (Genji 6), Kiritsubo is described with polite verb forms and honorific verbal auxiliaries. For

Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject

81

example, compare the underlined parts; (5) a. Genji 5 hanayakana kaodachi no bijin ga hijooni gorgeous facial-features ASSOC beauty NOM very vasete-shimatte became-thin 'the beautiful woman with gorgeous facial features became very thin...' b. Genji 6 utsukushii hito de-arare-masu beautiful person (RES)be-POL '...is a beautiful person' As can be seen throughout (1), the use of honorific forms is greatly simplified in Genji 5. Lexical choice also conveys a more modern flava· in Genji 5 and a more classical flavor in Genji 6. Compare: (Genji 5) kako 'past'

(Genji 6) kishikata 'past' (lit. the direction from which one comes)

henji 'reply'

irae 'reply'

Thus, Genji 5 uses colloquial words of Chinese origin, whereas Genji 6 is marked by the use of archaic indigenous Japanese words, which create a classical atmosphere. Furthermore, Genji 6 contains many long sentences, as can be observed in (2), and the topics, the emperor and Kiritsubo, are less explicitly indicated than in Genji 5. For example, the emperor is explicitly stated in (2b), but in the subsequent clauses (2c), (2d), (2e) and (20, he is never mentioned explicitly. In these clauses he is the subject. On the other hand, the emperor, who is explicitly identified in (la), is also explicitly

82

Explicit and implicit subjects

mentioned in (lg). The sum of these differences gives a distinctive atmosphere to these two Genjis. Genji 5 sounds vivid, brisk, plain, and manly. In general, it has a modernflavor.Genji 6, on the other hand, appears as a recreation of the Heian world—very classical and softly flowing. Following these two contrasting Genjis, Genjis 7 and 8 fall between the two in their styles and in the explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects. A brief examination of Genjis 5 and 6, as cited above, is important; it clarifies that the degree of implicitness in subjects in discourse may strongly relate to other discourse factors. In the latter part of this chapter, I will examine the correlation between some discourse factors and the explicit/Implicit manifestation of subjects. Before that, however, I will consider the discourse-pragmatic nature of subjects.

4.1.1. The explicit and implicit manifestations of subjects and quotations Table 1 and Figure 1 in the previous section represent the ratios of explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects in texts where both ordinary narrative lines and quotations are included. However, these two have different discourse structures. Direct quotations, although they are still in the written discourse, have more oral qualities than ordinary narrative lines. This may relate to the degree of implicitness of subjects, and the existence of a significant amount of direct quotation in a text may affect the overall explicitness/implicitness of subject noun phrases in the discourse. Figure 2 supports this observation, As Figure 2 shows, in a series of Genji texts, subjects are more often implicit inside quotations, except in Genji 1. This result suggests the following: 1) it is likely that a spoken discourse contains more implicit references than a written discourse; 2) if a written discourse contains a considerable number of quotations, the extent of implicit reference in the text as a whole becomes greater than in a text with few direct quotations; and 3) the result of Figure 2 indirectly supports the view (Sansom 1928; Tamagamj 1964) that when Genji 1 was written there was not as big a difference between written form and spoken form as there is in present-day Japanese.

Implicitness in subjects

83

%

70 τ 60 50 ·•- Outside

40 30

Inside

20 10 - -

0 -I Genji 1

1 2

1 3

1 4

1 5

1 6

1 7

1 8

Figure 2: Percentage of explicit subjects inside and outside of direct quotations

4.2. Implicitness in subjects In Japanese, implicit references/ellipses arc pervasive. This is observed with respect to noun phrases, verbals, clauses and postpositional particles. Implicit references are usually references that can be inferred or evoked (Prince 1979). Aspeaker of Japanese can identify and understand implicitreferences based on his/her structural knowledge, e.g., surface structure frame, contextual information, and shared knowledge (Hinds 1982). It is not the case that referents are referred to implicitly in a random fashion. Often, implicit referents are closely related to discourse theme, paragraph theme, or paragraph subtheme (Shibamoto 1983; Hinds 1982). Since there is a close relationship between discourse structure and syntactic structure, and since such a relationship has been discussed in the literature (e.g. Chafe 1976,1987; Givön 1983,1989), we can expect that important referents relating to paragraph theme are more frequently indicated in the subject position than in the object or oblique position. This suggests that subject is likely to be implicit to a greater degree than are other arguments in a sentence. The following example will illustrate the relationship between the implicitness of referents, grammatical coding, and paragraph theme.

84

Explicit and implicit subjects

(6) kazoekirenu hodo no kurushimi ο ukete numerous degree ASSOC pain ACC receive kooi ga kokoro ο meirasete-iru no ο court-lady NOM mind ACC depressed COMP ACC go-ran-ninaru to mikado wa issoo aware ο ooku RES-see when emperor TOP more pity ACC much o-kuwae-ninatte seiryoo-den ni tsuzuita RES-give seiryoo-palace LOC connect kooryoo-den ni palace in

sunde-ita kooi ο was-living lady ACC

hoka e another to

o-utsushi-ninatte kiritsubo no kooi e kyuuyooshitsu RES-move ASSOC lady to rest-room to-shite o-atae-ni-natta as RES-give-PAST 'When (he) saw that the court-lady was depressed, suffering from numerous hardships, the emperor pitied her more and more and moved the lady who was living in Kooryoo palace which leads to Seiryoo palace (where the emperor lives) and gave that room to Kiritsubo as her rest room.' In (6), the emperor is the most central and continuous topic. He is the subject of the four VPs: (1) go-ran-ni-naru, (2) o-kuwae-ni-naru, (3) o-utsushi-ni-naru, and (4) o-atae-ni-naru. But he is mentioned explicitly only once. On the other hand, the objects of the clauses constantly change, and therefore they have to be explicitly mentioned. The fact that subject NPs, because of their pragmatic importance, tend to be expressed implicitly to a much greater degree than other arguments is proven statistically. Table 3 shows that in Genjis 1,2,5, and 7, subjects are implicitly stated more often than objects.

Implicitness in subjects

85

Table 3: Explicit/implicit representation of subject NPs and object NPs Genji Subject Object

NP Explicit (%) Implicit (%) NP Explicit (%) Implicit (%)

1 30.75 69.25 64.2 35.8

2 31.0 66.0 62.9 37.1

5 52.0 46.75 90.1 9.0

7 35.7 64.3 84.7 15.5

That subjects are, in general, more continuous and important NPs than, for example, direct objects, is also shown in Table 4, which compares distance and persistence of subjects with those of direct objects in Genjis 1,2,5 and 7. Subjects consistently have much smaller numbers in distance and larger numbers in persistence than do direct objects. Since the smaller the distance number, the more continuous the NP, and also since the largo* the persistence number, the more continous the NP, Table 4 indicates subjects to be much more continuous NPs than are direct objects. Table 4: Topic continuity of subjects and objects Genji Distance Persistence

SUBJ OBJ SUBJ OBJ

1 11.87 20.44 0.9 0.18

2 17.78 21.68 1.08 0.38

5 13.37 23.6 0.84 0.42

7 11.7 23.3 0.8 0.24

Some object NPs may also be continous. In the following example, the emperor (who is the subject of the first three clauses) and the prince (who is the object in the second and third clauses) are both continous NPs. (7) a. mikado wa donna yoosu ka to higara emperor TOP what-kind-of situation QUES Q days

86

Explicit and implicit subjects no tatsu no ο machikanete NOM pass NOMI ACC could-not-wait 'The emperor could not wait for days to pass, thinking of (his or their [=Kiritsubo + the prince]) condition.' b. isoide meshiyosete in-a-hurry let-them-come 'He invited them as soon as possible' c. go-ran-ninaru-to RES-see-then 'and looked at (the baby) and then' d. mitsuki no aida nagara yo ni mo young-baby ASSOC during although world in EMP mezurashii

go-kiryoo-dearu

rare

RES-beauty-COP

'(the baby) had a very rare beauty although he was a newly-born.' (Genji 7) Here, it is not clear whether the emperor wondered about the condition of both Kiritsubo and the prince; hence, the object of the second clause is ambiguous. The ambiguity concerning the identity of the implicit referent(s) in (7a) is due to the fact that mother and newborn make a closely related pair. However, the ambiguity is not critical to the discussion here. The sentence begins with the emperor's perspective, and then attention shifts to the prince, marked as the subject of the last clause. In the succeeding passage, the prince is the central figure; his beauty and how much the emperor adores him are discussed. When NPs in the object position are continuous, we often find this pattern of shifting of attention. Thus the implicitness of a noun phrase and its grammatical coding are closely related. Although some Japanese grammarians have suggested that subjects do not have any primacy over other adjuncts in a clause (Mikami 1960,1963,1975;Tokieda

Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms

87

1950; 1968), in a discourse, subjects have primacy over other NPs in terms of continuity.

43. Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms Let us examine the role of implicit subjects. Throughout the history of Japanese, understood NPs have usually taken the form of zero anaphora, with pronouns rarely used, as Table 5 shows. Few pronouns are used in all historical periods. This is in contrast to forms of identification of referentin other languages. Grimes (1975:259) andCoorman (1983) report that in some languages (e.g. in the highlands of Papua New Guinea) pronouns Table 5: Forms of identifications of subject Genji Forms Full NP Modifying Phrase/ Clause+NP Pronoun 0

Genji Forms Full NP Modifying Phrase/ Clause+NP Pronoun 0

1

2

3

4

NO. % 64 16.0

NO. % 69 17.25

NO. % 101 25.3

NO. % 69 23.7

58

14.5

53

1 227

0.25 69.3

2 264

5 NO. % 89 22.5

13.25 0.5 66.0

51

12.8

83 28.5

16 228

4.0 57.0

15 5.2 120 41.2

6

7

NO. 71

% 17.8

102

25.8

52

13.0

17 187

4.3 47.0

3 274

0.8 68.5

8

NO. % 68 17.1 68

NO. % 90 22.5

17.1

71

17.8

6 1.5 256 64.3

7 232

1.8 58.0

88

Explicit and implicit subjects

tend to appear more often than other nominal forms, such as full NPs. In English, French, and other European languages, pronouns are also used extensively. Instead, Japanese uses zero pronouns extensively. The extensive use of implicit subjects is not surprising when we consider that implicit referents behave in a manner similar to pronouns in English (Martin 1975; Clancy 1980), but occur more freely than pronominalization in English (Hinds 1982:223). Examining spoken discourse in Japanese and English, Clancy notes (1980) that the majority of English pronouns and Japanese ellipses occur within the same clause or the clause immediately following the last mention of a referent, although Japanese speakers tend to use ellipsis more frequently within a single sentence than English speakers use pronouns. Both English pronouns and Japanese ellipsis occur mostly when the number of intervening referents between two mentionings of the same referent is less than two (Clancy 1980:139-140). The infrequent occurrence of pronouns in the Genji texts undercuts the argument that the use of pronouns has increased in Japanese due to the influence of Western languages and the practice of oobun-chokuyaku-tai 'the style of direct translation from Western languages' (Shibauchi & Takai 1967). An examination of textbooks from 1875,1900, and 1936, also reveals the same phenomenon, i.e., that the use of pronouns does not show any significant increase. There are 13 uses of pronouns in 150 clauses examined from the 1875 textbook, 4 in 171 clauses from the 1900 textbook, and 8 in 165 clauses from the 1936 textbook. Genjis 3,4, and 5 show a higher frequency of pronoun usage when compared with other Genjis. It is interesting to find that Genjis 4 and 5 use more pronouns than do other Genjis, and that they also state subjects more explicitly. In this sense, I am inclined to think that Genjis 4 and 5 reflect some influence from Western languages, and I will come back to this point later in the chapter. The rather high frequency of pronouns in Genji 3 cannot be explained in terms of the influence of Western languages, since Genji 3 was written in 1830 and therefore before intensive contact with Western languages. When we look closely at the use of pronouns in Genji 3, the text suggests that new varieties of pronominal forms, especially of the first and second persons, were developing. The use of first and second person pronouns is more elaborate in Genji 3 than in later Genjis. In Genji 3, different pronouns are selected according to the interpersonal relationship holding between the speaker and the listener. For example, for the first person singular, we have the variations of watakushi, watashi, and, onore. Watakushi

Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms

89

is used in the context of a maid speaking to her master, and therefore the form serves to make the speaker humble and to show respect to the listener. Watashi is used by a person of high status in referring to herself when the listener is a person of lower status. Onore is used by a lord to refer to himself. Similarly, second person singular pronouns such as sonata, anata, anata-sama, and temae, are sociolinguistically distinguishable. Sonata is used by a speaker in a high position to a listener in a slightly lower one. Anata is used by a person of lower status to a person of higher status. This usage is different from that in present-day Japanese, where anata is used to refer to a person of equal status or lower. Anata-sama reflects more polite and respectful feelings for the listener. Temae is used by a lord to his mistress. The sociolinguistic differentiation in the use of personal pronouns in Genji 3 seems to reflect the rigid class society in which Genji 3 was written. With the modernization of society, overt status marking disappeared to a large degree, as reflected in the use of pronouns in twentieth-century Genjis. Although deictic words such askono hito 'this person' or kono ko 'this child' appear inGenjis4 and later, third person pronouns such as tore 'he' and kanojo 'she' are not used. These third person pronouns are considered to have developed after intensive contact with Western languages (Shibauchi & Takai 1967; Inui 1974; Miura 1979; Umegaki 1963). Yet they do not appear in Genji texts in the twentieth century, probably because they carry an affected and modern connotation and are therefore not appropriate to the Heian context Hinds (1978) finds that even in present day Japanese the use of kare and other third person pronouns is "affected."1 In colloquial Japanese, pronouns have a more structurally marked usage than do pronouns in English (Hinds 1978; MakinoandTsutsui 1986:28-32), and their marked usage is also observed in discourse, as Hinds (1978:174) points out: Pronominalization occurs when the antecedent has been listed in the discourse registry. Pronominalization is used to contrast, emphasize, or to reintroduce a paragraph, segment, or detail topic. (1978:174) In Genji texts also, pronouns are often used to emphasize a topic. (8) semete hanashiau hito ga are-ba at-least talk-with-each-other person NOM there-is-if

90

Explicit and implicit subjects ii-no-desu-ga sore mo arimasen good-NOMI-COP-but it even there-is-not ' At least if there is a person whom (I) can talk with, it is better, but even that (kind of person) does not exist.' (Genji 5)

(9) katajikenai oose-goto wa tabitabi tamawari-nagara grateful (RES)words TOP often (HUM)receive-while mo watashi wa omoitatsu. koto wa EMP I TOP set-up-my-mind-on-going thing TOP itashimasenu (HUM) do-NEG 'Although I am receiving grateful words (from the emperor), I myself will not go to court.' (Genji 1) In both (8) and (9), the pronouns sore 'it' and watashi Τ carry some special degree of emphasis. The use of sore in (8) emphasizes the non-existence of a person whom the emperor can talk to. In (9), watashi T , instead of implicit mention, conveys the meaning, "Although I often receive grateful words from the emperor, I myself will not go to court (as the emperor suggests I do, although others in my position might relent)." Therefore, pronouns contrast marked situations with neutral implicit mention.

4.3.1. Topic continuity of different forms of subjects Since understood NPs are usually manifested with zero anaphora, zero anaphora subjects are the most accessible referents in the discourse. They are also the most continuous topics. Full NPs, on the other hand, appear when a participant is newly introduced or when the introduction of such participants in the discourse is not yet established or secured. When a topic is not easily accessible, and when the form of

Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms

91

a bare NP is not sufficient to identify the character or to give special emphasis or tone, the character, as is the case with many other languages, is expressed with a modified phrase or clause. This is because modification helps the identification of a particular referent. Therefore, NPs that occur with modification tend to be discontinuous topics and less accessible than full NPs. Considering the relationship between the topicality of referents and the forms of reference, Givön (1983:16) provides the following continuity scale. (10)

More continuous/accessible topics zero anaphora unstressed/bound pronouns stressed/independent pronouns full NPs more discontinuous/inaccessible topics

Although the above scale is generally applicable to the data examined here, pronouns in the text show a much smaller number than zero anaphora in referential distance. This is because pronouns in Japanese often have the special effect of emphasizing the topic which has appeared in the immediately preceding clause; the role of pronouns is therefore different from that of unstressed pronouns in English. This phenomenon is indicated by Table 6. Table 6: Topic continuity of different forms of subjects Genji

1

Forms

RD

Full NP

24.67

29.5

5 PER

7

RD

PER

RD

0.51

12.7

0.8

19.0

0.69

0.33

26.95

0.61

25.4

0.39

1.0

1.11

1.0

0

5.59

1.01

5.58

0.97

PER

Modifying Clause/ Phrase + NP Pronoun Zero anaphora

-

5.21

-

1.12

RD = Referential distance, PER = Persistence

92

Explicit and implicit subjects

4.3.2. Implicit subjects and the importance of participants Topic continuity counting suggests that more continuous subjects/participants are marked with zero anaphora. This suggests that, in coding participants in the discourse, main characters who often appear in the story and who are centers of attentions are more likely to be coded implicitly than are minor participants. In fact, in all the Genji texts, the majority of zero anaphora subjectsreferto main characters. Tables 7 and 8 indicate how major and less major participants are coded implicitly. Both tables show that the emperor, who appears most frequently in the story, has the highest degree of implicitness in the subject position (quotations are excluded from the counting). Table 7: The degree of implicitness of characters in Genji 1 Participant Kiritsubo Emperor Kiritsubo's mother The prince (Genji) Lady kokiden Myoobu

The number of The number of Percentage of explicit mentions implicit mentions implicitness 4 27 87.0 1 95 99.0 84.8 5 28 5

8

61.5

3 2

6 11

75.0 84.6

In many languages, it is observed that the main character has a stronger hold on the status of old information than have other characters (Chafe 1976). Having established a particular character as the hero, the speaker's continued use of inexplicit reference forms is one way in which he can signal that this character is still functioning as the hero ofthe story (Clancy 1980:178-179). Grimes (1978) calls this referential strategy "thematic." In the folk tales of the Mambila language spoken in Nigeria and Cameroun, elliptical reference is consistently used for the main character, whereas secondary characters are referred to with noun phrases. A similar phenomenon is found in Fali, and the Adamawa language spoken in northern Cameroun (Clancy 1980: 178-179).

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

93

Table 8: The degree of implicitness of characters in Genji 5 Participant Kiritsubo Emperor Kiritsubo's mother

The number of explicit mentions 15

The number of Percentage of implicit mentions implicitness 8

34.8 69.7

23 11

53 21

The prince (Genji)

6

3

33.4

Lady Kokiden

3

2

40.0

Myoobu

7

7

50.0

65.6

Of course, the degree to which main characters become implicit differs depending on the text In Genji 1, amazingly, the emperor is implicit 99% of the time (not including direct quotations). Now we should look at how some discourse factors influence the explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects and see how writers can manipulate the manifestation of subjects by changing certain discourse factors.

