Haida, a language isolate spoken in the northwestern coast of North America, uses classifiers on verbs to denote the semantic category of the referent of a noun that functions as the subject of an intransitive clause or the object of a transitive clause. The present study shows that the functions of Haida classifiers can be roughly divided into static and dynamic in terms of the degree of dependence on the contexts in which they occur. The former function relates to noun classification, in which classifiers refer to inherent properties of the syntactically associated noun, whereas in the latter function, classifiers denote the temporal state of the noun referent or the state or manner of an action to add some meaning to the verbal root. Thus, Haida classifiers can be considered distinctive in that they cover a wide range of functions, from typical noun classifications to various other kinds of functions.

Abstract: This study investigated nDrapa classifiers according to nominalization theory. First, based on Shibatani’s (2021a) definition of classifiers, I defined nDrapa classifiers as a class of words that can follow a numeral to nominalize it and categorize the numeral-based nominalization. On one hand, the definition distinguishes classifiers and other categories of words; on the other hand, it allows us to examine various aspects of classifiers consistently. Next, in three semantic categories—[i] individual, [ii] collective, and [iii] mensural—I examined properties of frequently used classifiers. Characteristically, both the default individual classifier ji and the proper human classifier zja are used for the number of humans. This is probably a feature of the northern regions of the Qiangic language area. Possible etyma of the classifiers include borrowing and grammaticalization of content words, although detailed study of their historical development remains for future reserch. Finally, I examined the grammaticalization process in contrast with compounds and verbal nouns, which in previous studies were regarded as a type of classifier. I concluded that they are different constructions synchronically, but they shared common features of origin in the grammaticalization process.

In order to analyze the differences and similarities of text genres, this study used the treebank of the core data of Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (UD Japanese BCCWJ). Comparing six genres, white papers, newspapers, books, magazines, Yahoo! Blogs, and Yahoo! Chiebukuro, we investigated the phase differences in syntactic dependency relations, syntactic complexities, and dependency directions. The result shows that there are obvious differences in syntactic dependency relations, syntactic complexities, and dependency directions among text genres. It suggests that these three indicators reflect the characteristics of text genres to some extent as well as indicators like content words or function words. This research used the Japanese corpus with syntactic annotations to analyze the phase differences of text genres in syntactic aspects. Through these analyses, we found that the dependency distance, which indicates the syntactic complexity, tends to be minimized among different text genres. This could be a common law among phases.

In this paper, we analyze the data of a dialect survey conducted in the Shonai district of Yamagata Prefecture and discuss the change from a period of large regional differences to a period of large generation differences. “Hamaogi” is a dialect glossary of Tsuruoka in the Shonai district of Yamagata Prefecture, which was compiled in 1767. In 1950 and 2018, the Hamaogi Survey was conducted to examine the remnant rate of the vocabulary items in the glossary. The data consists of seven age groups at intervals of about 20 years, so the maximum difference between the youngest and eldest groups was about 140 years. The time length is large for a glottogram which is usually 60 or 70 years apart. About 370 people from 27 localities were plotted in 27 pillars by age difference in “age pillar maps”, and “simplified glottograms”.

This paper first explains the overall picture of the age and regional differences and presents eight typical glottograms. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was applied to 406 words from the glossary and the values of the first to fourth axes were shown in scattergrams. The difference in vocabulary by age and locality for each of the 370 informants was shown in “simplified glottograms”. Results showed the difference according to age was most significant. The significance of the length of 140 years appeared on the first axis. The second, third and fourth axes all pointed to the regional differences in the Shonai dialect, showing an overarching tendency of contrast between north and south. 250 years have passed since the compilation of Hamaogi. Rapid standardization progressed after the War, and the dialect situation shifted from a time with large regional difference to a time with large generational difference.

In this project, we first investigated interpretations of Japanese quantified sentences like ‘(Q)NP1-nom (Q)NP2-acc V’ in a novel way. We found that, in more than half of the responses we obtained, the sentences were not interpreted based on tripartite structures (we named such quantification ‘non-TPS (tripartite structure) quantification’). Next, two experiments were carried out to measure the reading times of sentences with an embedded relative clause, such as ‘(Q)NP1-nom [(Q)NP2-acc V3] N4-acc V5,’ where N4 is a head noun modified by a relative clause. The findings revealed that the reading time of N4 was longer, an example of the garden path effect, when Qs tended to receive interpretations based on non-TPS quantification. These results and their implications are discussed according to the following hypothesis: When a Q is interpreted without TPS quantification, the interpretation of the whole quantified sentence is immediately determined, whereas the interpretation decision is temporarily delayed when TPS quantification is involved.

The Anatolian languages have virtually no attestation of simple thematic verbs in *-e/o-, but thematic verbs with the suffixes *-i̯e/o- and *-sk̑e/o- are abundantly attested. They were both used to form the present stem. There is no compelling evidence for reconstructing the thematic vowel *-o- in the active paradigm for Proto-Anatolian. The persistent e-vocalism is a feature inherited from Proto-Indo-European. The thematic conjugation originated from the root accented ´-i̯e/o-present. After Anatolian split off, the extra-Anatolian branches remaining as a unity underwent the phonological rule that changed *e to *o in post-tonic closed syllables, so that the alternation of *´-i̯e- and *´-i̯o- was introduced into the verbal paradigm. The vowels *e and *o of the suffix immediately preceding the endings came to be reinterpreted as a part of the endings, and the new endings with *-e/o- later spread to the simple thematic active verbs.

This paper aims to describe two accent pattern alternations observed in the Keihan-type accent of the Japanese Kohoku dialect spoken in Shiga prefecture, and to clarify their forms and meanings. This dialect has two varieties of the ‘no=da’ structure for nominal predicates; one is the unmarked ‘=N=ya’ that maintains pitch patterns of predicate sentences, and the other is the marked ‘=N (=ya)’ that cancels pitch patterns, removing the accent. The unmarked form can be used in any situation where ‘no=da’ would be used in standard Japanese, whereas the marked form only appears in cases where the speaker has prior knowledge of the topic and intends to explain or confirm that knowledge with the hearer. The alternation patterns of the ‘no=da’ structure in declarative sentences corresponds with previous studies such as Inoue (2006a), which explain that different dialect varieties distinguish two different meanings of ‘no=da’ in standard Japanese. They also support the argument that such patterns can be considered grammaticalization in Japanese dialects, and suggest that they can be applied in interrogative sentences. In this dialect, differentiation occurs through accent alternations, and meaning is related to modality. Taking these into account, this paper argues that pitch patterns are important factors that should be considered in relation to grammaticalization and modality in Japanese dialects.