A Historical Study on the Formation of the Personal Pronoun Konata

Abstract

It is well known that many Japanese personal pronouns derive from common nouns and demonstrative pronouns, and the formation of such personal pronouns is thought to follow a common pattern. This paper attempts to clarify the formation pattern of personal pronouns.

This paper has two purposes: (1) to clarify how the second person pronoun konata was formed and (2) to describe the pattern of its formation.

The results of this study reveal that the second person pronoun konata was formed as follows. Originally, konata expressed the physical space occupied by the speaker. It then came to express one side of a two-part division of space occupied by the speaker and addressee(s). At this point, the person or people occupying the space became the focal point of konata, resulting in konata expanding in scope to express the person or people in the space near the speaker. This usage became widely accepted in situations where it was necessary to express distance between the speaker and addressee(s). Thus, we can say that the dietic meaning of space occupied by the speaker was applied to cover the person or people near the speaker. Finally, this usage as a personal pronoun came to be restricted to the addressee(s), giving rise to the second person pronoun konata.

In conclusion, it was discovered that there are three processes which drive the formation of personal pronouns: (1) expansion in scope to express a person or people, (2) application of dietic meaning, and (3) development of restriction in person. This same formation process is observed in other personal pronouns as well, suggesting that it is a common formation pattern of personal pronouns in Japanese.