by hkum

Tokyo University Linguistic Papers Vol. 18 : Abstracts


UWANO Zendô, "Accent of the Conjugated Forms of the Higashi-ku Dialect, Yoron Island"

Paradigms of 46 verbs and 7 adjectives of the Higashi-ku dialect are presented with particular reference to the prosodeme. Regularities in the accent patterns of the paradigms are treated.


IIDA Asako, "Classifiers for Counting Actions and Events : Comparison between 'kai' and 'do'"

Japanese has two major classifiers for counting actions and events: "kai" and "do". These two classifiers are interchangeable in most cases, but not always. In this paper, we compare the similarities and differences of the use of these classifiers, with reference to examples and figures foud in our database. We suggest that "kai" has a wider range of usage than "do", and that the types of actions and events play an important role in deciding which classifier to choose.


JIN Namtaek, "A Quantitative Linguistic Study on the Functional Load of Phonemes and Phoneme Sequences in Standard Korean"

Not all linguistic units are of equal importance in the functioning of language. The present study aims to examine the functional load of phonemes, phoneme sequences, syllables and phonological rules in Korean. To achieve these goals, I analyzed continuous texts selected from the textbooks of elementary schools on a personal computer. The total number of syllables studied in this thesis is 101,636. In chapter 2, the notion of functional load is defined and the method of examining is introduced. In chapter 3, the functional load (frequency) of phonemes is investigated according to its places in the syllable structure. In chapter 4, I discuss which phoneme sequences are favored or disfavored and survey the frequency of syllables, phoneme sequences and phonological rules in Korean.

The characteristics of the Korean syllable structure are as follows:

  1. At the syllable head, /n/ occurs most frequently.
  2. The frequency of syllables with an onset is much higher than that with no onset (85% : 15%).
  3. At the syllable head, obstruents are preferred (57%).
  4. As the syllable nucleus, /a/ occurs most frequently.
  5. At the syllable coda, /n/ occurs most frequently.
  6. The open syllable is favored (open syllables 68.7% : closed syllable 31.3%).
  7. Of all the syllables /ni/ occurs most frequently.
  8. A syllable contains 2.27 phonemes on the average.
  9. In the sequences of a syllable head and a nucleus, /n + i/ occurs most frequently.
  10. In the intersyllabic consonant sequences, /m + n/ occurs most frequently.
  11. Of the phonological rules, resyllabification applies most frequently.

HAYASI Tooru, "Insertion of German Verbal Elements into Turkish Discourse by Turkish/German Bilingual Speakers in Berlin"

It is widely observed that German lexical items are copied in the Turkish discourse of Turkish/German bilingual people in Germany. Although copied elements are in most cases nominals, verbal elements are also copied with the support of the Turkish 'light verbs' yap- and et-. In this paper, based on the interviews with ten young adult bilingual speakers, it is shown that there is a correlation between the speakers' linguistic backgrounds and their judgments on the acceptability of copied German infinitives in Turkish discourse.


SASAHARA Ken, "On Double Modals in German"

German has constructions in which two modal verbs (MV) co-occur in a single clause. However, there are limitations on their possible combinations. The aim of this paper is to survey the factors influencing co-occurrence. One factor which plays an important role is the meaning of the MVs, expecially the "objective" and "subjective" use as traditionally defined. The grammatical person of the subject, tense, and polarity partly affect the acceptability of co-occurrences.


SUGIMOTO Hirokazu, "On the Differences among the Old English Words micel, manig and fela ('much, many') in Their Nominal Use: A Study Based on the Data from the Prosaic Works Written in the West-Saxon Dialect"

The aim of this paper is to make clear the differences among the three Old English words micel, manig and fela ('much, many') in their nominal use both grammatically and semantically. On the basis of the data from the prosaic works written in the West-Saxon dialect, we can reach the following conclusions:

  1. Micel denotes the concept of 'amount'. When it is used collectively, it focuses on a group as a whole. When micel co-occurs with a noun, it is closely connected with it. In other words, micel can be considered to be highly dependent on other nouns.
  2. Manig denotes the idea of 'number'. When it is used collectively, it focuses on the individual members of a group. in comparison with micel, manig is loosely connected with the noun which co-occurs, that is, manig can be said to be independent of other nouns.
  3. Basically, fela can be considered to have a nature which is intermediate between that of micel and that of manig. However, it can denote the idea of 'number' in the singular. It can also denote the part-whole relationship between itself and the genitive noun which co-occurs concerning 'number', with itself in the singular and the genitive noun in the plural. Moreover, as compared with micel and manig, fela can be said to have a nature of indefiniteness in a higher degree. In those points we can see the characteristicss of fela which cannot be found in the other two.

YUKAWA Yasutoshi, "A Tonological Study of Mbalanhu Verbs"

The Mbalanhu language (oshimbalánhu) is one of the Ovambo languages spoken in the Northern part of Namibia.

The aim of this paper is to describe the tonal figures of its verbal forms such as the infinitive and various indicative forms etc. and to examine to what extent they are regularly constututed.


EBINA Daisuke, "The -spa and -qti Clauses in Cuzco Quechua"

The -spa and -qti clauses, indicating adverbial meaning, are treated in this paper. Their semantic and syntactic differences are discussed. It has so far been considered that the morphemes -spa and -qti indicate "same subject" and "different subject" respectively. The possibility that these morphemes are not the so-called switch reference markers and that their choice of use is semantically motivated, is discussed. It is concluded that these morphemes are not the switch reference markers at all.


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