A Process of Grammaticalization Seen in the History of Japanese Conditional Expressions

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to assemble the various current results of research concerning the history of conditional expressions and reconsider them from the viewpoint of grammaticalization. With junsetsu (expected and reasonable) suppositional conditions, the development of the forms nara(ba) and tara(ba) are related to the shift from mizenkei+ba to izenkei (kateikei)+ba. With junsetsu kakutei (established) conditions, I confirmed the situation of the development of aida and hodoni. On gyakusetsu (concessive) kakutei conditions, keredomo (one of the modern conjunctive forms) is related to the process of transition from the auxiliary verb maji to majii or mai. Moreover, the development of the conjunctive form tokorode shows aspects of the transition from formal noun to conjunction.