Chapter published in:
Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics: Studies in honor of John B. Whitman
Edited by Kunio Nishiyama, Hideki Kishimoto and Edith Aldridge
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 250] 2018
► pp. 97–121

Chapter 5. Autosegmental evaluative morphology in Japanese

Augmentative and diminutive mimetics

| Tohoku Gakuin University

Augmentatives and diminutives have never been recognized as such in grammars of Japanese though they constitute well-recognized classes in many languages, under the rubric of evaluative morphology. This study puts forward a view that the Japanese augmentatives and diminutives are found predominantly in the mimetic vocabulary, and especially as autosegmental subphonemic morphemes, thus escaping recognitions as such, in otherwise segmental agglutinative morphology of Japanese.

Keywords: autosegmental morphology, evaluative morphology, subphonemic morpheme, augmentative, intensification, diminutive, mimetics
Published online: 12 December 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.250.06toy
References

References

Abercrombie, D.
1967 Elements of General Phonetics. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Akita, K.
2009 A Grammar of Sound-Symbolic Words in Japanese: Theoretical Approaches to Iconic and Lexical Properties of Mimetics. PhD dissertation, Kobe University.Google Scholar
Allen, M. R.
1978 Morphological Investigations. PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs.Google Scholar
Beard, R.
1982 The plural as lexical derivation. Glossa 16: 133–148.Google Scholar
1995 Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology: A General Theory of Inflection and Word Formation. New York NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, L.
1996 No phonetic iconicity in evaluative morphology. Studia Linguistica 50: 189–206.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1997 Evaluative morphology: In search of universals. Studies in Language 21: 533–575.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S. & Ueda, I.
2002 Mora augmentation processes in Japanese. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 18: 1–23.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dressler, W. U. & Merlini-Barbaresi, L. M.
1994 Morphopragmatics: Diminutives and Intensifiers in Italian, German and Other Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Grandi, N.
2002 Morphologie in contatto. Le construzioni valutative nelle lingue del Mediterraneo. Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
2015 The place of evaluation within morphology. In Grandi & Körtvélyessy (eds.), 74–90Google Scholar
Grandi, N. & Körtvélyessy, L.
(eds.) 2015 Edinburgh Handbook of Evaluative Morphology. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Haas, M.
1972 The expression of the diminutive. In Linguistics in Honor of. G. L. Trager , E. M. Smith (ed.), 148–152. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Halle, M. & Mohanan, K. P.
1985 Segmental phonology of modern English. Linguistic Inquiry 16: 57–116.Google Scholar
Hamano, S. S.
1986 The Sound-Symbolic System of Japanese. PhD dissertation, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Itô, J. & Mester, A. R.
1986 The phonology of voicing in Japanese. Linguistic Inquiry 17: 49–73.Google Scholar
1995 Japanese phonology. In The Handbook of Phonological Theory, John A. Goldsmith (ed.) 817–838. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jurafsky, D.
1993 Universals in the semantics of the diminutive. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Semantic Typology and Semantic Universals, 423–436.Google Scholar
Kadooka, K.-I.
2007 Nihongo Onomatope-goi-ni okeru Keitaiteki/On’inteki Taikeisei-ni tuite (On morphological and phonological systematicity in Japanese onomatopoeic vocabularies). Tokyo: Kurosio.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P.
1982 From cyclic to lexical phonology. In The Structure of Phonological Representations, Vol. I, H. van der Hulst & N. Smith (eds.), 131–175. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Körtvélyessy, L.
2015 Evaluative Morphology from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Körtvélyessy, L. & Stekauer, P.
(eds.) 2011 Diminutives and Augmentatives in the Languages of the World: Lexis 6. E-Journal in English Lexicology . <http://​screcherche​.univ​-lyon3​.fr​/lexis>Google Scholar
Kuroda, S.-Y.
1965 Generative Grammatical Studies in the Japanese Language. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Ladd, R. D.
