The Morphological Aspect of Grammaticalization in Japanese(<Special Issue>Grammaticalization in Japanese)

Abstract

Suffixation and auxiliation of morphologically independent words and syntactic structures has been recognized as one of the most salient features of grammaticalization from early on. However, mainly for theory-internal reasons, most contemporary studies of grammaticalization rather focus on semantic and pragmatic features of the process. With respect to Japanese this is rather unfortunate, because the language offers abundant material for the study of the morphological aspect of grammaticalization. In this paper, I will show that four general rules can be observed in the grammaticalization of morphemes in verb morphology: (1) suffixation of originally morphologically independent material, (2) fusion of morphemes, (3) phonological reduction, and (4) conversion of derivational suffixes into inflectional suffixes. Although these processes are very well known in grammaticalization theory, it is crucial to remember that they can only be pinned down concretely with the help of a rigorous methodology. I further point out that two processes, namely analogy and exaptation, are at work in exceptions to the above-mentioned rules.