4.4. Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects 4.4.1. Subjectless sentences First, let us examine the conditions under which subjects are implicit. Martin (1975) describes four types of subjectless sentences in Japanese. One is what he calls optional ellipsis. Though it is notexplicitly included in the message, a specific subject is so easy to supply that it is probably "intended" by the speaker and will be "understood" by the listener. (E.g.futte kimashita ne [lit.] 'came falling, didn't it'. It started raining, didn't it.') The second type are cases in which, through some sort of deixis, reference to a subject NP is easily understood. (E.g. kaerimasu Ί am/we are going.') The third type are expressions of time, weather, and other general conditions for which an arbitrary subject could be assumed but for which it would not be normal to use any specific noun. (I feel that this can be included in type 1.) The fourth type

94

Explicit and implicit subjects

of subjectless sentences involves a generalized animate subject, 'one', 'people', 'they', 'anybody', or the like (Martin 1975:183-185). Examples of subjectless sentences from Genji texts basically belong to Martin's four types. I divide subjectless sentences into two types: (1) sentences whose subject is implicit and recoverable from the context, and (2) sentences in which implicitness of the subject is not so conditioned by context In topic continuity counting, the subject of type (2) sentences gets the distance number 30, indicating that it is mentioned for the first time in the discourse, or that, if it has been mentioned in the prior discourse, it was indefinitely far back. (I am setting the maximum distance number at 30, although Giv η sets it at 20. This is because, in Genji 1, even a character referred to 25 clauses back can be referred to with zero anaphora.)

4.4.1.1. Implicit subjects that are not conditioned by the context Sentences that convey time, weather, situational reference (i.e., the subject is something like "the situation"), and general perspective (i.e., the subject is "we," "they," "one," "people" and the like) almost always have an implicit subject. This is the case in all versions of Genji texts. In English, the dummy subject, "it," is often used in these situations. Some examples are in order. 1. Expression of Time In the following sentences, words such as toki 'time*, 'period', orjikan 'time', 'hour', may be supplied as the subject. (11) Ukon no

tsukasa no

tonoi

ASSOC officer ASSOC night-watch koe

kikoyuru wa

voice audible

mooshi

(HUM)say ASSOC

( ) ushi

TOP

ni narinuru-naru-beshi become-PER- ASS -CONJ

no

two o'clock in the morning

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

95

'The sound of officer Ukon's voice (in replacing another night watch man) was a sign that (it) was nearly two o'clock in the morning.' (Genji 1) (12) Asu to moose-ba ( ) nen'in ni sooroo hodo ni tomorrow Q (HUM)say if too late be extent since 'if we say tomorrow, (it) will be too late, therefore...' (Genji 2) (13) Myoobu wa nakunaku ( ) moo hijooni osoi yoo TOP weepingly already very late seem desu Icara fukumei wa konban no uchi-ni COP since return TOP this-evening ASSOC within itashitai to zonji-masu kara (HUM) want Q (HUM) think-POL since 'Myoobu says weepingly, "since (it) seems to be pretty late, and I would like to return within this evening, therefore..." ' (Genji 5) In (11), although the subject of ushi ni narinuru 'has become around two o'clock in the morning' is not explicitly expressed, it is understood that the subject refers to time. In (12), the thing that will become too late is time, and therefore the subject of nen'in ni sooroo 'be too postponed/late' is implicitly conveyed time. Similarly, in (13), referring to the time of the day, Myoobu says, "hijooni osoi" 'very late'. As can be observed in these examples, time reference is usually not overtly stated. 2. General perspective When the subject refers to "people in general," "we," "they," "you," "one," and the like, it is usually not explicitly indicated. (14) e ni kakitaru yookihi no katachi wa ( ) picture in write-PER ASSOC figure TOP

96

Explicit and implicit subjects imijiki es hi to ie-domo fude kagiri are-ba excellent painter Q say-although brush limitation there-is-since ' Speaking of a portrait of Yookihi, even if (we) say that he is a talented painter, there are limitations in (the power) of his brush...' (Genji 1)

(15) on-haha kooi ο kono miko go-tanjoo igo RES-mother court-lady ACC this child RES-birth after wa miyasudokoro to zo tonae-keru TOP QEMPcall PAST '(They) called the mother miyasudokoro after the child was born.' (Genji 2) (16) iro koi orimono ga nagai kurokami ni matsuwar-are color deep cloth NOMlong black-hair by wind-around-PASS namida ni nijinde donnani kimi-waruku ugomeite-ita-ka ( ) tear with saturated how forbiddingly was-squirming-QUES omoe-ba ( ) muri-no-nai-koto to iwanebanaranu think-when reasonable-thing Q must-say 'How forbiddingly the deep color cloths were squirming, being wound around by long black hair and saturated with tears? When (we) think of it, (we) have to say that it is understandable.' (Genji 7) In the three examples above, the subjects that refer to unspecified people are implicit. The subject of yuu 'say' in (14), that of tonaekeru 'called' in (15), and that of omou 'think' and iwanebanaranu 'must say', are all referring to people in general. As indicated in the translations, words such as "we," "they," and "one" can be supplied in order to make the meaning clear in English.

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

97

3. Situational reference When a particular situation is referred to, it is implicitly indicated. (17) Mono omohi-tamahe shiranu kokochi ni mo ( ) thing think-HUM know-NEG mind to also geni koso ito shinobigatau-haberi-kere truly EMP very hard-to-bear-(HUM)-COP-PAST 'to my mind which does not think or know things well enough, (the situation) was truly unbearable.' (Genji 1) (18) ( ) Yookihi no muköshi no tameshi ο mo ASSOC old-days ASSOC instance ACC even hikikoto ni ii-idetsubeki nariyuku mamani example as cite become as 'As (the situation) becomes such that people cite even the instance of Yookihi (Yang Gui-fei) from old days as an example...' (Genji 2) (19) C ) ishoo-o-korashita okurimono nado suru baai elaborate present things-like do occasion de-nakatta kara kojin no katami to-yuu-koto-ni-shite was-not since deceased ASSOC memento treat-as ' Because (it) was not an occasion to give elaborate presents, as a memento of the deceased...' (Genji 5) The above three sentences all refer to a particular situation in the story. (17) refers to the situation in which Kiritsubo's mother lost her daughter while the daughter was still very young. Her mother expresses bow painful it is to be left alone, to live longer

98

Explicit and implicit subjects

than her child. In this context, the thing that is ito shinobigatau-haberi-kere 'very hard to bear' is the situation she endures. (18) depicts how the emperor's infatuation with Kiritsubo alarms the people so much that they start comparing his case to an incident in China, where a civil war had occurred on account of the leader's infatuation with Lady Yooki (Yang Gui-fei). (19) talks about Myoobu visiting Kiritsubo's mother. The occasion, which is implicitly conveyed, did not call for elaborate presents. In these examples, situation or occasion is referred to implicitly.

4.4.1.2. Implicit subjects and the context 1. Cataphoric reference Some implicit NPs are not identifiable at the moment of introduction; their identity only becomes clear in the succeeding sentences. Such cataphoric reference is very common. (20) tooguu ni onari-ni-natta no wa crown-prince RES-become-PAST NOMI TOP daüchi-shinnoo dearu. ( ) kono kekka ο first-prince COP this result ACC mite are hodo no o-manako demo see-and that extent ASSOC RES-dear-child even yahari (φ =emperor) ( ) taishi ni wa as expected crown prince TOP o-deki-ninararenai no da to seken mo ιϊ... RES-can-NEG NOMI COP Q world also say 'The prince who became the crown prince is the first prince. Having seen this result, (people in) the world also say that as expected (the emperor) cannot make

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

99

(Genji) the crown prince even if he is (the emperor's) favorite child.' (Genji 5) In (20), the introduction of the subject of the clause, kono kekka ο mite 'having seen this result', is delayed. The subject, seken '(people in) the world', is introduced in the succeeding clause. {Seken literally means 'the world', but implies 'people in the world'.) The subject delay in this case seems to have something to do with a defocusing of the subject while yet continuing it. This passage appears in a context where people, including Lady Kokiden, have been worrying that Genji might be chosen as the crown prince, since the emperor adores him. To their relief, however, the first-born prince is chosen as the crown prince. In this context, the most important information is the reaction to this final decision, not the identity of the person who made the reactionary statement. The particle mo, after seken 'the world', also indicates that seken is additional information and that others felt the same way. A similar subject delay is also observed in Givön's following example for English (1983:23). (21) Working hard and not getting anywhere, trying again and again, marshalling all her ingenuity and internal resources yetfindingthe going rougher and rougher and getting progressively more frustrated, shefinallyconceded the obvious and gave up. Givön points out that, in the above example, the identity of the subject is totally predictable and that this is an example of the coding of a highly continuous topic. Thus, one type of so-called subordinate clause (non-finite or participial) tends to be used as a typical subject/topic continuity device. In English, the use of zero anaphora subject only occurs clause/sentence internally. However, in Japanese, zero anaphora for topic continuity device extends beyond the clause or the sentence. References may be implicit because they can be identified based on one's structural knowledge, i.e. valency of a verb or surface structure frame (Hinds 1982), semantic information within the clause, and/or thematic information. Grimes calls this kind of implicit reference cohesive optionality (1975:1%). In identifying referents, the availability of semantic and thematic information plays an important role, although this is difficult to quantify. The availability of so-called 'redundant' semantic information within a clause

100

Explicit and implicit subjects

comes primarily from the predicate of the clause (e.g. honorifics), less so from verbphrase adverbials, and even less so from other topics/participants of the clause. Also, information available from the preceding discourse could help in topic identification, establishing specific probabilities as to the topic identification within a particular clause and in a particular role. Discourse information also establishes, for particular discourses, some ranking of the importance of the various topics/participants, and thus affects their behavior in terms of the permanent register (Giv η 1983:9). Now let us consider how the availability of contextual information relates to the occurrence of zero anaphora subjects. 2. Thematic information A long conversation between the emperor's messenger, Myoobu, and Kiritsubo's mother ends with the following sentence in Genji 1. (22) ohon-shihotare-gachi

ni nomi ohashimasu to

RES-be sunk in sadness-tendency in only (RES)-be katari te talk 4

Q

tsukisezu

and does-not-end

"(the emperor) tends to be sunk in sadness." (Myoobu) says and (their talk) does

not end.' (22) comes in the context of Myoobu's visit, following Kiritsubo's death, to Kiritsubo's mother, to see how she is doing and to give her the emperor's message. There are many things that can be said about the sadness which Kiritsubo's death has brought to the emperor, to Kiritsubo's mother, and to others. In the context in which Myoobu and Kiritsubo's mother have been talking about this sadness, it is obvious that what does not end is the talk. In the following example, again from Genji 1, thematic information tells whom Myoobu is visiting, and therefore identifies the person leading a widow's life. For, from the preceding discourse, the reader already knows that the emperor sent Myoobu to check on the condition of Kiritsubo's mother and the prince. In other words,

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

101

Kiritsubo's mother is already activated in the reader's memory of the preceding context. (23) Myoobu kashiko ni makadetsuki-te kado hikiiruru over there (HUM) arrive-and gate pull-a-car yori kehahi ahare-nari.3 from appearance pitiful-COP yamome-zumi naredo hito hitori no widow life ASS-though person one person ASSOC ohon-kashizuki ni tokaku tsukurohidate-te RES-care for usually take-care-and 'Myoobu arrived there and as soon as she entered the gate, (she noticed that) the scene/atmosphere looked pitiful. Although (Kiritsubo's mother) was living alone, being a widow, in order to bring up her only daughter respectably, (she) has taken care of (the house) and...' Kashiko 'over there' in the first line indicates the place where Kiritsubo's mother lives, because we know, from prior context, that that is where Myoobu is supposed to visit. Then, kashiko 'over there' evokes the existence of Kiritsubo's mother. Thus, the reader does not have much difficulty in identifying who it is that is living alone, and who has been taking care of the house. Also, the previously cited example (7) is illustrative here. The birth of Genji is the theme of the episode in which example (7) is contained, and therefore the reader can easily identify the implicit referents, Kiritsubo and the baby. (7) mikado wa donna yoosu ka to higara no emperor TOP what-kind-of situation QUES Q days ASSOC tatsu no ο machikanete isoide meshiyose-te pass ACC could-not-wait in-a-hurry let-them-come

102

Explicit and implicit subjects go-ran-ninaru-to RES-see then ni mo

mutsuki no aida nagara yo young-baby during although world

mezurashii go-kiryoo-de-aru

in even rare

RES-beauty-COP

"The emperor could not wait for days to pass, thinking of (his/their) condition. (He) invited them as soon as possible and looked at (the baby). Then (the baby) is a very rare beauty although he is still a newly-born.' (Genji 7) Examples (22) and (7) point to the same phenomenon that is noted in Shibamoto (1983) and Hinds (1982): ellipsis may occur when the noun phrase refers to the paragraph topic, or to a part of the paragraph topic. 3. Thematic information and prior texts The first few sentences of Genji establish the story's basic settings. (24) is the beginning of Genji 1. The first sentence in (24) provides us with the setting, time, place, and possible participants in the story. Ohon-toki '(lit.) honorable time' indicates the time period of an emperor, implying the presence of an emperor. The introduction of court-ladies and the lady who is particularly loved by the emperor suggests the human relationships the author is going to describe. Furthermore, the introduction of the characters gives the reader some ideas about the society in which the story is set, i.e. the society of nobles. Then, status differences of people, the relationship between the emperor and his ladies, their lifestyle and customs, and so on, are evoked and brought to the reader's mind. All of this information creates a schema or a script for the story (Hinds 1982; Chafe 1987). (24) izure which

no

ohon-toki

ni ka

nyoogo kooi amata

ASSOC RES-time in QUES court-lady

saburahi-tamahi-keru (RES) be-RES-PAST

naka ni among

many

ito yamugotonaki kiha very noble status

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

103

ni ha aranu ga sugurete tokimeki-tamqfu arikeri. in not NOM specially prosper-RES there-was Hajime yori 'ware ha' to omoi-agari-tamaheru beginning from I Q proud-RES ohon-katagata mezamashiki mono ni otoshime RES - (RES )-people surprising person speak-ill-of sonemi-tamafu think-badly-of-RES 'In some emperor's time, there was an incident that, among many court ladies, a lady of not very high status prospered (received tremendous affectionfromthe emperor) a great deal. The ladies who were conceited from the beginning of their service, and who want to be the one (beloved of the emperor) speak ill of and think badly of (this lady) as an unpleasant person whose presence surprised them.' (Genji 1) Chafe (1987:29) notes that, when a schema has been evoked in a narrative, some, if not all, of the expectations of which it is constituted presumably enter the semiactive state, and that from that point on they are more accessible to recall than are concepts or information that are totally new. In this sense, the beginning part of the narrative is particularly important. However, the scheme which these sentences evoke will be different for different readers at different times, since the degree of shared knowledge between a writer and differentreadersdoes not remain the same. In other words, the prior text is different. Other Genjis may have to explain things more explicitly, since Genji 1 is implicit and suggestive. Readers of other Genjis may not share some of the knowledge that readers of Genji 1 shared with the writer. For example, when we compare (24) with the same part in Genji 7, Genji 7 explains that nyoogo and kooi 'court-lady' are serving at court (although that would have been obvious to the reader of Genji 1 at the time it was written) and clarifies the meaning of tokimeki-tamqfu 'prosper' in Genji 1 by saying that mikado no gochooai ο isshin niatsumeru 'is specially loved by the emperor.'

104

Explicit and implicit subjects

Genji 1 was written by a noble woman, Lady Murasaki, and was read mostly by noble women serving at court, who were very likely to have shared similar experiences. Since the story is about court life and romances at court, the writer and reader presumably share a common perspective and experience. The majority of the readers of Genji 7, on the other hand, live in a totally different world. Fa* them, court life exists only in the imagination and they do not have any first-hand knowledge of the relationships and various customs among people at court This difference determines how much can be assumed to be known by the reader, and influences not only lexical choices but also explicitness/implicitness of topics. (25) from Genji 1 and (26) from Genji 7 both describe the situation in which, after Kiritsubo's death, the emperor feels regretful that he had not given her a higher status while she was alive; in this manner, he does so even though she is already dead. The Heian readers of Genji 1 clearly knew who had the power to elevate the status of ladies at court, and therefore the actor is implicit. By Genji 7, however, this information cannot be taken for granted. (25) Nyoogo to dani ihasezu-narinuru ga akazu Q even say-CAU-NEG-PERF NOM always kuchioshiu obosarure-ba ima hitokizami regrettable (RES) think-therefore now one-little no kurai ο dani to okura-se-tamafu-nari-keri ASSOC status ACC even Q give-RES-RES-COP-PAST 'Since (the emperor) thought it regrettable that he did not make her call herself 'nyoogo', now (he) gives (her) a higher status, thinking, "even a little bit of status."' {Genji 1) (26) Seizen nyoogo to yobaseru koto sae before death call-CAU that even kanawanakatta no ο mikado wa ikanimo was-not-possible that ACC emperor TOP very

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

105

zannenni oboshimeshi-te semete sore ni regrettable (RES) think-and at-least it to junzuru

kurai

ο

okurareta-nodeatta.

proportionate status ACC give-RES-NOMI-COP-PAST 'The emperor thought it very regrettable that it was not possible to make others call her 'nyoogo' and gave her a status which is proportionate to it.' (Genji 7) Notice that in (25) the emperor is implicit, while in (26) he is explicitly mentioned. 4. Semantic information Semantic information within a clause may also give enough information for the subject to be left implicit. As Giv η points out (1983:9), the predicate of the clause often gives significant information concerning who or what is the subject. For example, in present-day Japanese, constructions with the desiderative morpheme tai require a first-person subject in a declarative sentence, and constructions with rashii 'look like' require a third-person subject (Hinds 1982:80-81). Honorific morphemes also suggest possible referents. This will be discussed in detail later in the chapter. In Genji texts, we find several equative sentences that do not have an explicit subject, because the implied reference can be evoked from the predicate. (27) Hito no soshiri ο mo e-habakara-se-tamaha-zu people's criticism ACC even cannot-be-afraid-RES-RES yo

no tameshi ni mo nari-nu-beki

world of example

ohon-motenashi-

become-PER-CONJ RES-treatment-

nari COP

'(the emperor) could not be afraid of people's criticism and (his treatment of Kiritsubo) is the treatment that would even become an example of (a person who was infatuated with a woman) in the world.' (Genji 1)

106

Explicit and implicit subjects

(28) Shinde kara mo hito no ki ο waruku-saseru die after even person's feeling ACC make-it-bad go-chooai buri RES-love

ne

manner

'It's a way of loving a woman that makes others feel jealous of her even after (she) dies, isn't it?'

(Genji 5)

In (27), what is referred to is the way the emperor treats Kiritsubo, and this is known from the predicate, ohon-motenashi-nari 'is (the emperor's) treatment.' Similarly, we can know from the predicate that (28) refers to the way the emperor loves Kiritsubo even after she dies. If the subjects were explicitly stated, the information would be redundant and therefore these sentences would sound awkward.

