The ‘Fuzzy’ Boundary Between Two Types of Japanese Adjectives

• Author / Creator

  Tariq, Ana Kanza

• The two kinds of Japanese adjectives, i-adjectives and na-adjectives, along with nouns,
  employ different forms (-i, -na, and no) to modify a noun. Based on such patterns, along with
  other grammatical characteristics identified in constructed examples, boundaries between
  lexical categories have traditionally been understood to be clear-cut.
  However, Uehara (1998, 2003) has found a number of lexical items which inflect both
  as na-adjectives and nouns. In fact, Uehara finds that more than 70 percent of na-taking
  lexical items exhibit noun-like behaviours. Using prior research to support his claim
  (Rosch1978; Lakoff 1987; Taylor 1989), he has suggested that the boundaries between lexical
  categories might not be as clear-cut as previously conceived.
  This thesis supports Uehara’s proposal by highlighting a new set of data from internet
  discourse which suggests that the boundary between i-adjectives and na-adjectives might also
  be ‘fuzzy’, using examples in which what are traditionally considered i-adjectives are
  inflected as na-adjectives. It presents the results of two studies. The first looks at the factors
  of word length and frequency of use of lexical items and how they affect this ‘improper’
  i-adjective conjugation in internet discourse. The second is a survey conducted to see how
  “natural sounding” native Japanese speakers consider this usage.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Prototypicality
  • Adjectives
  • Japanese
  • 'Fuzzy' Boundaries
  • Lexical Categories

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3SQ8R049

• License

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