Abstract
This paper aims to describe the stylistic features of words by investigating correspondences between words contained within tales sharing the same origin in the Konjaku Monogatarishu ('Tales of Times Now Past'; Konjaku) and Uji Shui Monogatari ('Tales from Uji Collection'; Uji). We first tokenized six pairs of tales sharing the same origin within Konjaku and Uji, from which we then compiled a parallel corpus. After extracting words having a high ratio of corresponding word types between Konjaku and Uji from the parallel corpus, we were able to further classify words based on their inclusion of formal or informal stylistic features. Based on the list of extracted words, we further analyzed correspondences between the two stylistic types in all of the 83 text pairs contained within the parallel corpus. The results clearly indicate that the difference between a word corresponding to itself or to another word depends on its semantic usage. Additionally, these differences were found to be stratified according to the ratio between formal and informal stylistic features. Finally, the words corresponding with different words within the parallel corpus of Konjaku and Uji are thought to be synonyms belonging to opposing styles.