4.4.2. The use of honorifics Seidensticker notes (1976) that, in Genji 1, the honorific forms that appear in VPs and NPs can supply considerable information concerning identity of the subject, status differences, and relationships among the characters involved, so that the subject can be left implicit He writes (1976:xii): In some respects the speech of western Japan, in which the tale was written, has been astonishingly conservative. A character will sometimes make a remark which one might hear on the streets of Kyoto or Osaka today. The conjugated parts of speech, however, the verbs and adjectives, have been considerably simplified, so that fundamental signals as to agent and object which were once conveyed through conjugational refinements must now very often be conveyed by other means, such as explicitly stated subjects.... It was certainly not impossible in Heian Japan to come right out and name one's agents and objects, but it was considered better form to let elaborately conjugated verbs and adjectives convey the information obliquely.

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

107

In reading Genji 1, which is so oblique, suggestive, and indirect, any reader would agree with Seidensticker. Earlier in chapter 2,1 have also discussed how honorific morphemes can help identify subject syntactically. However, it is still a question whether, on the level of discourse, the elaborateness of honorifics shows a positive correlation with the degree to which subjects arc implicit. If we could find such a correlation, it would suggest the possibility of internal changes affecting the explicit/ implicit mention of subjects. Japanese has an elaborate system of honorifics, used in accordance with social status, age, sex, intimacy, and so on. Honorifics reflect both the overt and covert hierarchic society which developed in Japan. There are three kinds of honorific forms, each having different functions. They are: (1) teinei-go 'forms of politeness'; (2) sonkei-go 'forms of respect'; and (3 )kenjoogo 'forms of humbleness*. Forms of politeness are used to show the speaker's respect to the hearer, irrespective of the content of the speech. They are usually found in settings where a specific hearer is directly or indirectly present (e.g. conversations, letters) (Nakata 1971:332). Haberu (in classical Japanese) and masu (in colloquial Japanese) belong to this category of forms: (29) ...matsu no omohan koto pine tree SUBJ think thing

dam hazukashuu even ashamed

omoi-tamahe-habert-ba think-HUM-POL-since 'since I am ashamed even before the Takasago pines (thinking how they would think of me)' (Genji 1) (30) yonaka sugiru koro ni iki ο o-hikitori-ninari-mashi-ta night pass around breathe ACC one's-last-breath-RES-POL-PAST '(Kiritsubo) breathed her last around midnight.' (Genji 4 ) The second category, forms of respect, often referred to as "subject honorifics" in recent linguistic literature (e.g. Shibatani 1977, 1990; Sugamoto 1982), is used to

108

Explicit and implicit subjects

express respect to the subject referent. For example, (31)... kakaru hito koso yo ni ohashimashi-Aere this kind of person EMP world in (RES) be PAST (Genji 1) '(some marveled that) such a paragon had been born into this world.' (32) konoyoona o-kata mo kono yo ni like this RES-(RES)person EMP this world in umarete-vnsshanx mono ka to ildonomi... come to be born-RES QUES Q thrilled ' (people who were understanding) were thrilled that such a person had been born into this world.' (Genji 7) The emphasized words in (31) and (32) convey respect to the subject, kakaru hito 'this kind of person' and konoyoona okata 'this kind of person' respectively. Humble forms upgrade the person to whom an action is directed, or referents in non-subject positions.4 In (33), sooshite '(HUM) say' upgrades the recipient of the action, the emperor. In colloquial Japanese, mooshiageru '(HUM) say' is used instead, as can be observed in (34). (33) hahagimi nakunaku sooshi/e... mother-RES with-tears (HUM) say-and '(Kiritsubo's) mother asked (the emperor) with tears...' (Genji 1) (34) sokode hahagimi kara nakunaku o-negai-mooshiage-te then mother-RES from with-tears HUM-ask-and 'then, (Kiritsubo's) mother asked (the emperor) with tears.' (Genji 7) Since the use of honorific forms is so closely related to the social system and culture, changes in society and culture over time will bring some change in the use of honorifics. In classical Japanese, broadly defined to include the written language until the end of the Edo period (1867), honorific usages were more elaborate than those in

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

109

present-day Japanese. There were more lexical varieties of honorific expression, and verbs and auxiliaries that would convey humbleness were richer. With the modernization of the language, the use of honorifics became simpler (Neustupny 1974), and this highlights the end of the class society of the Edo period (1603-1868). Genji texts also reflect changes in honorifics. Although some of the twentieth-century Genjis contain elaborate honorifics, they are not as elaborate as those in Genji 1, and it is a conscious attempt to use grandiose honorifics that creates the archaic atmosphere of Genji 6.

4.4.2.1. Correlation between the use of honorifics and the ratio of explicit/implicit subjects First, let us simply examine to what extent honorifics alone can differentiate the status of different characters in the story. The following status hierarchy among the characters is indicated by the use of honorifics in Genjis 1,2,5, and 7. (35) Genji 1 with honorifics without honorifics

Genji 2 with honorifics without honorifics

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

the emperor Lady Kokiden, princes Kiritsubo, other court-ladies Kiritsubo's moth«-, some court-ladies Myoobu, young ladies who serve Kiritsubo, the emperor's messenger, people at Kritsubo's house, people in the world

1. the emperor, Lady Kokiden, princes 2. Kiritsubo, other court-ladies 3. Kiritsubo's mother 4. Myoobu, young ladies who serve Kiritsubo 5. the emperor's messenger, people in the world

110

Explicit and implicit subjects

Genji 5 with honorifics without honorifics

Genji 7 with honorifics without honorifics

1. the emperor, princes 2. Kiritsubo, Kiritsubo's mother, Lady Kokiden, other court-ladies, Myoobu, people in the world

1. the emperor 2. Lady Kokiden, princes 3. Kiritsubo, Kiritsubo's mother 4. other court-ladies, Myoobu, people in the world

In Genji 1, differences in honorifics divide the characters into five status groups, and as (35) indicates, the emperor is differentiated from all other characters in the use of honorifics. Genji 2 shows an equally elaborate system. However, the emperor is no longer uniquely differentiated with honorifics. In Genji 5, the use of honorifics, greatly simplified, divides the characters into only two groups. Here the emperor and princes arc the only people referred to with honorific forms; everybody else gets ordinary forms of verbs. Therefore, the power of honorifics to identify characters is greatly weakened compared with that of earlier Genjis. Genji 7 shows a revival of the use of honorifics. Honorifics used in this text more or less differentiate four groups of people. However, the distinction between the emperor and Lady Kokiden, or the princes, is not always transparent in Genji 7, and the dotted line indicates this nontransparency. Some of the honorific forms used in reference to the emperor are also used in referring to the characters in group 2. The classification in (35) is, of course, a very simplified way of looking at the role of honorifics in the identification of characters. The real difference in status of participants who are in the same category cannot be clearly indicated by honorific forms alone. Yet, when honorific forms do differentiate one particular character, the necessity of referring to him or her explicitly diminishes. The emperor in Genji 1 is such an example. The fact that honorific forms can signal the actor to be the emperor in a clause elevates the occurrence of implicitness of subjects, since he is the character

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

111

who is most frequehtly referred to. In order to examine the correlation between the elaboration of honorifics and the occurrence of implicit subjects, I will translate the numbers in (35) into a graph. In doing so, I will express numerically the number of groups of characters that the use of honorifics differentiates. This means that Genji 1 gets the number 5; Genji 2, 5; Genji 5,2; and Genji 7,4. Since Genji 1 uniquely distinguishes the emperor, I will add

Figure 3: The degree to which honorifics can differentiate the characters % 60 τ

20

--

10 - -

0-1 Genji 1

1 Genji 2

1 Genji 5

Figure 4: The degree to which subjects are expressed explicitly

1 Genji 7

112

Explicit and implicit subjects

0.5 to the number of Genji 1 and I will add 0.25 to Genji 7, since honorifics only weakly differentiate the emperor from other characters. Sofinally,Genji 1 gets a 5.5 and Genji 7 a 4.25. The graph gives us a quantitative and visual idea of the correlation between the power of honorifics and the implicitness of subjects. Through the above method, I obtain Figure 3. Figure 4 shows explicitness in subjects in Genjis 1, 2, 5, and 7. When we compare these two figures, we find an exactly inverse pattern. Thus, the semantic information given by honorific forms significantly influences the way in which subjects are manifested.

4.4.2.2. Honorifics in Genji 1 In Genji 1, the characters who belong to categories 1-4 in (35) are referred to with respect forms. The emperor, Lady Kokiden, and princes are referred to with strong respect forms. That the emperor is the most respected person is signalled by the use of the highest respect form: the combination of two verbal morphemes that convey respect. This highest respect form has the form of su/sasu + verb/auxiliary of respect as in se-tamafu, sase-ohashimasu. (Se in se-tamafu is aconjugated form of su, which is an auxiliary that indicates respect, and tamafu is an auxiliary that expresses respect Se-tamafu does not have a particular meaning in itself, but indicates that the actor is a highly respected person. Sase, a conjugated form of sasu, is also an auxiliary that conveys respect, and ohasu is a verb that expresses respect ['RES-be'] in contrast with, e.g., neutral ari 'be').5 In classical Japanese, the highest respect form was used only for people of extremely high status, such as the emperor or empress (Nakata 1971:172, Shirako 1965:5). In Genji 1 this form is used only for the emperor, and hence it differentiates him from other characters, such as Lady Kokiden, who are referred to with strong respect forms. For characters who belong to 3 and 4, i.e. Kiritsubo, Kiritsubo's mother, and so on, respect forms are not consistantly used, and especially in subordinate or subcoordinate clauses they are often absent. The difference between the characters in 3 and those in 4 is understood from the fact that humble forms appear when afirst-personutterance is directed from the characters in 4 to those in 3. The following examples will illustrate the use of honorifics for different characters in Genji 1.

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

113

(36) ito atsushiku nariyuld mono-kokorobosogeni very serious become helplessly satogachi

naru ο

iyoiyo

akazu

tend-to-be-back-home COP ACC more and more ever aharenaru mono ni omohoshi-te hito-no soshiri dear person as (RES) think-and people's criticism wo

mo e-fafrafrara-se-tamaha-zH...

ACC even can-take-in-to-consideration-RES-RES-NEG ' (Kiritsubo) fell seriously ill and came to spend more time at home than at court. (The emperor's) pity and affection quite passed bounds, and (he) could not take others' criticism into consideration.' (37) kono on-kata this

no

on-isame

wo

nomi

RES-(RES) person's ASSOC RES-criticism ACC only

το naho wazurahashiku kokoro-gurushuu EMP still annoying painful omöAi-kikohe-sase-tamahi-yfceru think-HUM-RES-RES-PAST 'only this person's (Lady Kokiden's) criticism, (the emperor) could not ignore and found it painful.' (38) nani-goto ka

aramu

to mo

something QUES there-must-beQ even omohoshi-fara-zu saburafu hitobito no (RES) think-PERF-NEG serve people ASSOC

114

Explicit and implicit subjects naki-madohi uhe mo on-namida no cry-and-distressed the-emperor also RES-tears ASSOC himanaku /mgare-ohashimasu wo ayashi to constantly flow-RES ASSOC strange Q mi-tatematsuri-tamaheru wo see-HUM-RES 'Without thinking, "something must have happened," (Genji) looked in bewilderment at the weeping courtiers, and at his father too, the tears streaming over his face.'

(39) hibi ni omori-tamahi-te tada itsuka muyuka day-by-day serious-RES-and only five-days six-day no hodo ni ito yowau-nare-ba hahagimi ASSOC about within very become-weak-since mother-RES nakunaku sooshite makade-sase-tatematsuri-tamafu with-tears (HUM) say-and (HUM) leave-CAU-HUM-RES 'day by day her health became worse, and in only five or six days she became very weak. So, her mother pleaded (with the emperor) with tears (that he let Kiritsubo go home), and let (her) leave for home.' (40) Myoobu kashiko ni makade-tsuki-te that place to (HUM) arrive-and 'Myoobu arrived there...' In (36) and (37), the highest respect forms, i.e. se-tamqfu, sase-tamafu, and so on, occur in the predicates that describe the emperor's action. In (36), the underlined respect form contrasts with verbs without respect forms, those which express Kiritsubo's action. In (37), the humble form, kikohe in the VP, the subject of which

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

115

is the emperor, conveys the writer's (and perhaps also the emperor's) respect toward Lady Kokiden. This signals that her status is very high, higher than Kiritsubo's, since a humble form is never attached to the emperor's action toward Kiritsubo. In (38), both Genji and the emperor receive highly respectful forms and this may be the reason for the explicit uhe 'emperor'. The occurrence of the humble form, tatematsuru, indicates that the recipient of the action includes the emperor. In (39), the humble verb, sooshite '(HUM) say', indicates whom hahagimi 'kiritsubo's mother' is addressing, and the humble auxiliary tatematsuru suggests the patient. The combination of humble verb+causative morpheme + humble (non-subject honorific) morpheme + subject honorific morpheme, as in makade-sase-tatematsuri- tamafu, is impossible in present-day Japanese. When combined with thematic information, honorific forms become strong identifiers of a referent, allowing long clause chains in which interacting characters are implicitly suggested. In the following example from Genji 1, in referring to Kiritsubo's actions, respect forms are not consistently used, and when the emperor is the recipient of an action, Kiritsubo's action includes a humble form. (41) kagiri

areba

sanomi

mo

todome-

limitation there-are-since like-that Ε MP keepsase-tamaha-zu

go-ranji-dani-okuranu

obotsukanasa

RES-RES-NEG even-RES-see-off-NEG uneasiness wo ifukatanaku obosaru ito nihohiyakani ACC no-way-to-express (RES) think very charmingly utsukushige-naru hito beautiful-COP

itau omoyasete ito

person ASSOC very emaciated very

ahare to mono wo sad

no

omohishimi

nagara koto

Q thing ACC sink-in-thought while

ni idetemo kikoheyara-zu

words

aruka-nakika

in put-out (HUM) say-NEGexist-or-do-not-exist

116

Explicit and implicit subjects ni kieiritsutsu monoshi-tamqfu wo go-ranzuru MANNER disappearing behave-RES ACC RES-see ni tishikata when past

ikusue oboshimes-are-zu yorozu-no future (RES) cannot- think various

koto wo naku-naku c/ugiri-notamahasuredo thing ACC with promise-(RES) say-although ohon-irahe mo kikohe-tamaha-zu RES-reply even (HUM) say-RES-NEG 'Everything must have an end. (The emperor) could no longer detain (Kiritsubo). (He) felt so sad about the fact that (he) was not even permitted to see (her) off. A lady of great charm and beauty was sadly emaciated. (She) was sunk in melancholy thoughts, but when (she) tried to put them into words her voice was almost inaudible. (She) was as if she was not alive. When (the emperor) saw this, (his) mind was in a confusion and (he) wept and promised all kinds of things over and over again. However, (the lady) was unable to reply.' Since the highest respect form is used only for the emperor and for no one else, it identifies him uniquely. Especially when the semantic argument of the VP and the context leaves some ambiguity as to who the actor is, the significance of the highest respect form surfaces. In (42), given the prior context, the identity of the person who passes by other ladies' apartments seems ambiguous—is it Kiritsubo or the emperor? However, the existence of the highest respect form, sase-tamahi, clarifies the referent, indicating that the actor is the emperor. Moreover, on-maewatari 'in RES-passing' also signals that it is not Kiritsubo's action, since, besides the use of the honorific prefix on, the verb wataru 'pass' means to pass somewhere in going to a place which belongs to a person of the same status or lower. If Kiritsubo were going from her place to the emperor's, the humble form, mairu, would have to be used (Shirako 1965:190). (42) Mitsubone ha kiritsubo nari amatano RES-apartment TOP ASSERT many

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects ohon-katagata

117

ο

£ug/-sase-tamahi-toutou himanald RES-(RES) people ACC pass-RES-RES-while constant on-maewatari ni RES-passing '(ho-) apartment is Kiritsubo (Paulownia Court). (The emperor) visited her constantly, passing by other ladies' apartment..'

Not only verbal auxiliaries, but also specific lexical items, can indicate the presence of the emperor, as in the following example, where the emperor's presence is indicated by the choice of the word, ootonogomoru '(RES) sleep', as well as by the highest respect form in the subordinate clause, se-tamqfu, and the auxiliary of humbleness, tatematsuru. (43) Myoobu ha mada ootonogomora-se-tamaha-zari-£eru TOP not-yet (RES)sleep-RES-RES-NEG-PAST wo

ahareni

mi-tatematsuru.

ACC sympathetically see-HUM 'Myoobu was much moved to find (the emperor) waiting up fa* her.' Considering the identifying power of a unique set of honorific forms, it is not too mysterious that the emperor is implicitly indicated ninety-nine percent of the time in Genji 1. Nakata (1971) also points out that the change of one mora in an honorific word can change the actor completely. In the passage where Kiritsubo's mother talks to Myoobu, in another version of Genji, as illustrated in (44a), the underlined part is written as omohi-tamaheru 'think-RES' instead of omohi-tamafuru 'think-HUM'. This changes the implicit subject from "I" to "you," since tamafuru conveys humbleness, and tamaheru respect (1971:354). Compare (44a) from Genji 1 and (44b) from the version with tamaheru.

