Chapter published in:
The Language of Food in Japanese: Cognitive perspectives and beyond
Edited by Kiyoko Toratani
[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research 25] 2022
► pp. 263–292

Chapter 9
Verbs of seasoning in Japanese, with special reference to the locative alternation in English

| Kogakuin University of Technology & Engineering, Academic Support Center
This chapter identifies verbs of seasoning from the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese and divides them into two types: those taking the seasoning as direct object (e.g., shio o furikakeru ‘sprinkle salt’) and those marking the seasoning with the instrumental case (e.g., shio de ajituke suru ‘season (something) with salt’). While some verbs of seasoning in English participate in the locative alternation (e.g., Sprinkle salt over the meat vs. Sprinkle the meat with salt), Japanese has considerably fewer alternating verbs, requiring the use of different verbs in the realm of seasoning. The difference is accounted for in light of “fashions of speaking” (e.g., Ikegami, 1985).
Keywords: culinary expression, recipe, verbs of seasoning, Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), locative alternation, English-Japanese comparison
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cooking and grammar
    • 2.1Why study culinary expressions?
    • 2.2Previous studies on culinary expressions
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Verbs of seasoning
    • 4.1Verbs expressing addition, coating, rubbing, and mixing
    • 4.2Suru
    • 4.3Verbs for arranging and attaching
  • 5.Constructions
    • 5.1Japanese verbs of seasoning and their English counterparts
    • 5.2From the viewpoint of fashions of speaking
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 09 February 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.25.09non
References
Anderson, S. R.
(1971) On the role of deep structure in semantic interpretation. Foundations of language, 7 , 387–396.Google Scholar
Aoyama, F.
(1987) Ryōri no bunshō ni okeru teidai-ka no yakuwari [The role of topicalization in culinary texts]. In Mizutani Shizuo kyoju kanreki kinenkai (Ed.), Keiryō kokugo-gaku to nihongo shori: Riron to ōyō [Mathematical Linguistics and Language Processing for Japanese: Theory and Practice] (pp. 285–303). Tokyo: Akiyama Shoten.Google Scholar
Brown, G., & Yule, G.
(1983) Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chujo, K., & Uchiyama, M.
(2004) Tōkei-teki shihyō o riyō-shita tokuchōgo chūshutsu ni kansuru kenkyū. [Using statistical measures to extract specialized vocabulary from a corpus]. Kanto-Kōshin-Etsu Eigo Kyōiku Gakkai Kiyō [The bulletin of the Kanto-koshin-etsu English Language Education Society] 18 , 99–108.Google Scholar
Fukui, N., Miyagawa, S., & Tenny, C.
(1985) Verb classes in English and Japanese: A case study in the interaction of syntax, morphology and semantics. Lexicon Project Working Papers 3, Center for cognitive science. MIT, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Harada, S. I.
(2000[1973]) Counter Equi NP deletion. In N. Fukui. (Ed.), Shintakusu to imi: Harada Shin-ichi gengogaku ronbun senshu [Syntax and meaning: S. I. Harada collected works in linguistics], (pp.181–215). Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M.
(1993) More on the typology of inchoative/causative verb alternations. In B. Comrie & M. Polinsky (Eds.), Causatives and transitivity (pp. 87–120). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hunston, S.
(2002) Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ichikawa, S.
(Ed.) (1995) Shinpen-eiwa-katsuyō-daijiten [The Kenkyusha dictionary of English collocations]. Tokyo: Kenkyusha.Google Scholar
Ikarashi, K., Fukutome, N., & Tsuyukubo, M.
(2016) Kyōshoku katei no chōri-jisshu ni okeru daigakusei no ishiki-chōsa: “Kiru koto” o oshieru negate ishiki nit suite. [A report on university students’ attitudes toward the practical cooking component of home economics teacher training: General lack of confidence in ability to teach cutting process]. Bunka Gakuen Daigaku Kiyō [The Bulletin of Bunka Gakuen University], 47 , 153–163.Google Scholar
Ikegami, Y.
(1981) “Suru” to “naru” no gengogaku [The linguistics of “do” and “become”]. Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
(1985) ‘Activity’-‘accomplishment’-‘achievement’: A language that can’t say ‘I burned it, but it didn’t burn’ and one that can. In A. Makkai (Ed.)., Linguistics and philosophy: Essays in honor of Rulon S. Wells (pp. 265–304). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2000) ‘Bounded’ vs. ‘unbounded’ to ‘cross-category harmony’ (17). [‘Bounded’ vs. ‘unbounded’ and ‘cross-category harmony’ (17)] Eigo Seinen [The Rising Generation], 146 (5), 316–319.Google Scholar
(2008) Subjective construal as a ‘fashion of speaking’ in Japanese. In María de los Ángeles Gómez González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie, and Elsa M. González Álvarez (Eds.), Current trends in contrastive linguistics: Functional and cognitive perspectives (pp. 227–250). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ishikawa, S.
(2008a) Eigo Kōpasu to gengo kyōiku: dēta to shite no tekusuto [English corpora and language teaching: Texts as data]. Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
(2008b) Korokēshon no Kyōdo o dō hakaru ka: daisu-keisū, t-sukoa, sōgo-jōhōryō o chūshin toshite. [How to calculate the strength of collocations: The case of Dice coefficient, t-score and MI-score]. Gengo-shori gakkai dai14-kai nenji taikai chūtoriaru shiryō [Proceedings of the Tutorial Program of the 14th Annual Meeting of the Association for Natural Language Processing], 40–50.Google Scholar
(2012) Bēshikku kōpasu gengo-gaku [A basic guide to corpus linguistics]. Tokyo: Hitsuji Shoboo.Google Scholar
Iwata, S.