2014 Simultaneous Structure in Phonology. Oxford: OUP.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G.
1987 Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lyman, B. S.
1894 The Change from Surd to Sonant in Japanese Compounds. Philadelphia PA: Oriental Club of Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Martin, S. E.
1952 Morphophonemics of standard colloquial Japanese. Language 28: 7–115.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McCawley, J. D.
1968 The Phonological Component of a Grammar of Japanese. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Merlini Barbaresi, L.
2015 Evaluative morphology and pragmatics. In Grandi & Körtvélyessy (eds.), 32–42.Google Scholar
Mester, A. R. & Itô, J.
1989 Feature predictability and underspecification: Palatal prosody in Japanese mimetics. Language 65: 258–293.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mithun, M.
1999 The Native Languages of North America. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, E. A.
1978 Reduplicative constructions. In Universals of Human Language, Vol. 3: Word Structure, J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson & E. A. Moravcsik (eds.), 297–334. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Nasu, A.
2002 Nihongo Onomatope no Go-Keisei to Inritu-Koozoo (Word formation and prosodic structures of Japanese onomatopoeia). PhD dissertation, University of Tsukuba.Google Scholar
Nieuwenhuis, P.
1985 Diminutives. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Oosterhoff, J.
2015 Modern Dutch Grammar: A Practical Guide. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pentland, D. H.
1975 Diminutive consonant symbolism in Algonquian. In Papers of the Sixth Algonquian Conference, 1974, W. Cowan (ed.), 237–252. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Poser, W. J.
1984a The Phonetics and Phonology of Tone and Intonation in Japanese. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
1984b Hypocoristic formation in Japanese. Proceedings of the Third West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 218–229.Google Scholar
1990 Evidence for foot structure in Japanese. Language 66: 78–105.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Prieto, V. M.
2005 Spanish Evaluative Morphology: Pragmatic, Sociolinguistic, and Semantic Issues. PhD dissertation, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Rubino, C.
2005 Reduplication: Form, function, and distribution. In Studies on Reduplication, Bernhard Hurch & Veronika Mattes (eds.), 11–29. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sasaki, H.
1977 Aishoogo Keisei no Onseiteki Tokuchoo (Phonetic properties of hypocoristics formation). Onsei Gakkai Kaihoo 156: 22–24.Google Scholar
Scalise, S.
1984 Generative Morphology. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Shibatani, M.
1990 The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Siegel, D. C.
1974 Topics in English Morphology. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M.
2006 Pragmatic indexing. In Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Vol. VI, K. Brown (ed.) 14–17. Oxford: Elsevier.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stump, G. T.
1993 How peculiar is evaluative morphology. Journal of Linguistics 29: 1–36.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Štekauer, P.
2015 Word-formation processes in evaluative morphology. In Grandi & Körtvélyessy (eds.), 43–60.Google Scholar
Suzuki, T.
1962 On-in Kootai to Igi Bunka no Kankei ni Tsuite – Iwayuru Sei-Daku-On no Tairitsu wo Chuushinn to Site – (Associative and dissociative function of some morphophonemic contrasts in present-day Japanese). Gengo Kenkyuu 42: 23–30.Google Scholar
Tovena, L. M.
2015 Evaluative morphology and aspect/actionality. In Grandi & Körtvélyessy (eds.), 108–120.Google Scholar
Tsujimura, N.
1996 An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ultan, R.
1978 Size-sound symbolism. In Universals of Human Language, Vol. 2: Phonology, J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson & E. A. Moravcsik (eds.), 525–568. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Vance, T. J. & Irwin, M.
(eds.) 2016 Sequential Voicing in Japanese: Papers from the NINJAL Rendaku Project [Studies in Language Companion Series 176]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wierzbicka, A.
1996 Semantics: Primes and Universals. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, N.
2002 Inu wa “Biyo” to Naite Ita: Nihongo wa Giongo/Gitaigo ga Omosiroi (Dogs used to bark “Biyo”: In Japanese, it is mimetics that are interesting). Tokyo: Kobunsha.Google Scholar