118

Explicit and implicit subjects

(44) a. mairi-tamaha-mu koto wo norm namu oboshi-isogu(HUM) go-RES-VOL thing ACC only EMP (RES) hurrymere-ba kotowarini kanashiu mi-tatematsuri-haberu CONJ-since reasonable sadly see-HUM-POL nado uchiuchini omohi-tamafuru sama and-so-on in-one's-mind think-HUM circumstance wo sooshi-tamahe ACC (HUM) say-RES 'The indications are that (Genji) is eager to go (to court). It is sad for me, but it should be. Please tell (His Majesty) of these thoughts in my mind...' b. ... kanashiu mi-tatematsuri-haberu nado sadly see-HUMPOL and-so-on uchiuchi omohi-tamaheru sama wo sooshi-tamahe in-one's-mind think-RES circumstance ACC (HUM) say-RES '.. .It is sad but is understandable. Please tell (His Majesty) what you think privately (=in your mind)' Again, honoofics supply information concerning the identity of an implicit subject

4.4.2.3. Honorific usages in other Genjis Genji 1 shows the most complicated and elaborate uses of honorifics. Honorific systems in other Genjis are not as rich. Since the mechanisms of identification via honorifics are basically the same in all the Genji texts, in this section I will simply point out some differences in the use of honorifics in Genjis 2,5, and 7. In Genji 2, we find frequent and elaborate use of honorifics, but humble forms do

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

119

not occur as frequently as in Genji 1. Also, in Genji 2, the ways in which honorific auxiliaries are attached, and honorific lexicons used for various characters, are different from Genji 1. As (35) indicates, although Myoobu and the young ladies who serve Kiritsubo are referred to with plain forms of verbs in Genji 1, in Genji 2 their actions are denoted with respect forms of the verb. The highest respect forms are used not only for the emperor (as in Genji 1) but also for Lady Kokiden, the princes, and Kiritsubo. Thus some characters' status is elevated. This elevation of their status seems to derive from differences in the writer-reader relationship, the writercharacter relationship, and changes in the society in which the stories were written and read between the time of Genji 1 and Genji 2. Both the writer and the reader of the days of Genji 1 were familiar with court-life, human relationships there, the hierarchy of status among court-people, various customs at court, and so on. Fa* them, the status differences among the emperor, Lady Kokiden, and the princes, were clear and distinct. On the other hand, the context in which Genji 2 was written (1723) is completely different. It was written by a nonnoble person for people of lower socio-economic status, in a society where class distinctions were very rigid. Nobles, belonging to a completely different category, were high up in the social heirarchy, far above the writer and the reader. Moreover, neither the writer nor the reader had any first-hand knowledge of court life. In this context, it is natural that status differences among the emperor, his wife, and his children, were not perceived. They are all treated as people equally worthy of respect; hence, Myoobu and other ladies are referred to with respect forms, even though their status at court was not high. In the same way, it is understandable that Genji 1 does not supply respect forms for Myoobu and Kiritsubo's maids since the author and the reader were probably people of status equal to them or higher. The illustration in (45) indicates the viewpoints of the writer and reader in Genjis 1 and 2. (45)

the emperor \ Lady Kookiden, princes Kiritsubo Kiritsubo's mother Myoobu, young ladies who serve Kiritsubo people in the world ^

^^ \ \ — /

\ Genji \ —Genji 2

120

Explicit and implicit subjects

Because the emperor, Lady Kokiden, the princes, and Kiritsubo are all treated as highly respectable persons, and since the highest respect forms appear in describing their actions or situations in Genji 2, the power of honorifics to identify the chief protagonist (the emperor) is weakened in Genji 2. This weakening is accompanied by more explicit mention of the emperor. In Genji 1, the emperor is almost never mentioned, except once in a quotation and once in an embedded clause; but in Genji 2 the emperor's explicit identification increases to 14.4%. Example (46) illustrates that a high level of honorifics is observed for both the emperor and Kiritsubo. (46) miko ο ba Hnchuu-ni sono-mama todomeokiprince ACC Ε MP inside-of-court as-he-is keeptatematsuri amari medatanu yooni-shite HUM not-very-much noticeable-NEG in-the-manner o-shitaku-se-sase-tamau.

mikado wa

iroiroto

RES-do-preparation-RES-RES emperor TOP various oboshi-megura-sase-tamae RES) wonder-RES-RES

domo o-kokorozoe mo although RES-affection EMP

kagiri are-ba sanomi mo e-todome-sasc-tamawazu. limit there-is-therefore so EMP cannot-keep-RES-RES 'As for the prince, (Kiritsubo) leaves (him) at court and prepares (for her departure) privately. The emperor wonders about various things. However, since there is limit to his support and affection, he cannot keep (her) so forcefully.' This is a scene in which Kiritsubo is leaving court because she has become seriously ill. The emperor had to agree to let her go, although he did not want to. The verb phrases of the first sentence convey Kiritsubo's actions. Notice the highest respect form, sase-tamau in the verb oshitakuse-sase-tamau 'do preparations-RES-RES'. The same honorific auxiliaries are attached to the verb denoting the emperor's action,

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

121

oboshi-megura-sase-tamau 'wonder-RES'. If the subject, mikado 'the emperor', is left out of the sentence, there will be difficulty in immediately identifying the subject. Thus, unlike Genji 1, the existence of honorific morphemes does not uniquely indicate the emperor, or discriminate him from Kiritsubo, Lady Kokiden, and the princes in Genji 1. Let us now look at honorifics in Genji 5. Neustupny (1974) and Tobita (1982) point out that the modernization of the language that was proceeding around the turn of the century included the simplification of honorifics. Genji 5, which was written in 1936, reflects this, since respectful forms of verbs and auxiliaries of respect occur therein only to narrate actions of the emperor and princes. In this version, even Lady Kokiden is referred to with the plain form of a verb, and no one else's actions or states are given respect forms in the VP. (47) ikutsuka-no nyoogo ya kooi-tachi no several court-lady and lady-PL ASSOC go-ten no rooka ο kayoi-michi RES-apartment ASSOC hall-way ACC pass-way

ni as

shite make

mikado ga shibashiba soko e o-ide-ninari emperor NOM often there DIR RES-go tonoi-o-suru kooi ga agari-sagari-shiteiku stay-overnight court-lady NOM go-up-and-go-down Kiritsubo de-atta kara COP since 'Because it was to Kiritsubo (=name of the residence) that the emperor frequently went, passing several ladies' apartments and from Kiritsubo the lady who stays overnight at emperor's goes and...' (48) Miyasudokoro wa chottoshita byooki ni natte emperor' s-lover TOP a-little sickness became

122

Explicit and implicit subjects jikka e sagaroo to-shita ga home to return try-PAST but 'The emperor's lover (=Kiritsubo) became sick and tried to go home but...'

As (47) and (48) show, honorific usages in this version are very simple. There are no highest respect forms, and only very few humble forms. The activities of Kiritsubo, Kiritsubo's mother, Lady Kookiden, and others are no longer differentiated with honorific usages alone. The simplification of honorific usages correlates with a tendency toward more explicit mention of the characters. In Genji 5, honorifics do not play as significant a role as in earlier Genjis. In contrast to Genji 5, Genji 7 shows more conservative use of honorifics, reflecting the author's intent to indicate status differences in the characters, as an aid to understanding what is going on in the story. Honorifics divide the characters into four different status groups. Although this version tries to convey status differences with honorifics, it cannot do so as effectively as Genji 1 or 2, since some distinctive honorific forms, including the highest respect forms and various humble forms and honorific lexical items, are no longer in use in colloquial Japanese. The same honorifics have to be used for people with slightly different statuses. Yet Genji 7 uses additional devices, together with which honorific forms can suggest the identity of the emperor. For example, when there are lexical choices available, the respect form of a verb is always used. Thus, we find such words as oboshimesu '(RES) think' (vs. neutral omou 'think'), oosu '(RES) say' (vs. neutral yuu 'say') and asobasu '(RES) do' (vs. neutral suru 'do'). Also, the auxiliary of respect, tamau, is used only for the emperor's actions. (This morpheme is no longer commonly used in colloquial Japanese.) The honorific affix, o...ninaru, are used to describe the emperor's action in preference to verb forms with the respect morpheme, rare. Thus, for example, oiki-ninaru 'RES-go' appears if the actor is the emperor, but ikareru 'go-RES' is commonly used if the actor is Lady Kokiden or princes. The following examples will show some instances of respect forms used for the emperor. (49) sukoshi not-at-all

mo o-nemuri-ni-n-are-ζκ ichi-ya ο EMP RES-sleep-POT-NEG one-night ACC

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

123

akashikane-tamoota. cannot pass-RES—PAST '(The emperor) could not sleep a bit, and the night was long (lit. it was hard for him to pass the night).' (50) tsuneno wadai ni asobasu-no-deatta. usual topic as (RES) make-NOMI-COP '(The emperor) made it a usual topic.' VPs that decribe Kiritsubo's actions, on the other hand, do not always contain respect morphemes. In the following passage, the emperor's actions and Kiritsubo's contrast with respect to honorifics. (51) nioilcoboreru-yooni adeyakana hito ga sukkari fragrantly gorgeous person nom completely omoyasete shimijimito monoomoi ni shizumüri-nagara worn-out seriously thought in be-sunk-while kotobani-shite kore to wa kuchi ni-dasazu shootai in-words this Q TOP say- NEG existence mo nai arisama de EMP there-is-not condition MANNER kieiru-yooni-natte-iru no ο go-ran-ninaru to kako as-if-disappearing NOMI ACC RES-see when past mo mirai mo isshun-ni tobisatteshimau yoode EMP future EMP in-a-moment as-if-fly-away seem tada aru-kagiri no kotoba ni chikai ο komete merely available ASSOC words in vow ACC with

124

Explicit and implicit subjects nakunaku mimimoto ni o-hanashikake-ni-naru-ferideftu? weepingly ear to RES-tell-although o-kotae mo manzokuni wa mooshiage-rare-nai. RES-reply even satisfactorily TOP (HUM) cannot-say 'When (the emperor) saw that the person with gorgeous beauty was completely wom out and was sunk in serious thought and yet could not say it in words and she was as if disappearing, (he) felt that (he) was losing the past and future. (He) talked to her and wept and promised various things. However, (Kiritsubo) cannot even reply satisfactorily.'

Here the use/non-use of honorifics distinguishes which actions are Kiritsubo's and which are the emperor's. Kiritsubo's actions are not expressed with respect forms; the emperor's actions are. When Kiritsubo is the actor, and the emperor is the recipient of the action, humble forms such as mooshiageru '(HUM) say' are used. Similarly, in scenes where the emperor interacts with characters having much lower status, such as Myoobu and other people who serve him, the subjects of sentences, even when implicit, can be easily identified through honorific morphemes in the VPs. Consequently, the degree to which subjects are implicit increases in Genji 7 compared with Genji 5, since honorifics serve as powerful indicators of referents.

4.4.3. The length of the sentence and cohesion In a study of spoken discourse, Chafe (1980) states that the sequence of information units which ends with a distinct falling intonation (which we usually associate with "the end of a sentence") often constitutes what grammarians would identify as a complete sentence. This unit, the sentence, represents the existence of some sort of cognitive entity which Chafe calls a center of interest. A center of interest is what makes it possible to allow several focuses to scan a certain amount of information, in order that all of it can be comprehended and acted on (1980:20-29). In his more recent study (1987), Chafe argues that although paragraphs signalled by pause in spoken marratives indicate cognitively determined units, representing major shifts in the

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

125

speaker's semi-active consciousness, sentences seem to belong to the category of phenomena which result from passing decisions regarding coherence and rhetorical effect, and are more independent of cognitive constraints. Tomlin (1987) convincingly demonstrates that referential choices are directly influenced by episode/paragraph boundaries, that nouns are used to reinstate a character after an episode boundary, and pronouns to maintain reference within an episode. The role of sentences with respect to referential choice is less clear, yet several studies note that this boundary can influence referential choice (e.g., Clancy 1980; Givön 1983; Chafe 1980). Example (21) suggests that by packing some information together inside a sentence, one can make a topic continuous and consequently can use zero anaphora to identify the topic. Clancy (1980) notes that in both English and Japanese the occurrence of a sentence boundary elicits a higher frequency of noun phrases, and that sentential boundaries are often accompanied by a switchfromthe inexplicit indication of a referent to a nominal reference (1980:143). The fact that switch-reference indicators in many languages behave within a sentence but not intersententially also seems to suggest that a sentence boundary represents some significant cognitive boundary. However, the question of sentence vs. paragraph is an interesting and complicated problem. In the original work of Genji 1, although sentence boundaries are indicated by the conjugation of a predicate, there is no paragraph division, since written works of these days usually did not mark paragraph boundaries (although the annotated version used in this study marks paragraph boundaries according to the conventions of writing in present-day Japanese). Subjective judgment in assigning paragraph boundaries is suggested by variations observed in the place where paragraph boundaries are placed in various annotated works of Genji 1. In Genjis 1 and 2, some sentences are extremely long, with many clause chains, and are almost equivalent to paragraphs in present-day Japanese. This suggests that the concept of sentence differs in earlier Genji's from that in contemporary writing. Because of the above complication, I take a boundary that is overtly identifiable and examine the correlation between the degree of explicit/implicit subjects and sentence length. My hypothesis is that a text containing sentences with long clause chains allows more implicit subjects because information within sentences is cohesively packaged. It seems that when a particular piece of information is divided into several

126

Explicit and implicit subjects

sentences, subjects may become more explicit than when the same information is packaged into a single sentence, since cohesion is broken by sentence boundaries. Compare (52) from Genji 5 and (53) from Genji 7. The same episode is described with three sentences in example (52), while in (53) it is packed into one sentence. Notice that the sentence in (53) makes the event a more closely related and cohesive unit in which the topic, Kiritsubo, is continuously and implicitly referred to. (52) haha no miboojin wa nakunaku ohima ο negatte mother ASSOC widow TOP weepingly leave ACC asked kitaku-saseru koto ni shita. go-home-CAU made Konna baai ni wa mata donna juso this-kind-of occasion in TOP also what-kind-of prayer ga okonawareru-kamoshirenai. NOM carry on-PASS-may Ooji ni made wazawai ο oyoboshite wa to no prince to even misfortune ACC bring TOP Q ASSOC kokoro-zukai kara ooji dake ο kyuuchuu worry from prince only ACC inside-of-palace ni todomete medatanu-yooni miyasudokoro dake keep privately emperor's lover only ga taishutsu-suru-nodeatta. NOM leave-cop-PAST ' Kiritsubo's mother, the widow, tearfully pleaded with (the emperor) and was allowed to let (Kiritsubo) go home. In this kind of occasion, it is not known what kind of prayer is going to succeed. Thinking of avoiding bringing misfortune on

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

127

the prince, Kiritsubo, leaving the prince inside the palace, only the emperor's lover (=Kiritsubo) quietly left.' (Genji 5) (53) sokode hahagimi kara nakunaku onegai-mooshiagete therefore mother-RESfrom weepingiy plead-(HUM)-and sato e tsure-kaeru koto ni shita ga kooshita home to bring decided but this-kind-of ori ni mo omoimokakenu haji nado occasion in also unexpected shame and-so-on ataerareru koto ga attewanaranu to yoojinshite be-given that NOM must-not-exist Q be-cautious miko yva gosho ni o-todome-mooshite-oki shinobide prince TOP palace in (HUM)-keep privately taishutsusuru-kotoninatta is-decided-to-leave 'Therefore, weeping (her) mother pleaded with (the emperor) and was allowed to let (Kiritsubo) go home, however even in this kind of occasion, (Kiritsubo) was concerned that any unexpected shame should not be given to the prince, and hence (she) was going to leave quietly.' (Genji 7) Although Kiritsubo is mentioned explicitly in the last sentence of (52), she is indicated inexplicitly throughout (53). Table 9 expresses the number of sentences in the first 400 clauses in Genjis 1,2, 5, and 7. The number of sentences is greatest in Genji 5. It contrasts with Genji 2, which has sentences with long clause chains. Figures 5 and 6 compare the number of sentences in the texts and explicitness/ implicitness of subject. These two figures do not show a perfect correlation, since the number of sentences is much smaller in Genji 2 than in Genji 1, although Genji 2 has

128

Explicit and implicit subjects

Table 9: The number of sentences Genji Number

1 158

2

5 182

104

7 156

20-10--

0 Genji 1

+

+

Genji 2

Genji 5

1 Genji 7

Figure 5: The degree to which subjects are expressed explicitly No.

Genji 1

Genji 2

Genji 5

Figure 6: Increase/decrease of the number of sentences

Genji 7

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

129

a slightly higher degree of explicitness in subjects. Still, in Genjis 1, 5, and 7, the number of sentences and the percentage of explicit subjects show a similar pattern. Hence, length of sentences seems to be a potential strong factor, although this relationship cannot be said to be as strong as that between paragraph/episode boundaries and referential choice (Tomlin 1987).

4.4.4. Switch-reference Genjis 1 and 2 are characterized by long clause chains. In these long sentences, both background and foreground information are often packaged together. Sentences, describing a single event, may center around one particular character or may involve a shift of focus from one character to another, often accompanied by a shift from one event to another. In the latter case, subjects referring to different characters are rather freely switched with zero anaphora. Therefore, in these texts the use of zero anaphora does not necessarily observe the equi-subject constraint as it does in English (e.g. In the sentence, "John hit the dog and ran away," the subject of the second clause has to be John). Observe the following example from Genji 1. (54) a.

b.

oboe ito yamgotonaku reputation very high '(Kiritsubo) had a good reputation' joozumekashikeredo look-refined 'and looked noble and refined, but'

c.

warinaku

matsuwasase-tamafu

amarini

thoughtlessly be-around-CAU-RES since 'since (the emperor) thoughtlessly kept (her) around all the time and' d. sarubeki ohon-asobi no oriori nanigoto-ni-mo good/suitable RES-play ASSOC times whatever

130

Explicit and implicit subjects yue aru koto reason there-is thing

no fushibushi ASSOC occasions

ni wa at TOP

mazu moo-noborase-tamahi first-of-all make-(her)-come-RES 'at the time of play or under any other pretext (he) invited (her) before anyone else, (and)' e. aru toki ni wa ootonogomori-sugushite yagate one time at TOP (RES) sleep-in and-then saburaha-se-tamahi nado anagachini stay-CAU-RES and-so-on forcefully omaesarazu motenas-ase-tamahishi hodio-ni without-leaving (the emperor) serve-CAU-RES since 'sometimes (he) slept late and kept (her) with him—and in this manner (he) kept her around all the time, and therefore' f.

onozukara karoki kata ni mo mieshi wo naturally lower-status person(RES) as Ε MP looked but (she) naturally looked like a person of lower status, but

g. Icono miko umare-tamahite nochi wa ito kofcoro this child born-RES after TOP very mind kotoni omohoshi-okite-tare-ba differently (RES)treat-PREF-since ' after this child was born, (the emperor) treated (Kiritsubo) differently and therefore'

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

131

h. boo ni mo yoosezu-ba kono crown-prince EMP if-it-doesn't-go-well this miko no

i-tamafu-beki-nameri

to ichi no

child ASSOC situate-RES-should-seem Q

first ASSOC

miko-no-nyoogo wa obohoshi-utagaheri. child's-lady/mother TOP RES-worried 'the mother of the first prince worried that if things went wrong, this child (=Genji) might become the crown prince.' In this sentence, both the emperor and Kiritsubo implicitly alternate as subject of a clause. The subject of (54b) is Kiritsubo, but that of (54c) is the emperor, who remains the subject in (54c)-(54e), until the subject switches to Kiritsubo in (54f). At (54g) it switches again to the emperor, without overt mention of him. This kind of implicit switch in subject is common in Genji 1. Akiba (1977) argues that this kind of implicit switch of reference is possible because conjunctions such as te, ba, wo and ni signal whether the succeeding clause has the same subject or not. That is, Old Japanese has a switch-reference system. Switch-reference, a term first introduced by Jacobsen (1967) in reference to languages of the Hokan-Coahuiltecan, is widely recognized in American Indian languages, and in languages of Australia, New Guinea, and Africa, as a powerful device of referential tracking (Jacobsen 1983; Munro 1983; Dixson 1980; Olson 1978; Comrie 1983; Haiman 1983). Although switch-reference has not been widely discussed with respect to Japanese, except in Akiba (1977,1978), the morphemes in question share considerable similarities with those that are recognized as switchreference markers in other languages. Switch-reference is found predominantly in verb final languages, which entails that the switch-reference morphemes, as well as other indicators of subordination, will be suffixed to the verb and at the same time be final in the clause. Markers of switchreference are usually verbal affixes or conjunctions, which may or may not carry other meanings in addition (Jacobsen 1983; Haiman & Munro 1983). Switch-reference markers in Old Japanese share similarities with other switch-reference markers in

132

Explicit and implicit subjects

terms of their origin. Below, I will first briefly discuss verb forms in subordinate clauses and the behavior of the markers in question. Then I will examine the functions of the markers and related conjunctions in different versions of Genji texts, to assess the power of the markers with respect to referential tracking. In a compound sentence of Old Japanese, the verb occurs in non-final form in all clauses but the last, and clauses are conjoined either with or without a conjunctive particle. Verbs in Japanese are subcategorized into several types, according to their conjugational pattern. Verb inflections of representative verb types in classical Japanese are shown in Table 10. Most verbs belong to either Type I or Type II. Minor types and irregular verbs are not considered here. Table 10: Verb inflections in classical Japanese

e.g stem A negative non-past (-zu) tentative (-mu) Β conjunctive C sentence-final D noun-modifying, attributive Ε perfect F imperative

Type I (yodan)

Type II (shimo-ni-dan)

kaku 'to write' kak

uku 'receive' uk

kak-a- (zu) kak-a- (mu) kak-i- (keri) kak-u kak-u

uk-e-(zu) uk-e- (mu) uk-e- (keri) uk-u uk-uru

kak-e- (ba) kak-e

uk-ure- (ba) uk-e- (yo)

A forms, indicating that the action or the event expressed by the verb has not been realized, typically occur before a negative or future tense morpheme. Β forms, conjunctive forms, are followed by an auxiliary such as an honorific, or by an auxiliary of tense and aspect, or by another verb. C forms are sentence-ending forms and D forms are used when an NP follows. This form can, under some conditions, act as a

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

133

conclusive form, namely, when it is preceded in a clause by certain emphatic particles such as 20 and ya. Ε forms indicate that the action or event expressed by the verb has been realized. F forms are imperatives. The following examples from Genji 1 will illustrate these conjugational patterns. (55) (A form) yo no oboe hanayaka-naru on-katagata world ASSOC reputation excellent-COP RES-(RES)people ni mo otorazu to EMP be-inferior-NEG 'without being inferior to people with excellent reputation...' (56) (B form) nanigoto no gishiki ο mo motenashi-tamahi-kere-do any-kind of ceremony ACC EMP handle-RES-PAST-CJ '(she) handled any kind of ceremonies, however...' (57) (C form) arisama ο

kikoshimesu.

condition ACC (RES) hear '(the emperor) asks the condition (of the prince).' (58) (D form) tsune yori mo oboshiizuru koto ookute usual than even (RES) remember thing many-CJ 'what (the emperor) remembers about her are many...' (59) (E form) ito

kooshi mo mieji

to

truly like-this EMP will-not-look Q

oboshishizumure-io (RES) calm-down-CJ

'thinking, "I won't be seen (that I'm sunk in sadness) this way...," (the emperor) tries to calm down but...'

