The Japanese “-i-drop Construction”: From the Perspective of Form and Meaning

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to clarify the correlation between form and meaning shown by Japanese spoken expressions employing “-i-drop constructions”, which are produced by eliding an adjective’s Conclusive inflectional suffix and adding a glottal stop to the end of the adjectival stem, as seen in examples such as Dasaʔ! ‘How uncool!’ and Kimochiwaruʔ! ‘How disgusting!’. Syntactically, the -i-drop construction lacks the functional categories of C, T, and Neg, and can be thought of as a type of small clause that forms a root clause, or “root small clause” (Progovac 2006). Semantically, the -i-drop construction “gives vent to” (rather than “communicates”) the speaker’s sensation or judgement at the time of speech, and as such is a construction dedicated solely to “private expression acts” (Hirose 1995, 1997). This study examines the -i-drop construction’s syntactic characteristics and its semantic characteristics, each in light of the other, and argues that the relationship between form and meaning in this case is not an arbitrary one, but rather an organic integration of motivatedness, iconicity, and markedness.