Formation and Development of Moyō-da

Abstract

The form Moyō-da consists of the noun moyō ‘situation' and the copula da and expresses speaker's inference based on the evidence in modern Japanese. By examining the usage of the noun moyō diachronically, this paper reveals historical development of moyō-da, that is, the process how it has formed and established. Moyō-da began to be used in 1870-80s (the middle Meiji period), and was used continually after the 20th century. It is noteworthy that moyō-da was frequently used in newspaper articles. The article style became colloquial and the form moyō-ari declined in 1920s, therefore, the use of moyō at the end of sentence developed, and the form moyō-da established. However, moyō-da in 1920-30s was not equal to the one in modern Japanese from the viewpoint of a form prior to moyō. It seems that moyō-da became grammatical just like modern Japanese after the late of 20th century. This paper argues that moyō-da was formed and established as a result of nominality of moyō being declined. Furthermore, it turns out that the development of moyō-da is closely related to the property of writing style in newspaper articles.