134

Explicit and implicit subjects

(60) (Fform) naho shibashi kokoromiyo still for-a-while see-what-happens 'See what happens for a while.' In (55), the verb otoru 'be inferior to' is followed by the negative zu. In (56), the verb motenasu 'handle' is followed by the secondary verb tamafu 'RES', and therefore motenasu is in Β form. In (57), kikoshimesu 'hear (RES)' comes at the end of the sentence, and hence it is in the sentence-final form. In (58), the verb oboshiizuru 'remember' is followed by the noun koto 'thing' and therefore the verb is in D form. In (59), the verb oboshiizuru is in Ε form (=the perfect form) and the form of the verb indicates that the action has been realized. In (60), kokoromiyo is the imperative form of the verb kokoromiru 'see what happens'.

4.4.4.1. Switch-reference of conjunctions in Genji 1 In Genji 1, the major conjunctive morphemes observed are te, ni, wo,ba,do, and tsutsu. How these conjunctive morphemes and zero conjunction occur with various non-final forms of a verb is shown below. Adjectives and auxiliaries also follow the same pattern. (61)

Form A Β C D Ε

Type I stem-astenwstem-ustem-Mstem-e-

Typell stem-estem-estem-ustem-urustem-ure-

conjunctive particles !-ba (in the sense of ' i f ) / 0 , -te, -tsutsu / in sentence final position / -ni, -wc !-ba (in the sense of 'since'), -do

Traditional Japanese grammarians classify these morphemes in terms of semantic differences, as summarized below (Iwanami kogo jiten 1983; Nakata 1971).

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects -te -tsutsu

135

expresses sequentiality of two events 1. expresses a paratactic relationship, "while...,...' 2. expresses repeated actions

-ba

-ni

3. expresses continuation of an event or state; "X is ...ing..." 1. expresses conditional meaning; "if..." 2. expresses cause-effect relationship; "since " 3. expresses condition and result relationship ; "when..., then..." in "X ni Υ," X gives background information for Υ. "X and therefore Υ," "X but Υ," "X and then Y," and so on.

-wo

wo carries similar meanings to ni. Ni developed from the oblique case marker ni, which often expresses time and location. The conjunctive particle, -wo, developed from the object marker, wo. Therefore, the conjunctive particle -ni often expresses the meaning of "when X then..." or "where X there...," and -wo of "X and although X" (Nakata, 1971:270).

-do

"X do Y" emphasizes on adversative cause-result relationship such as "although...,..." and "despite...,..."

However, Akiba (1977) argues that there are many cases in which semantic classification does not match or explain the occurrence of these particles, and that these conjunctions are better characterized as switch-reference markers, namely te signaling retention of the subject; and ba, wo and ni, switch of the subject However, the Japanese grammarian, Nakata (1971), explains the morphemes according to their semantic differences: he notes that subject often changes after conjunction, but he does not pursue this, probably because he did not have access to the notion of switchreference. In Genji 1, there are many instances where the use of conjunctions matches Akiba's explanations. In sentence (62), we observe subject switch after m, wo, and ba. (62) a.

anagachini

omae-sarazu

by-force

without-leaving (the emperor)

motenas-ase-tamahi-shi serve-CAU-RES-PAST

hodo-m while-CJ

136

Explicit and implicit subjects ' (the emperor) forced (Kiritsubo) to serve (him) all the time and gradually..' b. onozukara karoki-kata ni mo nueshi-wo naturally lower-status-(RES) person as even looked-CJ 'naturally (Kiritsubo) looked as if (she) was a person of lower status, but...' c. kono miko umarete nochi ha ito kokoro this child was-born after TOP very mind kotoni omohoshi-okite-tare-ba. differently (RES)-treat-PERF-CJ 'after this child was born, (the emperor) treated (Kiritsubo) differently and therefore...' d. (1) boo ni mo yoosezu-ba. Tooguuboo(=crown prince) to EMP if-it-is-not-good 'For the crown prince, if (things) don't go well,' (2) kono miko no i-tamafu-beki-nameri this child ASSOC stay-RES-CONJ-seem 'this child may become." (3)to ichi-no-miko no nyoogo wa obohoshi-utagaheri Q the-first-child ASSOC lady TOP RES- worry 'the mother of the first child worried.'

Also, the following example shows that the subject in the succeeding clause is the same after te. (63) a. itsushika to kokoro-motonagara-se-tamahi-tt when Q look-forward-to-RES-RES '(The emperor) looks forward to (seeing the baby), thinking, "when it will be?" and'

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects b.

137

isogi-mair-ase-te in-a-hurry-make (them) come-CJ '(the emperor) makes (them=Kiritsubo and the baby) come rightaway, and'

c.

go-ranzuru-m RES-see-and-CJ '(the emperor) sees (the baby), and then'

d. mezuraka-naru rare-COP

chigo no

on-katachi-nari.

baby ASSOC RES-appearance-cop

'(the baby's appearance) is the appearance of an unusually beautiful baby.' Table 11 shows, with respect to switch-reference, a quantitative analysis of conjunctions that appear in the first400 clauses of Genji 1. As the table indicates, the function of retention or switch of subject referent is not a matter of 100%, and is weaker than is claimed by Akiba (1977). Table 11: Switch-reference function of conjunctive particles in Genji 1 Particles

Number of occurrences

-Φ -te -tsutsu -ni -wo -ba -do

37 62 11 23 24 35 14

Retention of subject Number % 23 44 8 5 3 2 4

Switch of subject Number %

62.2

14

37.8

71.0 72.7

18

29.0

3

27.3

21.7

18 21

78.3 87.5 94.3 71.4

12.5 5.7 28.6

33 10

Ba shows a strong tendency to switch the subject, and wo, ni, do, a slightly weaker tendency to switch the subject. Te, tsutsu, and zero indicate a tendency to retain the subject. Now let us look at the use of these conjunctive particles a little more closely. When clauses are conjoined only with Β form (conjunctive form) of a verb, we

138

Explicit and implicit subjects

observe the following: 1) if the second clause has an implicit subject, as a general principle, there is no switch; 2) if it is different, it is explicitly mentioned. Following are typical examples of clauses connected by zero conjunction. (64) a.

go-ranji-hajimeshi RES-began-to-see

toshitsuki time

no koto sähe ASSOC thing even

kakiatsume gather

'(The emperor) remembers all the things about the time when (he) started seeing (her) and' b. yorozuni always

obohoshi-tsuzuke-rare-te (RES) continue-to-think-RES-and

'(he) continues to think about it, and..." (65) a.

otoshime kizu criticize

wo

motome-tamafu hito

weakness ACC seek-RES

ha

ohoku

person TOP many

'The people who criticize (Kiritsubo) and seek weaknesses (in her) are many and' b. wa-ga-mi oneself

ha kayowaku TOP fragile

'she herself is fragile and ' c.

mono-hakanaki

arisama-ni-te

helpless

appearance-and

'(she) looks helpless, and ' Notice how, in these examples, clauses that are connected without conjunctions have the same subjects, if subjects are implicit There are two types of environment in which the subjects of the two clauses connected by zero conjunction may be different while that of the second clause remains implicit One is where the higher thematic reference of the two clauses is the same, even though the two clauses have a different subject, or the subjects of the two clauses are related. For example, although the subjects of (66b) and (66c) are not identical, they are related, (66b) talking about others' support, and (66c) about others.

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

139

In these cases the related subjects are treated as the "same." (66) a. Ichi-no miko wa udaijin no first (RES)child TOP ASSOC

nyoogo daughter

no ASSOC

on-hara-ni-te RES-abdomen-SOURCE-CJ 'The first prince is a child of Udaijin's daughter' b. yose support/expectation

omoku heavy

'others' support and expectation is considerable' c.

utagahinaki mauke-no-kimi to yo ni no-doubt crown-prince Q world LOC motekashizuki-kikoyure-do value-HUM-CJ 'people treasure him as a person who will undoubtedly

become the

crown prince.' The use of te also obeys the same constraint The second environment in which two clauses connected with a particle may have different subjects and yet the subject of the second clause remain implicit includes instances in which the subject of the second clause is usually implicit no matter where it appears in the discourse, particularly in expressions of time, weather, situation, and general perspective. The above phenomena are also observed for te and tsutsu. These two particles also tend to connect two clauses which have the same subject; the subject of the second clause is typically likely to be implicit. There are 44 occurrences of te after which the subject stays the same, and in 43 cases out of these 44 the subject of the second clause is implicit. In the one case where there is explicit mention of a corcferential NP, the

140

Explicit and implicit subjects

NP is marked by the emphatic discourse particle, mo. The particles ni, wo, ba, and do show an opposite tendency to te, tsutsu, and zero conjunction, and they tend to signal the switch of the subject in the next clause, as we have observed in example (62). The switch-reference function of these conjunctions observed in Genji 1 is not as strong as Akiba (1977) claims. She states that, in Taketori monogatari 'The Tale of a Bamboo Collector', the particle te signals the same subject 94% of the time. On the other hand, in Genji 1, te retains the subject only 71 % of the time. If we include those instances where the two clauses have the same thematic reference, while having different subjects as cases of retention of subject, then the percentage rises to 78.4% for the zero conjunction and 82.3% for te.6 Still, these figures show a weaker tendency than indicated in Akiba's study. The discrepancy may stem from the time gap between Taketori monogatari (tenth century) and Genji monogatari (eleventh century). I suspect that during this time period, the switch-reference function of the conjunctive morphemes weakened somewhat. In Genji 1, there are cases in which the occurrence of these particles cannot be explained by appealing to switch-reference alone. These cases seems to require a semantic explanation. In the following examples, for instance, the use of the particles te and ni cannot simply be explained by stating that te retains the subject while ni switches iL (67) a. fumi-hajime nado se-sase-tamahi-te reading-and-writing-start and-so-on do-RES-RES-and '(the emperor) carried out the ceremony for the beginning of the study of reading and writing, and then...' b. yo-ni-shirazu satoo kashikoku-ohasure-ba exceptionally intelligent bright-(RES) COP-CJ '(the prince) is exceptionally intelligent and bright and therefore...' (68) a. kieiri-tsutsu mono-shi-tamafu wo go-ranzuru-ni disappearing behave-RES ACC RES-see-CJ '(the emperor) sees that (Kiritsubo) was losing her consciousness, and then'

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

141

b. Jdshikata ikusue obohoshimes-are-zu past future realize-POT-NEG '(he) could not think of his past and future...' Te is used in (67) because two events, (67a) and (67b), are in a sequential order: when the emperor initiated the ceremony of the first learning for the prince (Genji) and when Genji started leaning how to read and write, it surfaced that he was exceptionally intelligent and bright. (68a) and (68b) have a cause and effect relationship. The emperor became unable to think calmly, since he saw that Kirilsubo was becoming unconscious. The particle ni expresses this cause and effect relationship. Thus, in these cases it seems that discourse-structural meaning outweighs switchreference. It has been discussed how switch-reference markers in various languages may or may not carry other meanings or nuances, and that they may develop secondary meaning (Jacobsen 1967, Jacobsen 1983, Munro 1983). I suspect this is partly due to the origin of switch-reference markers, since there are various possibilities for their sources, such as deictics, case markers, and temporal successive markers (Haiman & Munro 1983; Jacobsen 1983). In this light, it is not unusual that the switch-reference markers in Old Japanese have other meanings (or the original meaning?) and that the switch-reference function shows conflict. From a semantic point of view, we can make the following generalizations. The conjunctions that give equal weight to the two clauses tend to retain the subject (e.g., te conveys that the two events occurred in sequence, and tsutsu expresses that two events are occurring at the same time; an action is repeated or is continuous). On the other hand, two clauses that indicate a cause-effect relationship or in which the first clause conveys background information for the second, tend to have a different subject. It may be that, in actual language use, temporal sequentiality is more likely to be perceived if the actions involved are by the same actor, and this tendency is reflected in te's tendency to retain the subject. This phenomenon may be observed in the use of conjunctive particles in colloquial Japanese, too—where two clauses connected with te, for example, are likely to have the same subject, and those connected with ga 'but', or node 'since', a tendency to have different subjects. It is interesting to note that, in Guanano for example, markers of retention of subject originate as temporal successive markers (Haiman & Munro 1983:xiv).

142

Explicit and implicit subjects

As for the origin of the switch-reference markers in Old Japanese, it is generally accepted that conjunctions wo and ni, which signal the switch of a referent, originate as case particles wo (accusative) and ni (oblique) respectively (Nakata 1971: 270; Iwanami kogo jiten 1983, Akiba 1977). One evidence of this is that both the case particles wo and ni and the conjunctive particles wo and ni follow the same verb inflectional form of the verb, i.e., the attributive D form. The occurrence of wo and ni as conjunctive particles is already observable in the literature of the ninth century. However, whether these particles were functioning as case particles or as conjunctive particles was not always transparent, and, as observed for other changes in the language (e.g. the use of no and ga), there was a stage at which either interpretation was possible. S uch instances are found in literature of the ninth to fourteenth centuries (Nakata 1971: 270). Akiba (1977) suggests that the case particles wo and ni developed into conjunctive particles through a process of reinterpretation. In some contexts, the case particles wo and ni may be interpreted as conjunctive particles. Let us look at an example from Genji 1. (69) ito atsushiku-nariyuki mono-kokoro-bosogeni very seriously-ill-become helplessly satogachi-naru-wo iyoiyo akazu tend-to-be-back-home-ACC more-and-more moreover ahare-naru-mono

ni obohoshi-te

pitifiil-person

as (RES) think-CJ

1. '...(the emperor) thought of (Kiritsubo who) became seriously ill and helplessly tended to be back home more and more pitiful.' 2. '...(Kiritsubo) became very seriously ill and tended to stay home helplessly, and therefore (the emperor) thought of (her) as a pitiful person even more.' The particle wo in (69) is widely interpreted as a direct object marker (Shirako 1965:1; Iwanami kogo jiten 1958:27), and thus used in meaning 1 of the two translations. The part, ito atsushiku-nariyuki mono kokoro-bosogeni sato-gachi-naru

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

143

'(Kiritsubo who) became very seriously ill and tended to stay back home in a helpless manner' is considered to be the object, and the subject of the sentence is the emperor, who is implicit. Notice that the object is a zero noun NP in which the head noun, Kiritsubo, is implicit and only the relative clause is explicitly stated. Such zero noun NPs are very common in Genji 1. Zero noun NPs are those whose head noun is not expressed explicitly, and which end with the attributive form of the verbals. Whether the participial form is an NP or a VP is determined from the relationship with other elements, especially those which immediately precede or follow. Wo in sentence (69) can also be interpreted as a conjunctive particle (S hirako also points out this possibility 1965:5), in which case the meaning of the sentence is as in translation 2. In this case, sentence (69) is considered to consist of two clauses. The subject of thefirstclause is Kiritsubo (who is the object of a different verb in the first interpretation), while the subject of the second clause is the emperor. Thus, in this interpretation there are two clauses and the two clauses have different subjects. (69) is an example where the particle wo is ambiguous. This ambiguity still remains, even when we consider the sentence in context. Ambiguous sentences such as (69) suggest that some sentences with the direct object marker wo came to be reinterpreted as sentences having two clauses (with wo a conjunctive particle), since the latter interpretation also fits the context perfectly. The common use of zero noun NPs and the phenomenon of implicit NPs accelerated the reinterpretation process. In example (69), if the head noun Kiritsubo in the object NP were explicit, there would be no way to interpret the wo as a conjunctive particle. Zero noun NPs make the sentence obliquely suggestive, but at the same time obscure the structural relationships. Probably, the structural ambiguity was not a handicap, since the message got across as intended. Rather, looseness in the structure is one of the beauties of Genji 1. As reinterpretation took place, wo came to be understood as a conjunctive particle. In Genji 1, however, some of the sentences in which wo is usually understood as a conjunctive particle still contain some ambiguity withrespectto the status of wo. For example, (70) onozukara karoki -kata ni mo mieshi-v/o naturally lower-status-(RES) person as EMPlooked-CJ

144

Explicit and implicit subjects kono miko umare-tamahi te nochi ha ito kokoro this child be-born-RES CJ after TOP very mind kotoni obohoshi-okite-tare-ba differently RES- treat- PERF-CJ '(Kiritsubo) naturally looked a person of lower status, however after this child was bom, (the emperor) treated her very differently and therefore...'