(2008) Locative alternation: A lexical-constructional approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kageyama, T.
(1980) The Role of thematic relations in the spray paint hypallage. Papers in Japanese Linguistics, 7 , 35–64. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1996) Dōshi imiron [Verb semantics]. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar
Kishimoto, H.
(2001) Locative alternation in Japanese: A case study in the interaction between syntax and lexical semantics. Journal of Japanese linguistics, 17 , 59–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kunihiro, T.
(1981) Goi no kōzō no hikaku [The comparison of lexical structures]. In T. Kunihiro (Ed.), Imi to goi [Meaning and Lexicon] (pp. 15–52). Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
(1997) Risō no kokugo jiten. [A proposal for the improvement of Japanese dictionaries]. Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W.
(2000) A dynamic usage-based model. In M. Barlow & S. Kemmer (Eds.), Usage-based models of language, (pp. 1–63). Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Lehrer, A.
(1974) Semantic fields and lexical structure. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Levin, B.
(1993) English verb classes and alternations: A preliminary investigation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Maruta, T., & Suga, K.
(Eds.) (2000) Nichi-Eigo no jita no kōtai. [Causative alternation in Japanese and English]. Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobō.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Y.
(1997) Kūkan idō no gengo hyōgen to sono kakuchō [Expressions for motion event and their extension]. In M. Nakau (Ed.), Kūkan to idō no hyōgen [Expressions for space and motion] (pp.125–230). Tokyo: Kenkyuusha.Google Scholar
(1999) Kōbirudo kōpasu to eiwa jiten ni okeru spray/load kōtai [The spray/load alternation in the COBUILD corpus and English-Japanese dictionaries. Meiji gakuin daigaku kyōiku kenkyūjo kiyō [The Bulletin of Meiji Gakuin Research Center for Foreign Language Education], 9 , 23–35.Google Scholar
Mikami, A.
(1969) Zō wa hana ga nagai: Nihon bunpō nyūmon [Elephants have a long trunk: An introduction to Japanese grammar]. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar
National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
The Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (Chunagon). Retrieved from https://​chunagon​.ninjal​.ac​.jp​/search
Nishimura, Y., & Hasegawa, S.
(2016) Goi, bunpo, konomareru īmawashi: Ninchi-bunpō no shiten [Lexicon, grammar and fashions of speaking: from the viewpoint of Cognitive Grammar]. In K. Fujita and Y. Nishimura (Eds.), Nichi-ei taishō goi to bunpō heno tōgō teki apurōchi [Integrated approaches to lexicon and grammar: Contrastive analyses of Japanese and English] (pp. 282–307). Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Google Scholar
Nonaka, D.
(2016, July). How to cook with the locative alternation. Paper presented at the 6th UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Bangor University.
(2017a) Chōmiryō o kakeru koto o arawasu nihongo no dōshi to bashokaku kōtai: Gendai nihongo kaki-kotoba kinkō kōpasu o mochī-te [Verbs of seasoning in Japanese and the locative alternation: An analysis based on the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese]. Tōkyō Daigaku Gengo-gaku Ronshū [Tokyo University Linguistics Papers], 38 , 177–195.Google Scholar
(2017b) Hi-kōtai-dōshi ga kōtai-suru toki: Ruisui to bunmyaku kara miru kōbun no seisansei [When non-alternating verbs alternate: Constructional productivity, analogy and context]. Human Linguistics Review, 2 , 47–63.Google Scholar
Okutsu, K.
(1980) Dōshi bunkei no hikaku. In T. Kunihiro (Ed.), Bunpō [Grammar] (pp. 63–100). Tokyo: Taishukan.Google Scholar
(1981) Idō henka dōshi bun: Iwayuru spray paint hypallage ni tsuite [The constructions for motion and change: On the so-called spray paint hypallage]. Kokugo-gaku [Japanese Linguistics], 127 , 21–33.Google Scholar
Pinker, S.
(1989) Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Shibatani, M.
(1990) The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sinclair, J. M.
(1991) Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stubbs, M.
(2002) Words and phrases: Corpus studies of lexical semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Takano, T., & Ueshima, S.
(2003) Cooking scenario: Reshipi no shinario-ka to sono ōyō [Cooking scenario: Cooking support system with cooking scenario], Denshi Jōhō Tsūshin Gakkai Gijutsu Kenkyū Hōkoku [Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers], 103 (190), 19–24.Google Scholar
Talmy, L.
(1985) Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Vol. 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (pp. 57–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2000) Toward a cognitive semantics, Vol. II: Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. R.
(2006) Polysemy and the lexicon. In G. Kristiansen, M. Achard, R. Dirven & F. J. R. D. Mendoza Ibáñez (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics: Current applications and future perspectives (pp. 51–80). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2012) The mental corpus: How language is represented in the mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Washio, R.
(1997) Resultatives, compositionality and language variation. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 6 , 1–49. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Whorf, B. L.
(1956) Language, thought, and reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Yoshikawa, C.
(1995) Nichi-ei hikaku dōshi no bunpō [A contrastive analysis of Japanese and English verbs]. Tokyo: Kuroshio.Google Scholar
Yumoto, Y.
(2010) Variation in N-V compound verbs in Japanese. Lingua, 120 , 2388–2404. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2015) Nihongo no dōshi renyōkei o shuyōbu to suru dōmeishi ni tsuite. [On the nouns containing V-infinitive as a head] Gengo bunka kyōdō kenkyū purojekuto [Joint project on language and culture], 89–98.Google Scholar