Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

DOI

10.1016/j.lingua.2018.10.002

Publication Title

Lingua

Volume

217

Pages

1-23

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study of the Japanese (pseudo-)cleft no-wa construction, schematized as: [clause] no-wa [NP/AdvP/clause] (da), in four spoken/written registers: informal conversations, academic presentations, news reports, and newspaper editorials. The study finds that the no-wa cleft appears more frequently in non-objective discourse that deals with a higher level of complexity. Close examination of instantiations of the no-wa cleft uncovers various register-oriented functions that show a varied degree of family resemblance with one another. These functions can be subsumed under two general functional properties of the no-wa construction: highlighting function at the local level and (retrospective) anticipatory function at the global level. This study shows that the family resemblance model provides a realistic and inclusive (albeit complex) account of the relationship between grammatical forms, their functions, and the contexts of use.

Comments

This is the author final version of an article published in Lingua: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2018.10.002

ORCID

0000-0002-7183-9888 (Kaneyasu)

Original Publication Citation

Kaneyasu, M. (2019). The family of Japanese no-wa cleft construction: A register-based analysis. Lingua, 217, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2018.10.002

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