Although wo after onozukara karoki-kata ni mo mieshi 'naturally looked like a person of lower status* is usually understood as a conjunction, it is still possible to interpret it as an accusative marker, so that the object of the sentence is '(Kiritsubo) who naturally looked like a person of lower status.' When sentences such as this are considered to have two clauses, the second clause naturally has a different subject from the first It is probable that, through the same process, the oblique marker ni also developed as a conjunctive particle,7 and that for thisreasonthe two clauses connected with ni tend to have different subjects. This kind of explanation, based on functional change, is not applicable to ba. This conjunctive particle is taken as having developed from a discourse particle, ha (=wa in colloquial Japanese) (Nakata 1971; Iwanami kogo jiten). In earlier days, the Ε form of a verb (in Table 10) alone could express the meaning that the action expressed by the verb was perfected. Therefore, the particle ha was attached for the sake of emphasis or contrast. Then the particle underwent the phonological change, ha>ba.% Although the origin of the conjunctions discussed above is not as clear as we might hope, it seems that they do function as reliable devices to identify an implicit NP in Genji 1.

4.4.4.2.

Switch-reference of conjunctions in Genjis 2, 5, and 7

Genji 2 also belongs to classical Japanese, and therefore the way that conjunctions are attached to verbals is the same as in Genji 1. The conjunctions observed are also basically the same, and, with respect to their switch-reference function, they show a tendency very similar to that of conjunctions in Genji 1. In general, the switch ref-

Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects

145

erence of conjunctive particles in Genji 2 is as strong as that in Genji 1. There are differences between Genjis 1 and 2, however, in the use of particles. In Genji 2, ο does not appear as often as wo in Genji 1 (wo underwent a phonological change and had become ο by the time of Genji 2). On the other hand, ba and ni are Table 12: Switch reference function of conjunctive particles in Genji 2 Particles

Number of occurrences

Retention of subject Number %

Switch of subject Number %

-ba

54

9

16.7

45

-te -ni

78 43 31

63 15 27

80.8 34.9 87.1

15 28 4

13 10

12

92.3

1

3

30.0

7

7.7 70.0

10 8

3

30.0

7

70.0

0 4

0 50.0

8 4

100.0

-Φ -tsutsu -do -domo -0 -nagara

8

83.3 19.2 65.1 12.9

50.0

more frequently observed in Genji 2. One of the differences that may particluarly concern us here is that in Genji 2 particles such as nagara and domo, which seldom appear in Genji 1, are used more often without a strong tendency to switch/retain the subject. This fact weakens the overall effect of the switch reference function of conjunctive particles in Genji 2. Compared with Genjis 1 and 2, conjunctive particles in Genji 5 show a much weaker function of signaling, whether the subject in the succeeding clause is the same or not. In Genji 5, more varieties of conjunctive particles appear, major among them being: 0, te, to, tomo, ga, kara, ni, temo, tara, node, nagara, and ba. Among these particles, the ones that occur more than ten times each are 0, te, ga, and Icara, whose meanings correspond to English 'and', 'and', 'but', and 'because' respectively. Table 13 shows how they behave in terms of the switch-reference function. Although ga and kara indicate a strong tendency to switch the subject, the degree to which 0 and te signal the retention of the subject is not very strong. Furthermore, conjunctions in Genji 5

146

Explicit and implicit subjects

are less concentrated than in Genjis 1 and 2, and some conjunctions of minor occurrence are unpredictable in terms of the switch-reference function; so, for identifying implicit subjects, conjunctions (in general) in Genji 5 are not as reliable as in Genjis 1 or 2. Table 13: Switch-reference function of conjunctive particles in Genji 5 Particles

-te -ga -kara -Φ

Number of occurrences 71 33 17 12

Retention of subject Number % 58 81.7 15.2 5 1 5.9 41.7 5

Switch of subject Number % 13 18.3 28 84.8 94.1 16 7 58.3

For Genji 7, conjunctions that appear more than ten times, and their switchreference tendencies, are shown in Table 14. Compared with Genji 5, conjunctions other than temo show a stronger tendency to either switch or retain the subject. Clauses conjoined with te and 0 are likely to have the same subject, and those connected with ga 'but', to 'when, and then' and node 'since' tend to have different subjects. This is also consistent with the semantic generalization I presented earlier clause pairs having a sequential relationship are more likely to have the same subject, while those in which the first clause describes background information tend to have different subjects. As in Genji 5, however, Genji 7 has several other clause connectors, such as shi 'and also', ba ' i f , and monono 'although'. These appear rather infrequently, and do not show very strong tendencies one way or the other in the switch-reference function. Although each of these particles occurs rather infrequently, their impact cannot be ignored when we consider the switch-reference function. The overall effectiveness of conjunctive particles as switch-reference indicators is stronger in classical Japanese than in the modem colloquial language.

Summary

147

Table 14: Switch-reference function of conjunctive particles in Genji 7 Particles

Number of

Retention of

Switch of

occurrences

subject

subject

Number

%

Number

%

-te

60

51

85.0

9

15.0

-ga

20

3

15.0

17

85.0

-node

16

2

12.5

14

87.5

-0

14

11

78.6

3

21.4

-temo

13

8

61.5

5

38.5

-to

10

2

20.0

8

80.0

4.5. Summary Subjects are more often explicit in Genjis 4 and 5 than in other Genjis. These Genjis were written when contact with Western languages was most intense, the Japanese language receiving influences of various kinds from them. Genji 4 was written in the transition period (1914), and Genji 5 was written relatively soon after (1936). Considering various discourse factors that ;o-occur with explicit/implicit representation of subjects, it is considered that the inlluence of Western languages is most strongly reflected in the transition period and the period right after it, rather than in the 1970s or the 1980s. Genjis that were written in the 1970s show a more completely digested phenomenon, in which traditional rhetorical style and modern westernized style are mixed. Textbook analysis also shows a slight increase in the explicit manifestation of subjects following the strong influence of Western languages. Language internally, the examination of several discourse factors has revealed that, at the time Genji 1 was written, the language was equipped with more means to indicate subject implicitly, namely elaborate honorifics and switch-reference. The concept of sentences was also different then. Sentence length is one of the phenomena overtly discussed at the time of modernization of the language (Fujii 1984:682-684), and shortening of sentences also relates to the manifestation of subjects. Because of these internal changes, it takes manipulation on the part of the writer to make

148

Explicit and implicit subjects

contemporary Genji as oblique as Genji 1. In fact, in Genji 6 we observe how an unconscious (or conscious) effort on the part of the writer to recreate Genji 1 results in old-fashioned honorific lexicons and usages, long sentences, and a high degree of implicit reference. In this chapter, implicitness of subject was also related to various discourse and structural factors. Thematic information, shared knowledge between the writer and the reader, and knowledge concerning the structure, i.e. surface structure frame as well as semantic information within a sentence, all relate to implicit mention of subjects. In relation to these factors, it was shown that: (1) the use of honorifics has a strong correlation with implicitness in subjects, and that the more elaborately honorific forms differentiate the identity of characters, the less explicitly subjects tend to be expressed; (2) the length of sentences can also strongly affect whether subjects are implicit; (3) the switch-reference function of conjunctions is a powerful indicator of subject referent in classical Japanese, although it is weakened in modern Japanese. Although in Genji 1 only six types of conjunctions, showing semantic overlap with each other, have switch-reference function, in later Genjis we find that conjunctions developed an elaborate system in which many more conjunctions have distinct meaning from each other. The interplay of different discourse factors is expected to complicate the conditioning of implicit subjects. In Genji 1, all the discourse factors examined tended to encourage implicit manifestation of subjects. In contrast, in Genji 5, the use of honorifics, the length of sentences, and the switch-reference function of conjunctions, lead to a more explicit mention of subjects than in Genji 1. In Genji 7, subjects are more often implicit than in Genji 5, and this can be related to the fact that honorifics are more elaborate and sentences longer in Genji 7. In Genji 2, cohesiveness in long sentences may compensate for the lesser effectiveness of honorifics and the switchreference of conjunctions in signaling the identity of different characters. Through the examination of different discourse factors and their relation to the degree of explicit/implicit subjects, it becomes apparent that changes in the explicit/ implicit manifestation of subjects in a series of Genji texts cannot be explained from the external influence of Western languages alone; internal discourse factors and change have to be taken into consideration. Genji 5' s higher degree of explicitness of subject is accompanied by other characteristics of the modernization of the language, such as the simplification of honorific usages, the shortening of sentences, and so on.

Summary

149

These characteristics highlight Japan's change from a feudalistic society to a modern one. Thus, Genji 5 reflects the author's conscious effort to modernize the language. This chapter confirms that sources (and motives) of language change are very complex.

Chapter 5 Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

This chapter examines the use of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions, and changes in the frequency of passive constructions. As discussed in Chapter 1, previous studies have claimed that the use of inanimate subjects was limited to intransitive and equative sentences (e.g. ki ga taoreta 'the tree fell down', kaze gafuku 'the wind blows') before intensive contact with Western languages, which started at the end of the nineteenth century. After contact, however, inanimate subjects started appearing in transitive, passive, and causative constructions (Inui 1974; Umegaki 1963; Miura 1979; Morioka 1972). Such new constructions presented inanimate subjects as if they had power to influence or to be influenced by human activities. That is, transitive sentences with inanimate subjects could metaphorically describe a situation as if inanimate objects or abstract ideas were agents having power to influence or control human activities, and passive sentences with inanimate subjects as if inanimate objects could be affected. These new sentence styles rhetorically coincided with the development of "personification." Since they capture certain situations in a very different and odd way, in light of the traditional Japanese view of nature and the world (where inanimate objects cannot be agents), these new types of sentences in particular drew the attention of Japanese linguists. This chapter examines: 1) whether the use of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions is only observed in Genjis written after the end of the nineteenth century (after Genji 4); and 2) whether these types of constructions have been increasingly employed in twentieth-century Genjis. Section 5.1 discusses the frequency of inanimate subjects in transitive constructions. Section 5.2 deals with passive constructions, demonstrating that the frequency of passives in discourse increases particularly in Genjis 4 and 5, and that inanimate subjects (as grammatical subjects) do not appear in passives before Genji 4. Section 5.3 presents evidence that the occurrence of causatives does not show any significant pattern of change across successive versions of the Genji.

152

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

5.1. Inanimate subjects with transitive verbs The occurrence of inanimate subjects in intransitive and equative constructions has been commonly observed in Japanese. Particularly in traditional poems called waka, where nature is often the theme or is used as a symbol of human emotions and activities, we find numerous examples of intransitive and equative sentences with inanimate subjects (Shibauchi & Takai 1967:64). Some traditional Japanese grammarians have observed, however, that inanimate subjects also appeared in transitive constructions following Japanese contact with Western languages (Shibauchi & Takai 1967:64; Inui 1974:13; Miura 1979:8). Miura remarks that although we may say asoko ni denwa ga aru There's a phone over there', denwa ga watashi ο okoshita 'The phone woke me up,' with denwa as the subject of the transitive verb, okosu' wake (some one) up' is un-Japanese. He states that denwa de me ga sameta Ί woke up because of the phone' would be the normal Japanese sentence (1979:8). Miura and others believe the appearance of inanimate subjects in transitive sentences to be due to the influence of rhetorical styles in English and other Western languages. However, this belief does not appear to be supported by data analysis. Here I can present some evidence from the Genji texts concerning the occurrence of inanimate subjects in transitive clauses. Table 15 suggests that transitive constructions with inanimate subjects are new types of sentences, having come into existence following contact with Western languages. Transitive sentences with an inanimate subject are not found in Genjis 1,2, and 3. Rather, such sentences are found most frequently in Genji 5, although they are still rare, and it is important to note that in later Genjis they become negligible in frequency. In general, among the twentieth-century versions, this type of construction is of an unusual style, lending a specific and novel flavor to the work. Table 15: The occurrence of inanimate subjects in transitive clauses Genji

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Number

0

0

0

1

5

0

1

0

The fact that, compared to later Genjis, Genji 5 shows a higher frequency of this new sentence type, shows a parallel to a tendency we observed when we examined

Passive constructions and inanimate subjects

153

the explicit mention of subjects. There, too, Genjis 4 and 5, containing a greater proportion of explicit subjects, show a more innovative style than do the Genjis written later. With respect to the frequency of inanimate subjects in transitive clauses, while Genji 5 is more innovative than other later Genjis, Genji 4 is not strongly innovative. Some examples of this new style: (1) Unmei wa sono-hitori ni hayaku shi ο ataete shimatta. fate TOP one-of-them to early death ACC give-PAST 'Fate gave early death to one of them.* (2) hajimete kiritsubo no kooi no agatte-kita koro no for-the-first-time Lady Kiritsubo ASSOC came-to-court time ASSOC koto made ga

okokoro no

thing even NOM mind

issoo

kurai kanashimi ni

ASSOC even-more dark

sadness

to

mikado ο osasoishita. emperor ACC invite-PAST 'Even the time when kiritsubo came to court for the first time came to (the emperor's) mind and invited the emperor to an even darker sadness.'

5.2. Passive constructions and inanimate subjects It is widely held that contact with Western languages also affected Japanese passives: although passives played a marginal role in discourse, appearing very infrequently, they became more commonly observed after contact; at the same time, passives free from normal adverse connotation became common; and passives with inanimate subjects seem to have appeared only after contact (Inui 1974; Martin 1975; Miura 1979). The practice of Oobun-chokuyaku-tai 'The style of direct translation from Western languages' is thought to be responsible for the changes indicated above because, in practice, passive sentences in European languages were always translated

154

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

as passive sentences in Japanese (Shibauchi & Takai 1967; Miura 1979; Inui 1974). Whether the use of passives increased following contact with Western languages (and as a consequence gained a more central status in discourse) is interesting not only from the viewpoint of discourse style but also from that of linguistic typology. Li & Thompson remark that in languages characterized as "topic-prominent" (like Chinese) or as both topic-prominent and subject-prominent (like Japanese), passivization either does not occur at all or appears as a marginal construction, rarely used in speech, and carries a special meaning (in the case of Japanese, "adverse" meaning) (1976:467). Another change in passivization, i.e., the development of so-called "simple passives" or "translation passives," is a complicated problem. Many grammarians have distinguished two types of passive constructions in Japanese (e.g. Martin 1975; Miura 1979; Kuno 1973; Howard and Niyekawa-Howard 1976). One is often called "simple passive" or "translation passive" and this is the type of passive that is believed by some linguists to have developed under the influence of English and other Western languages (Martin, 1975; Miura, 1979). Translation passives always have active counterparts and are thought to be free from adverse connotation. The other type of passive is often referred to as the "adversity passive," since an adverse effect of the action on the person who is subject is what is specifically conveyed by this construction. Simple/pure passive and adversity passive are illustrated by (3) and (4a) respectively. In "adversity passives," there is an extr an NP compared with the corresponding active sentence. (3) chiisai sakana wa ookii sakana ni tabe-rare-ta. small fish TOP big fish by eat-PASS-PAST 'The small fish was eaten by the large fish.' (4) a.

(watashi

wa) ame ni fur-are-ta.

I

TOP was

'(I) was rained on.' b. ame ga fut-ta. rain NOM fall-PAST 'It rained.'

fall-PASS-PAST

Passive constructions and inanimate subjects

155

There are some problems in making a distinction between "pure passives" and "adversity passives." First of all, whether original Japanese passives were all of the adversity type is a question that requires further investigation. There is no strong evidence (other than impressionistic arguments) that all passive constructions before contact had an adverse connotation.1 Furthermore, the concept of adversity is not as clear-cut in some cases as it is thought to be. This semantic characteristic is based on the intrinsic nature of passive construction, which expresses a subject referent as affected by the action, and can be felt only to a greater or lesser degree. Whether the semantic distinction of adversity versus non-adversity has a direct relationship with syntax has been a subject of controversy in Japanese linguistics.2 However, as Howard and Niyekawa-Howard have convincingly shown, the adverse connotation cannot be explained in terms of its syntactic characteristics alone (1976). What is clear about Japanese passives is that animacy plays an important role in the selection of subject. Thus, in a situation where Hanako's bag was stolen by a thief, (5a) is a much more natural way of describing the situation than (5b). (5) a.

Hanako wa baggu ο nusum-are-ta. Hanako TOP bag ACC steal-PASS-PAST 'Hanako had her bag stolen.'

b. Hanako no baggu ga nusum-are-ta. Hanako ASSOC bag NOM steal-PASS-PAST. 'Hanako's bag was stolen.' Because there is no clear definition of "adversity passives," I will not go into the problem of the degree of adversity in passives in this section. Rather, I will concentrate on the frequency of passives and on the occurrence of inanimate subjects in passives in Genji texts. Table 16 shows the occurrence of passive constructions in different versions of the Genji. While, in general, we find a higher occurrence of passives in the twentiethcentury Genjis, interestingly, Genjis 4 and 5 contain more passives than other versions written in the twentieth century. This phenomenon is parallel to that observed for explicit subjects and for inanimate subjects in transitive clauses. From Table 16, it seems safe to conclude that the frequency of passives in discourse increased sometime

156

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

Table 16: The occurrence of passive constructions Genji

1

Number

1

2 2

3

4

5

6

7

8

6

12

20

8

10

6

after the turn of the century and that Genjis 4 and 5 are more innovative in the use of passives. When we examine the use of passives in discourse, it is clear that passive constructions create a specific perspective, or maintain a thematic point of view. In Genji 1, we find only one passive sentence in the first 400 clauses. Here, the use of the passive construction seems to be particularly meaningful in: 1) keeping the emperor in focus; 2) avoiding an unnecessary shift of focus to an agent whose identity is not important; and 3) describing how the emperor was greatly affected by Kiritsubo's death. The passive construction contributes to the sequential flow of the sentences and creates a vivid picture of the emperor's psychological state. (6) yo

ni isasakamo

hito-no kokoro wo

mage-taru

koto

world in a-little-bit-EMP others' mind ACC distort-PER thing ha araji to omofu wo tada kono hito no TOP there is not Q think CJ simply this person ASSOC yuenite

amata saru-majiki hito-no-urami

wo

oishi hate-hate

because-of many unexpected

person's grudge ACC owed result

ha

kokoro wo

koo

uchisute-rare-te

TOP like-this leave -PASS and mind naki ni

itodo hito- waroo

there-is-not-CJ very

samemu

kata

ACC calm-down way

katakuna-ni narihatsuru mo

disgracefully stubborn

become

saki no yo yukashuu namu to previous ASSOC world want-to-know EMP Q

EMP

uchikaeshi tsutsu repeat while

Passive constructions and inanimate subjects

157

'(I) thought that (I) did not do anything which would hurt others' feelings, but simply because of this person, others have borne a grudge toward me, and as a result, (I) am left alone like this, and there is no way to console or calm my mind and therefore (I) became disgracefully stubborn. "Why? (I) want to know the karma in the previous world" so repeating

'

In the following example, from Genji 7, a passive sentence effectively changes the focus of attention from the emperor to Kiritsubo. (7) sato

ni sagatte yoojoo-shiyoo

to-nasaru no

ο

mikado

home to go-back take care of-TEN try(RES) NOMI ACC the emperor wa ikkoo oyurushi-ni-naranai. koko suunenrai byooshin wa TOP not-at-all RES-forgive-NEG these several-years sickness TOP tsune no koto ni natteiru no ni usual ASSOC thing as has-become NOMI to

minarete-oideninatte (RES)-is-used-to

moo-sukoshi kono-mama-de yoosu ο mitegoran a-little-more in-this-manner situation ACC see what happens to bakari ossharu no ni hikasarete-iru uchi ichinichi ichinichi Q repeatedly say(RES) NOMI attract-PASS while day by day to yootai

ga

omotte

honno go-roku-ni chi

condition NOM became-serious merely 5 or 6 days

no ASSOC

aida ni sukkari suijaku -shite-shimatta. during ΉΜΕ completely emaciated-COMPLETION 'The emperor does not let (Kiritsubo) go home to take care of herself. (He) got used to its being rather usual for (Kiritsubo) to be sick these past several years, and thus kept saying, "why don't you stay here and see what happens." While she was attracted by his words, her condition worsened day by day and in five

158

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions or six days she was completely emaciated'.

