Abstract
This paper describes case particles, especially those which function to mark instrument or material, in the Tsuken Island dialect of Okinawa, Japan. The functions of these particles have been elucidated by syntactic analysis. Based on co-occurrence relations between the case particles and verbs, we discovered that the functions of the particles are determined by the meanings of the verbs. As a result of consideration along these lines, the following three points are elucidated. 1) The case particles which have the function of indicating instrument or material are the three case particles 〓i, 〓ka, and kara. These are distinguished in usage by the nouns and verbs they are used with. 2) These particles co-occur with verbs which have the meaning of "action", "change" or "movement". These meanings influence the choice of particles. 〓i co-occurs with "action" and "change of state" verbs 〓ka co-occurs with "change of location", "change of form", and "change of state" verbs kara co-occurs with verbs which have the meaning of the "movement", "transmitting information", "receiving information", and "production" 3) The meanings of the verbs which co-occur with the particles 〓ka and kara are more concrete and semantically restricted (for example the meanings of "movement", "change of form", and "receiving information") than those that co-occur with the particle 〓i. But 〓i is not so restricted, with the result that, in the relationship between 〓i and verbs, 〓i has more flexibility. For this reason, 〓i is in the process of acquiring the functions of the particles 〓ka and kara.
