Edited by Chiara Fedriani and Andrea Sansó
[Studies in Language Companion Series 186] 2017
► pp. 305–333
This paper discusses the source lexemes and the grammaticalization pathways leading to such end products as Discourse Markers (DMs), Modal Markers (MMs), and Pragmatic Markers (PMs) in relation to the layered structures of Japanese syntax, as well as issues of left/right peripheries (LP/RP). It points out that DMs and MMs are categorically parallel, but PMs are not. Further, source lexemes for DMs and MMs show the preferred directionality of positional shifts based on their semantic characters. PMs source items remain within the Core. The function-periphery mappings in Japanese support Beeching & Detges’ (2014) function-periphery asymmetry hypothesis as general tendencies, but also deviate from it as LP and RP are both subjective and intersubjective, reflecting the symmetrical layered structure.