As we observe in (6) and (7), since passive sentences treat the recipient as the center of attention, in discourse the use of passives is useful to keep the focus of attention on the same topic, or to shift it to something else. In newer versions of the Genji, there are cases where the focus of attention is shifted to inanimate objects by using a passive sentence, whereas in older versions active sentences describing the same situation keep an animate participant in focus. For example, compare (8) from Genji 2 and (9) from Genji 5. (8) kono ima-miko haya mitsu ni-narase-tamae this present-prince already three become-RES ba

kotoshi

since this-year

wa

on-hakama kise-sase-mairase-

TOP hakama

make-him-wear-HUM

tamawan to no oosegoto arite moyoosase-tamau RES Q ASSOC order there-was hold-CAU-RES kore yori saki this

ichi-no-miya-no

on-hakamagi

than before the-first-prince's hakama-ctremony

sesasetamaishi

on-gishiki

go-hoozoo

ya

osamedono no

RES-treasurehouse and etc. warehouse tsukushite

ASSOC time

not-inferior-to shinajina no

ASSOC things

nokoru-koto-naku kekkoo

ACC utilizing-fully unregrettably

setsu

ni otorazu

carry-on-RES-RES-PAST RES-ceremony

ο

no 3

mono

ASSOC things

se-sase-tamae-ba

extravagantly do-RES-RES -CJ

' Since this prince has already become three, there is an order (from the emperor) that a hakama will be put on the prince this year, and the ceremony is to be held. As (the emperor) put on the ceremony in such an extravagant way with various

Passive constructions and inanimate subjects

159

things from the treasure house and warehouse and in a manner which was not a bit inferior to the time when the same kind of ceremony was held for the first prince...' (9) daini-no-ooji

ga

sansai

ni

the-second-prince NOM three years hakamagi-no-shiki ga

onarininatta

toki ni

became(RES) time at

okonawareta.

mae-ni atta

hakama ceremony NOM carry out-PASS-PAST previously-existed daiichi-no-ooji no sono shild ni otoranu yoo na the first prince's that ceremony not-inferior-to in a manner hade na

junbi

no hiyoo

ga

kyuutei kara

extravagant preparation for expense NOM court

from

sishutsusareta. disburse-PASS-PAST 'When the second prince became three years old, the Hakama ceremony was carried out. Expenditure for extravagant preparations which would not be inferior to those for the previous ceremony for thefirstprince was disbursed from the court.' In (8), the agent (the emperor) is comparatively in focus and his intentionality strongly conveyed, while in (9) the emperor's force as an actor is removed from the surface scene. The appearance of inanimate subjects in passives is a new phenomenon, observed only in twentieth-century versions of the Genji, as Table 17 indicates. Interestingly, Genjis 4 and 5 (particularly Genji 5) show a higher occurrence of inanimate subject in passive constructions than do other Genjis of the twentieth century, indicating that they may be more innovative in this respect. Among twenty occurrences of passives in Genji 5, the majority of cases, i.e. seventeen of them, have an inanimate subject. Genji 5 eagerly adopts the new style of passives. Since inanimate subjects dramati-

160

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

cally shift the focus of attention in a discourse (which mostly takes the perspective of story characters, and hence of animate subjects), the appearance of inanimate subjects in passives and in transitives seems to be related (though it is difficult to say exactly to what extent) to the fact that subjects are more explicitly manifested in Genji 5 than in the other Genjis. (Inanimate subjects in passives often involve a change of focus, and frequent changes of focus give the text a brisk rhythm.) Table 17: Animate and inanimate subjects in passive constructions Genji

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Animate

1

2

6

7

3

7

Inanimate

0

0

0

17

1

5 1

Total

1

2

6

5 12

6 4

20

8

10

6

The marginality of passive construction (and the fact that passives with inanimate objects are stylistically marked) is also supported by an examination of elementary school textbooks written in 1875,1900, and 1936. Table 18: Passives in textbooks Textbook

No. of Clauses Examined

No. of Passive Constructions

1875

150

2

0

1900

171

6

0

1936

165

6

0

No. of Passives with Inanimate Subjects

5.3. Causative constructions and inanimate subjects Unlike passives, the occurrence of causatives does not seem to have been influenced by contact with Western languages, or by the modernization that succeeded it. As can be observed in Table 19, Genjis 1 and 8 show a higher frequency of causatives than do the other versions,4 and we do not find any significant historical pattern of increase or decrease in the occurrence of causatives from Genjis 1 to 8. Also, Genjis 4 and 5

Causative constructions and inanimate subjects

161

Table 19: The occurrence of causative constructions Genji Number

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

15

3

3

6

7

9

3

17

do not show a particularly high frequency of causatives in contrast to the phenomena we observed with respect to passives. As far as inanimate subjects in causatives are concerned, however, changes in their frequency run parallel to changes in the frequency of inanimate subjects in transitive clauses and passives. That is, inanimate subjects do not appear in causative constructions until the twentieth century. Furthermore, Genjis 4 and 5 contain more causatives in which the subject is inanimate. However, as Table 20 indicates, the figures are still

Table 20: Animate and inanimate subjects in causative constructions 1

2

3

Animate

15

3

3

4 4

Inanimate

0

0

0

15

3

3

Genji

Total

6

7

8

9

3

17

2

5 5 1

0

0

0

6

6

9

3

17

low. As the table shows, the number of occurrences of causatives with an inanimate subject is very small in Genjis 4,5, and other twentieth-century versions. This means that sentences in which an inanimate noun is the causer of an action are stylistically marked sentences. Some examples of the new type of causatives in Genjis 4 and 5: (10) Tenji ga "fujitsubo-no-miya-sama wa anata no NOM Princess-Fujitsubo TOP your ASSOC o-kaasama

ni

shooutsushi

de gozaimasu

yo."

RES-mother DIR look-very-alike COP-POLITE SP to yoku yuu kotobawa

aru

kanmei

ο

ataete

Q often say words TOP certain impression ACC give

162

Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions

wakamiya young prince

ni fujitsubo ni bakari asobi-ni-ikitai DAT to only want to go and visit

yon no miya ni shitashiku naritai to yuu kokoro ο DIR get-close want-to-become feeling ACC okosaseta. arise-CAU-PAST 'The words which Tenji often says "Princess Fujitsubo really looks like your mother," made a deep impression on the young prince and made him feel that he always wanted to go and visit Fujitsubo and become closer to yon-no-miya (Fujitsubo).' (11) kaesu-gaesu unmei ga repeatedly

fate

watashi-ni nagaikisaseru

NOM me

no

ga

live-long-CAU NOMI NOM

kurushuu gozaimasu. painful is 'Truly, it is painful that fate makes me live long.' In (10) from Genji 4, the inanimate noun kotoba 'words' is described as an agent in the first clause and as a causer in the second clause. In (11) from Genji 5, the inanimate subject, unmei 'fate' is the agent that causes Kiritsubo's mother to live long. These new rhetorical styles give a modern and Western flavor. Readers may be interested to compare how Genjis 1 and 2 deal with the same part of the story. (12) a.

kahesu-gahesu tsurenaki inochinimo haberukana truly pitiless life EMP (HUM)COP-EX 'How pitiless my life is!'

Summary

b. kahesu-gahesu truly

mo

shifutoki inochi ni mo

Ε MP stubborn life

163

Icoso safurahe

EMP EMP COP

'Truly my life is so stubborn.' In both Genjis 1 and 2, Kiritsubo's mother's long living is described as a painful state in which there is no agent that acts on her ; nor is she seen as the recipient of the action.

5.4. Summary In this chapter, I have demonstrated that the occurrence of inanimate subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions is a phenomenon observed only in versions from the twentieth century. The claim that the use of inanimate subjects in these constructions is not originally Japanese, but a new style that developed due to the influence of Western languages, seems correct. Frequency of passive constructions in discourse also increases in twentieth-century Genjis, but causatives do not show any significant change following modernization of the language. As they did with explicit/implicit subjects, Genjis 4 and 5 show a more innovative style than do Genjis 6,7, and 8. This suggests that Genjis 4 and 5 reflect a conscious effort toward a more modem style of language on the part of their translators and adaptors.

Chapter 6 The Particles ga and no

The particles φ, ga, no, and ha/wa frequently appear with grammatical subjects. Changes in the use and function suggest interesting linguistic mechanisms. Section 6.1 discusses how explicit subjects are marked by different particles and how the marking of subjects has changed over time. Section 6.2 discusses subjects not marked by a case particle. And section 6.3 discusses changes in the function of ga and no. Here I will attempt to demonstrate how ga developed from an associative particle (a particle which indicates strong association between two NPs, like a genitive and an appositive) into a nominative case particle and how no developed fully as an associative, displacing ga in this function.

6.1. Explicit subjects and subject marking particles 6.1.1. Changes in the occurrence of particles Chapter Four has demonstrated that quite a significant percentage of subjects is implicit in each Genji text. Genjis 1 and 2 have an especially high percentage of implicit subjects, while Genjis 4 and 5 show the highest incidence of explicit subjects. Implicit subjects are those whose reference can be identified from the context (use of honorifics, knowledge shared by writer and reader, and so on). Subjects whose reference cannot be understood in these ways or subjects that bear a particular function in discourse, such as emphasis or contrast, are stated explicitly. An examination of the functions of explicit subjects, and how these are marked by particles in the series of Genji texts, helps to clarify changes in the particles. A simple quantitative analysis of the frequency of different particles, illustrated in Table 21, shows the occurrence of major particles appearing with grammatical subjects in the first 400 clauses of each Genji (relative clauses are not included in the counting).1

166

The Particles ga and no

Table 21: The occurrence of different particles after subject NPs

0 ha/wa mo ga no

Genji 1 NO. % 54 43.9

NO. 38

% 29.5

26

21.1

38

25 2

20.3 1.6

8

ni namu ya

2 2 1

6.5 1.6 1.6 0.8

zo Other

3

2.4

Total

0

0 123

99.8

Genji 2

Genji 3 NO. %

Genji 4 NO. %

40

26.1

0

29.5

60

39.2

107

58.8

36 2

27.9 1.6

13.7 17.0

18 54

9.9 29.7

11

8.5

21 26 4

2.6

2

1.1

4 0 0

3.1 0 0

0 0 1

0 0 0.7

0 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 129

0 0

1

0.7

0

0

0 100.0

0 182

0 0.5

100.0

153

0

100.0

Table 21: (Continued) Genji 5 0 ha/wa mo ga no

Genji 6

Genji 7

NO.

%

NO.

%

NO.

%

0 106 21 69

0 53.0

1 42 26 60 0 0

0

2 76 28 49 1

1.3 48.7

10.5 34.5

0.8 32.3 20.0 46.2 0

0

Genji 8 NO.

%

17.9 31.4

0 88 40 50

0 48.9 22.2 27.8

0.6

2

0

0

0

1.1 0

ni

1

0 0.5

namu

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

ya/zo Other

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

1.5

1

0.8

0

0

0

0

200

100.0

156

100.1

130

Total

99.9

180

100.0

Table 21 shows that, in Genji 1, explicit subjects are usually unmarked, whereas in the twentieth-century Genjis unmarked subjects become extremely rare. In fact, in

Explicit subjects and subject marking particles

167

present-day written Japanese, a subject is obligatorily followed by a particle. Second, the particle ga, which seldom appears with grammatical subjects in Genji 1, gradually increases in frequency, becoming, in the twentieth-century Genjis, one of the particles most commonly observed after grammatical subjects. In colloquial Japanese, this particle is understood to generally mark subject Third, the particle ha/wa expands its function, so that, in the twentieth-century Genjis, it is the particle most frequently found after grammatical subjects (Genji 6 is an exception). Fourth, the particles namu, ya, and zo, which convey specific discourse effects, have become obsolete by the time of Genji 4 (1914). They are still found in Genji 3 (1830), where there is one instance of zo after a grammatical subject. In Genji 2, there are a few uses of zo and koso, but there is no instance of their appearing after grammatical subjects. These particles are interrelated in their development or disappearance. This becomes clear when we examine the occurrence of these particles in detail.

6.1.2. Case particles and ßxirticles of discourse The particles in Table 21 can be divided into two groups according to function: case particles and discourse particles. Case particles indicate surface case relations, such as subject, direct object, and indirect object. The occurrence of discourse particles, also called adverbial particles by some (Sansom 1928), adds discourse-pragmatic meaning. With these distinctions in mind, we can characterize no, ni, and ga as case particles, and ha/wa, mo, namu, ya, and zo as discourse particles. The functions of no and ga will be examined in detail shortly. Ni has many functions, marking dative NP, location, time, direction, etc. This particle has shown the earliest development of any case particles in the history of Japanese. Ha/wa is glossed as a topic particle in this study, although whether it can be considered a topic particle throughout the history of its development is a good question. The function of ha/wa will be dealt with in detail in Chapter 7. Mo still survives in present-day Japanese. It adds the emphatic meaning, 'also* 'even,' etc. Namu, ya and zo can all be characterized as emphatic particles, though there is some semantic difference among them. Zo and namu are similar in their functions, in that they both assert and emphasize the NP they follow. Zo, however, conveys strong emphasis, while namu conveys a softer and more polite assertion. Ya, on the other hand, conveys a speaker's feelings of doubt, of questioning,

168

The Particles ga and no

rhetorical or otherwise (Iwanami kogo jiten 1974:1452; Nakata 1971:285-287). These particles, zo, namu, and ya, together with ha/wa, mo, and the question particle ka participated in a phenomenon called kakari-musubi, where the presence of these particles demanded particular inflectional forms of the predicate: zo, namu, ya, and ka called for the attributive form; koso, the perfect form; and ha/wa and mo, the sentence-final form. Typologically, it is interesting that these discourse/adverbial particles show verb agreement, since the phenomenon is considered to be rare. The disappearance of zo, namu, and ya relates to the development of ga as a nominative particle, which will be discussed below in relation to the particles ga and no.

6.2. Unmarked subjects As Table 21 shows, in Genjis 1, 2, and 3, when subject NPs do not have a specific discourse role, marked by a discourse particle, they are usually not marked by any particle at all. The following examples illustrate the typical form that explicit subjects take. (1) is from Genji 1, (2) Genji 2, and (3) Genji 3. (1) Sono toshi no that

natsu

miyasudokoro2 hakanaki kokochi

year ASSOC summer (title)

oblique

sickness

ni wazurahi-te makade-na-mu to shi-tamafu wo MANNER suffer-CJ leave-VOLITION Q do-RES ACC 'In the summer, the prince's mother (=Kiritsubo) became sick and tried to leave the palace.' (2) Kono ima-miko this

haya

mitsu-ni-narase-tamae-ba

present-prince already three-become-RES -CJ

'Since this prince already became three years old...' (3) Futari-no-onna nikoniko-gao ni two women smiling-face MANNER

uchi-unazuki nod-to-each-other

Unmarked subjects sono yooi that

ο

zo

169

shitari-keru

preparation ACC EMP do-PERF

'The two women nod to each other with smiling faces and make preparation for that.' However, in Genjis 4 and 5 and other later Genjis, we very seldom find unmarked subjects. We find that ga or wa is used in later Genjis, whereas φ is observed in Genjis 1,2, and 3, as demonstrated below (suggesting that pragmatic functions of φ, in earlier Genjis, are partly carried out by ga and partly by wa in later Genjis). I will discuss this point in Chapter 7. Unmarked subjects basically disappear by the time of Genji 4. Of course, this change took place gradually. As Table 21 indicates, more subjects are marked by ha/wa in Genjis 2 and 3 than in Genji 1. In Genji 3 we observe more use of ga after subjects than we do in Genjis 1 and 2. From Genji 1 to Genji 8 we see a continuum of change in the development of the case particle ga and in the discourse particle wa, and we see the disappearance of unmarked subjects. That unmarked subjects survived until modernization/reformation of the written language is clear from textbook analysis. Unmarked subjects are quite common in the 1875 textbook, written in a language preceding unification. The language before unification differs from that after, with respect to inflection of verbals, choice of lexicon, and so on. Unmarked subjects have decreased significantly in the 1900 and 1936 textbooks, as shown in Table 22. The 1900 and 1936 textbooks contain lessons written in styles preceding unification, as well as in innovative styles following unification. In neither of these textbooks are unmarked subjects found where lessons are written in colloquial language. In Genji 1, unmarked explicit subjects appear under a number of conditions, particularly when new characters are introduced, as follows: (1) the identity of the new characters is neither implied by the context nor by any of the lexical items appearing in the previous or immediately following context (e.g., the existence of the emperor is implied by the word, ohontoH 'RES-period', which indicates the emperor's reign, and hence evokes the emperor); (2) honorific usages cannot give a clue to the identity of the new characters; and (3) they are not particularly emphasized, or introduced into the scene for the sake of contrast with previously mentioned characters. For instance:

170

The Particles ga and no

Table 22: Subject forms in the textbooks 1875 NO.

1900 %

No.

1936

% 3.2

NP 0 NP wa

45 31

20.3 14.0

6 43

NP ga NP no

0 7 124

0 3.2

24 1 108

14

56.1 6.4

13.0 0.5 58.4

221

100.0

3 185

1.6 100.0

0 Others Total

23.3

No.

%

6 60 32 0 85 12 195

3.1 30.8 16.4 0 43.6 6.1 100.0

Relative clauses and quotations are included.

