A Diachronic Analysis of Demonstrative Pronouns Based on the Corpus of Historical Japanese

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to explore the chronological variation of demonstrative pronouns using the Corpus of Historical Japanese. As the forms of demonstrative pronouns change with time, this study utilized the classification based on the word-initial (ko-, so-, ka-, and a-) and word-final forms (zero, -no, -re, -ko, -nata, and -chi). The locally weighted (LOESS) smoothing regression was performed to investigate the frequency change patterns of these word forms from the Nara to the Taisho period in Japan. The results show that (1) the total number of demonstrative pronouns increased, (2) the so- form increased, the ko- and a- forms were frequent in the 1700s and 1800s, and the ka- form increased after 1800, and (3) the zero form decreased, the -re form increased, the -no form increased after 1700, and the -ko, -nata, and -chi forms decreased in the early modern period after an increase in the Edo period.