(4) Nyoogo kooi amata saburahi-tamahi-keru court-lady (lower ranked) court-lady many exist-RES-PAST naka-ni ito yamgotonaki kiwa ni ha aranu ga sugurete among very precious status at TOP is-not NOM exceptionally tokimeki-tamafu arikeri. prosper -RES there-was "There was (an incident) that among many court-ladies a lady of not the first rank received tremendous love from the emperor.' (5) hajime yori ware ha to omohiagari-tamaheru beginning from I TOP Q be-proud-of-RES ohon-katagata

mezamashiki-mono ni otoshime

RES-(RES)people vexatious-person

sonemi-tamafu

as speak-ill-of be-jealous-RES

'The grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous upstart and

Unmarked subjects

171

spoke ill of her.' (4) is the sentence that first introduces Kiritsubo into the story. (5) introduces other court ladies who are proud of themselves and who cause difficulties for Kiritsubo. (4) also shows how ga may be used to mark a grammatical subject inside a relative clause, a phenomenon discussed later in this chapter. Explicit subjects also occur at episode boundaries, where there is usually a change in the theme, attention shifts to another character, and so on. The effect of episode boundaries in referential choice is convincingly argued by Tomlin (1987). When a character who plays only a peripheral role, or does not appear at all in the preceding episode, is reintroduced at the beginning of a new paragraph or episode, he/she/it is explicitly mentioned with a noun, usually unmarked. In the passage given in (6), there is an episode change from (6a) to (6b). The paragraph of which (6a) is a part talks about the beauty of the prince. Then the writer shifts attention to Kiritsubo, Genji's mother, and starts talking about her becoming ill. Here, Miyasudokoro (the title that indicates Kiritsubo) is explicitly reintroduced. Notice that this is unmarked. In present-day Japanese, it would receive wa marking since she is the paragraph theme. Similarly, in (7) the episode changes from the emperor's memories of Kiritsubo (7a) to Myoobu's visit to Kiritsubo's mother (7b). Myoobu, the emperor's messenger, ir traduced earlier, is explicitly reintroduced here when the story shifts to her visit. (6) a. Mono

no

kokoro shiri-tamafu hito

things ASSOC mind

wa

kakaru

know-RES person TOP this-kind-of

hito mo yo ni ideohasuru mono nari-keri to asamashiki person EMP world in come-to-exist EMP COP-EX Q surprise made

me wo

odorokashi-tamafu

to-the-extent eye ACC wide-open-RES 'People who are sensible opened their eyes wide with surprise: "Oh! This kind of beautiful person can exist in this world!"

172

The Particles ga and no b. sono toshi no natsu miyasudokoro hakanaki kokochi that year ASSOC summer (title) obscure sickness ni wazurahi-te makade-na-mu to shi-tamafu wo MANNER suffer-and leave-PERF-VOL Q do-RES CJ 'In the summer, Miyasudokoro (=Kiritsubo) became sick and tried to leave the palace...'

(7) a. Kayoo-no

ori

ha

this-kind-of occasion ni kokoro-kotonaru CJ (mind)different

ohon-asobi nado se-sase-tamahi-shi

TOP RES-play

etc. do-RES-RES-PAST

mono no ne wo kakinarashi hakanaku thing of sound ACC play casually

kikoheizuru koto-no-ha mo hito yori ha kotonari-shi tell words also people than TOP different-PAST kehani

katachi

appearance form

obosaruru ni be-felt CJ

no

omokage ni tsuto

soi-te

ASSOC memory to tightly accompany-CJ

mo yami no utsutsu ni ha naho EMP darkness ASSOC reality to TOP still

otori-keri inferior-PAST 'In this kind of occasion, (the emperor) used to enjoy music. The image of Kiritsubo who played music exceptionally well and whose songs which she made casually were also impressive appeared in the memory of (the emperor) all the time. However, the memory is inferior to seeing the real person in the darkness.'

Unmarked subjects

173

b. Myoobu

kashiko ni makade-tsuki-te... over-there LOC arrive-CJ 'Myoobu arrived there...'

Genji 1 contains no paragraph markers. Therefore it seems that the explicit mention of a character in the subject position signals an episode change. In the version of Iwanami Koten Taikei, paragraph divisions are made for modern readers. The appearance of explicit subjects without particle must have served as an important clue to mark paragraph boundaries. By Genji 7, we find that the subject of the same kind of existential verb as in Genji 1 (example [4]) is marked by ga, and that the same subjects, miyasudokoro (Kiritsubo) in (6) and Myoobu in (7), are marked by wa. Observe (8), (9), and (10), which correspond to (4), (6), and (7) in terms of content and of grammatical and pragmatic function of the subjects. (8) nyoogo-kooi-tachi ga kazu-ooku gosho ni agatte-irareru court-ladies NOM many palace LOC to-be-there-to-serve-RES naka-ni sashite kookinamibun toyuu

dewanaku-te

among

is-not-and-yet emperor's

so

high

go-chooai

ο

RES-love

ACC all

status

isshin-ni atsumete-iru is-gathering

hito

mikado-no

ga

atta.

person NOM there-was

'Among many court-ladies at palace, there was a lady who was not a person of very high status but received all the attention of the emperor.' (9) sukoshi-demo little-even

mono no wakatta hito-tachi things ASSOC understand people

kono-yoona o-kata

mo kono yo

ni

this-kind-of RES-person also this world to mono ka

to ifd-o-nomi

EMP QUES Q

me

ο

wa TOP

umarete-irassharu come-to-be-bom-RES miharu-no-deatta.

take-a-breath eyes ACC wide-open-NOMI-COP-PAST

174

The Particles ga and no sono toshi no natsu Kiritsubo no miyasudokoro wa that year ASSOC summer TOP nantonaku wazuraitsui-te somehow

become-sick

'People who understand things took a breath and opened their eyes wide with surprise thinking that a person with this beauty can come to exist in this world. That summer, Lady Kiritsubo became sick...' (10) ...yahari sorewa moomoku-no yoona shin-no yami after-all it TOP blind as-if true darkness no naka de no utsushimi no tezawari ASSOC in LOC ASSOC appearing-figure ASSOC touch ni mo

oyobanai hakanai maboroshi-na-no-deatta.

to EMP inferior Myoobu wa

empty

kano ie

illusion-NOMI-COP-PAST ni

ikitsui-te...

TOP that house DIR arrived-and ' ...however, it is an empty illusion which is even inferior to the touch of someone in real darkness. Myoobu arrived at the house and...' Concerning the marking of subjects in sentences parallel to (8), (9), and (10), Genji 5 also shows exactly the same phenomena as Genji 7. Thus, the pragmatic functions of (NP+0)s in Genji 1 are partly carried out by the form subject NP+ ga and partly by the form subject NP+ wa. When Genji 1 was written, direct objects were also sometimes unmarked. The nominative particle ga developed much later than the particle ni, and probably than accusative wo/o, though just when wofo was established to mark direct object is still controversial.3 A quick investigation of the first chapter of Genji 1 shows that, as a rule, subjects are not marked across the board, while direct objects are unmarked

Changes in the function of ga and no

175

about 50% of the time and about 50% of the time marked by wo. Thus, it seems that wo was not yet grammaticalized as the marker of direct object at the time of Genji 1. Of course, since the degree of implicit reference is high, a clause often has either an implicit subject or implicit object, or both. When both are explicit, there are no cases in which both the grammatical subject and the direct object are unmarked (something which might cause ambiguity or misinterpretation). Also, when a verb takes two arguments (the subject being implicit, the DO explicit and human), DO is usually marked by wo, as is observed in the following. (11) shitashild nyoobo ohon-menoto nado

wo

tsukahashi-tsutsu...

close women RES -nurse and-so-on ACC send-while '(the emperor) sends ladies who are close, his nurse and so on to the house...'

This is probably to avoid misinterpreting the explicit NP as the subject

63. Changes in the function of ga and no In colloquial Japanese, ga is understood as a nominative and usually follows subject. Although ga appears in Genji 1, its function is different from that of ga in colloquial Japanese. This section examines changes in the functions of ga and no. No is considered together with ga, since the two have had related functions.4

6.3.1. The occurrence of no and ga Table 21 indicates that no infrequently appears after grammatical subjects, either in subordinate clauses or main clauses, in Genjis 1 to 8. On the other hand, ga as a nominative marker increases in Genji 3 to some extent, and notably so in Genji 4. In Genjis 5 through 8, the use of nominative ga is stable. Table 23 shows the overall frequency of ga and no, regardless of their function. Ga's occurrence is very slightin both Genjis 1 and 2, increasing in Genji 3. Ga played a peripheral role before Genji 3, as it was used in a limited domain. On the other hand,

176

The Particles ga and no

no already frequently appears in Genji 1 and seems to have already become well established. Table 23: The occurrence of ga and no (400 clauses) Genji (11th Century) (1723) Genji ga no *

1

2

5 124

6 286

(1830)

(1914)

(1936)

(1959)

(1972)

3 64

4 80

5 154

7 84

148

310

339

6 125 252

305

Genji 4 has only 291 clauses

Tables 24 and 25 divide the particles from Table 22 according to function, showing that no and ga have functioned as associative and/or nominative particles throughout the history of Japanese. Ga also functions as a conjunctive particle that originally developed from the nominative particle ga (for discussion of this development, see footnote 7 in Chapter 4). Table 24: Changes in the function of ga 1

Genji Genitive/ associative

NO. 2 % 40.0

Nominative

NO.

Other

3 % 60.0 NO. 0 % 0

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

18 27.3 42

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

73 91.3 7

129 83.8

110 88.0 15 12.0

70 83.3 14

16.7 4 66.7 2 33.3

63.6 6 9.1

8.8

25 16.2

16.7

I follow Akiba's use of "associative" (1978) to indicate the function of ga and no as connectors or "linkers" of nouns that have strong association. The relationship between the two NPs is not just genitive or appositive. The following examples from Genji 1 and colloquial Japanese will illustrate the associative function of no and ga.

177

Changes in the function of ga and no Table 25: Changes in the function of no Genji

1

2

3 132

Genitive/ associative

NO. %

114 81.4

238 83.2

Nominative

NO. %

24 17.1

48 16.8

NO.

2

0

9.5 2

%

1.4

0

1.4

Other

4

5

6

7

275 81.8

190 75.4

230 75.4

9.0

31 9.1

16 6.3

26 8.4

33 9.7

46

36 11.8 40

18.3

13.1

256 89.9 82.6 14 28

(12) a. genitive/possessive watashi no I

ie house

hito no kokoro people

'people's mind'

(Genji 1)

'my body, myself

(Genji 1)

mind

wa ga mi I body b.

'my house*

appositive sensei no yamakawa-san '(my) teacher, Mr./Ms. Yamakawa' teacher Mr ./Ms. chichi no dainagon

'her father, Dainagon'

father c.

other natsu no Oregon summer Oregon

'Oregon in summer'

(Genji 1)

178

The Particles ga and no yoru night

no otodo palace

ichi

no miko

one

child

'the palace at night'

(Genji 1)

'the first child'

(Genji 1)

Table 24 indicates that although ga appears as both associative and nominative in Genjis 1 to 3, after Genji 4 ga occurs only as a nominative. The associative function of the particle disappeared between Genjis 3 and 4. Table 25 suggests that no's function has been primarily associative, although the fact that it also behaves as a nominative cannot be ignored. Again, it is important to note that no matter how ga functions, it is rare in early Genjis. The result in Tables 24 and 25 is incongruent with the literature, which claims that both no and ga were originally associative markers in Old Japanese, and that their nominative function derived from their associative function (Iwanami kogo jiten, 1974; Ishigaki 1955; Konojima 1966). Before the Heian period (794-1192), the majority of nos and gas are associative markers. However, in the Heian period, the use of ga as a nominative greatly increased (Konojimal966:33-50). Konojima states that, among 260 occurrences of ga in The Tale of Genji, about thirty are associatives, while the rest are nominatives. Most of the nominative gas appear in relative clauses (1966:48). This means that ga was already showing a strong tendency to develop into a subject marker at the time of Genji 1. Tables 26 and 27 show the development of ga and no as nominatives, the distribution of ga and no as nominatives in relative and other subordinate and independent clauses of the 400 in each text examined. The shaded area indicates the area of distribution. Table 26 shows that, as a nominative, ga appears only in relative and other subordinate clauses in Genji 1. In Genji 3, nominative ga appears not only in relative and other subordinate clauses, but also in independent clauses. Thus, nominative ga in this text is a fully developed nominative. Although it is claimed that the nominative ga in colloquial Japanese was established around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Iwanami kogo jiten 1974:1444; konojima 1966:51), the data in this study suggest that the actual use of the particle after subjects was not stabilized until much later, as Table 22 suggests. In the textbooks, which are considered to express prescriptive use of language, ga after subjects is not observed at all in the 1875

179

Changes in the function of ga and no Table 26: ga as a subject marker Genji Relative clauses Other subordinate clauses

NO.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

1

21

20 27.4

49

33

20

38.0 44 34.1

30.0 67

28.6 34

60.9

48.6

31

10

16

73

24.0 129

9.1 110

22.9 70

%

33.3 NO. 2 % 66.7

Independent NO. clauses % Total number

0 0 3

25.0 2

48.8 14 25.6

50.0 (I) 5 (25.0) 4

12 25.6 43

25 34.2 27 38.4

Table 27: no as a subject marker Genji Relative clauses Other subordinate clauses Independent clauses Total number of occurrences

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

37

26

30

16

92.9 2

96.8

100.0

35 97.2

0 0

0 0

0 0

0

(I)*4 (2.8)

NO. 16 66.7 %

77.1

10 71.4

NO. 7 % 29.2

11 20.1

2 14.3

NO. (1)*' % (4.2)

0

(2)*2 (14.3)

24

0 48

14

7.1 0 0 28

(I)*3 (3.2) 31

0 16

36

In a direct quotation The sentences end with the participial form of the verb Subject reduction with extended predicate Direct quotation, exclamatory sentence

version. Among the six lessons of the 1900 textbook, NP ga is not observed in two, written in a language before the unification. In the 1936 textbook, there is only one occurrence of subject NP ga in the older written language, while in the lessons written

180

The Particles ga and no

in colloquial styles, subject NP-ga is frequent. Based on similar observations, I concluded (Fujii 1990) that the stabilization of nominative ga was greatly affected by the unification of speech and writing. Interestingly, no shows opposite development to ga, with respect to nominative function. Although no appears both in relative and other subordinate clauses in earlier Genjis, after Genji 5 it is limited to relative clauses, suggesting that although no might have developed fully as a nominative like ga, rather, no narrowed down the scope of occurrence as a nominative. At the same time, as Tables 24 and 25 have shown, no has fully developed as an associative marker, taking over ga's associative function, while ga has developed as a subject marker. Thus, Tables 24,25,26, and 27 show that an exchange of function took place between ga and no, and that, after the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the only feature common to no and ga is their both occurring in relative clauses as nominatives. With respect to subjects in relative clauses, other subordinate clauses, and independent clauses, the graphs in Figures 7,8, and 9 give us some ideas about the choice between ga and no. In Genjis 1 and 2, no outweighs ga in marking subjects, but in Genji 3 this picture reverses itself: ga outweighs no in marking subjects. The fact that, in their early stages of development, no was more widely used and favored as both associative and nominative than was ga, raises the question: Why did ga rather than no develop as nominative? It seems there was considerable chance for no to develop as nominative, but the motive for the direction we see here is not clear, although Konojima has argued (1966:51) that ga developed as a nominative while no did not because ga has the pragmatic function of strongly indicating the word which precedes the particle. In fact, we have observed an opposite pattern of development in a dialect of Amami, Southern Island of Japan (Fujii-Uyeno 1985), where no is generally used to mark subject in both subordinate and independent clauses, and ga's occurrence after subject is limited to emphatic situations. My preliminary investigation of the Shuri dialect of Okinawa also shows a similar phenomenon. Shibatani (1990:356-357) reports that many dialects in Kyuushuu use no as the nominative marker and ga as the genitive marker. These findings suggest that another pattern of development is quite possible.

Changes in the function of ga and no

3

4

5

6

181

7

Figure 7: The choice of ga and no with respect to subject marking in relative clauses

2

3

4

5

6

Figure 8: The choice of ga and no with respect to subject marking in other subordinate clauses

182

The Particles ga and no

%

Figure 9:

The choice of ga and no with respect to subject marking in independent clauses

6.3.2. The Process of change Let us now examine environments in whicn ga and no occur and consider the process of change in their functions. As associative markers, early ga and no occurred in the following environments: / no \

(13) NP

NP

The difference between no and ga as associative markers has not been well clarified, though ga was certainly rare, as Table 23 has shown. Konojima (1966:40^43) points out that no usually appears after common nouns, while ga usually appears after pronouns and proper nouns. Also, ga never appears after numerals. Genji 1 also shows this phenomenon.

Changes in the function of ga and no (14) a.

hito

183

no motenayamigusa

people worries 'people's worries' b. wa ga mi I body/self 'my body, myself* Ga also often appears after a first person pronoun, or after nouns that relate to the speaker/writer (e.g. haha 'mother'). Because of these distributional patterns, some scholars (e.g. Ishigaki 1955) nominate a sociolinguistic distinction in the use of ga and no. Namely, no conveyed respect to the person referred to, and ga showed either some humiliation or humbleness on the part of the speaker or some disrespect to the person referred to. This difference is more strongly supported by various scholars (both Japanese and Christian missionary scholars) with respect to the use of these particles in a later period (thirteenth to nineteenth century). Analysing The Tale of Heike (twelfth century), Konojima (1966:56-57), for example, finds that when the protagonist Kiyomori, who is a powerful figure with respectful status, refers to himself, the subject is always marked by ga, but when others refer to Kiyomori and the subject NP is Kiyomori it is always marked by no. The same kind of difference is also observed in Iso ho monogatari (1659), which is a translation of Aesop's Fables. According to Konojima (1966:57), the sociolinguistic distinction is recognizable until the eighteenth century. However, in Genji 3 (1830), where nominative cases arc often marked by ga and no, the sociolinguistic differentiation cannot be clearly observed. However, as I noted in another study (1990), many uses of ga in this period are associated with emphasis or with an exclamatory sense, and thus are different from unmarked subjects with respect to pragmatic function. This emphatic use of ga, described as "exhaustive listing ga" by Kuno (1973), is also observed in present-day Japanese in such sentences as the following: (15) Tanaka-san ga shita-n-desu. Mr ./Ms. do-NOMI-COP 'It is Tanaka who did it.'

184

The Particles ga and no

One syntactic difference between earlier no and ga is that ga may follow a 0 noun NP or headless NP, but no may not. Headless NPs are often observed when the putative elided head noun is an abstract noun such as koto 'thing, incident', as in the following: (16) haha wo hanarete yuku {φ) ga mother ACC leave go

kanashisa sadness

'the sadness of going away from my mother' (Manyooshuu, 20:4338. In Konojima 1966:42) The noun phrase which precedes ga ends with the attributive form of the vetb,yuku, and the head noun is implicit Haha wo hanarete yuku 'leave mother' is understood as an NP because of the relationship with what follows, i.e., ga kanashisa 'sadness.* As we see here, when an NP is headless, there is no surface distinction between an NP and the attributive form of a VP. Interestingly, there are no cases in which no follows a headless NP (Konojima 1966:42). Taking into consideration the existence of headless NPs, we can elaborate the environment in which ga and no occur ('regular NP' indicates NPs with the head noun in contrast with headless NPs): f

(17) regular NP '

regular NP

ga headless NP

headless NP f

regular NP

regular NP

no headless NP

It is considered that the existence of headless NP created an environment for reinterpretation of associative no and ga as nominatives. Because a headless NP is the attributive form of a verbal, i.e., verb, adjective or nominal adjective, it makes it possible for (18a) to be interpreted as (18b).

Changes in the function of ga and no

185

w

(18) a. NP1 ( n o } NP2 headless NP=the attributive form of VP 'NP2 of b. NP

ΝΡΓ

(no \g