University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics Linguistics 2017 THE SEMANTIC NATURE OF TENSE AMBIGUITY: RESOLVING TENSE AND ASPECT IN JAPANESE PHRASAL CONSTRUCTIONS Annabelle T. Bruno University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.421 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Bruno, Annabelle T., "THE SEMANTIC NATURE OF TENSE AMBIGUITY: RESOLVING TENSE AND ASPECT IN JAPANESE PHRASAL CONSTRUCTIONS" (2017). Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics. 24. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/24 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Linguistics at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Annabelle T. Bruno, Student Dr. Gregory Stump, Major Professor Dr. Rusty Barrett, Director of Graduate Studies THE SEMANTIC NATURE OF TENSE AMBIGUITY: RESOLVING TENSE AND ASPECT IN JAPANESE PHRASAL CONSTRUCTIONS THESIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Annabelle Talia Bruno Lexington, Kentucky Co-Directors: Dr. Gregory Stump, Professor of Linguistics and Dr. Fabiola Henri, ProFessor oF Linguistics Lexington, Kentucky 2017 Copyright© Annabelle Talia Bruno 2017 ABSTRACT OF THESIS THE SEMANTIC NATURE OF TENSE AMBIGUITY: RESOLVING TENSE AND ASPECT IN JAPANESE PHRASAL CONSTRUCTIONS The nature of tense in classical Japanese is vague and uncertain, sometimes appearing to be interpretable by combinations of particular verbs with specific verbal auxiliaries and sometimes appearing to be absent altogether. The present study introduces a series of these so-called tense-bearing auxiliaries in classical Japanese while attempting to show that their use can be ambiguous based on the contexts in which they appear. The notions of context driven semantic formalism are explored as a possible means to derive truth from these utterances that seem otherwise tenseless when taken out of context. To accomplish this, time and tense are given very specific meaning and definition and thereafter explored in the context of both modern and classical Japanese. KEYWORDS: Linguistics, Tense Semantics, Phrase Constructions, Japanese, Literary/Pre-modern Japanese Language Annabelle Talia Bruno 6-15-17 . THE SEMANTIC NATURE OF TENSE AMBIGUITY: RESOLVING TENSE AND ASPECT IN JAPANESE PHRASAL CONSTRUCTIONS By Annabelle Talia Bruno CoDr.Director of Thesis Gregory Stump - Co Director of Thesis Dr. Fabiola Henri - Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Rusty Barrett 6 15 - -17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the support and encouragement they gave so freely during the time I have spent chasing down my dreams, I must first thank my family. In particular, I owe so much of my own strength and perseverance to my son, who is the first thought I have when I wake in the morning and the last I have before I shut my eyes at night. To him: as you grow, I hope you will come to find as much enjoyment, as much peace, and as much fulfillment as I have found in the unending journey that lies in the pursuit oF knowledge. I would like to thank Dr. Gregory Stump, who became a trusted mentor to me during the time I invested in the study of semantics. He not only deepened my love for syntax, but also guided me into the search for linguistic meaning, and thereby fostered in me a love of all that linguistics can possibly be – the study oF what it is that language does. An unattributed Chinese maxim claims “Who tells me my faults is my teacher; who tells me my virtues does me harm,” and yet Dr. Stump was able to consistently point out my flaws and sing my praises without doing damage to my ego – his patience and wisdom are a rarity and will stay with me for many years to come. When I entered the field oF linguistics, I had little grasp oF the core principles that made one’s work linguistic. It was Dr. Fabiola Henri who welcomed me as a newcomer and took the time to guide me as I slowly found my footing as a fledgling iii pupil. Without her assistance, I assuredly could not have maintained the thirst for knowledge that I had and continue to have today. Lastly, I owe so much to Dr. Mark Lauersdorf, who opened the doors of his office to me time and time again. Whenever I found myself straying from the path – caught up or sidetracked by some tantalizing linguistic reality, it was Dr. Lauersdorf who would correct my course, either by helping me focus on what really matters, or by reminding me that everything is, in the end, connected. I will dearly miss our conversations and time together. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements . iii List of Tables . vi List of Figures . vii 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Tense ambiguity . 1 1.2. The scope of the present study . 17 1.3. Theoretical foundations . 20 1.3.1. Events in the past . 22 1.3.2. Events in the future . 25 1.3.3. The validity of assertions . 28 2. JAPANESE TENSES IN CONTEXT . 30 2.1 Verbs . 30 2.1.1 Inflection paradigms . 30 2.1.2 Conjugation classes . 32 2.2 Auxiliary Verbs . 32 2.2.1 The now verb ru/raru . 32 2.2.2. The perfective tsu/nu . 38 2.2.3. The resultatives tari and ri . 45 2.2.4. Personal past tense verb ki . 50 2.2.5. Storytelling past verb keri . 54 2.2.6. Speculative auxiliary verb ambiguities . 57 2.3. The nature of classical Japanese tenses . 59 3. CONCLUSION . 61 3.1. A formalism for Classical Japanese Semantics . 61 3.2 Possibilities for future study . 63 REFERENCE CITATIONS . 64 VITA . 67 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1, Pre-modern Japanese Paradigms . 30 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1, Comrie's Representation of the Timeline (1985) . 21 Figure 2, Timeline with past tense degrees of dubiousness . 24 Figure 3, Timeline with past tense degrees of dubiousness and future "tense" possible futures . 26 Figure 4, Timeline with past tense degrees of dubiousness and future "tense" dubious possible futures . 27 vii IMPORTANT NOTES A. For Japanese names I will, unless noted otherwise, use the typical approach of placing last name before given name. B. I also follow the standard Hepburn approach for Romanization of Japanese with long vowels denoted with macrons, as in ā, ī, ū, ē, and ō. C. All language examples that were not posited by me have been given footnotes directing readers to both the source material and one (among many) of the places those language examples might be located. Many oF the language examples used in this work have been taken from natural language conversations between native speakers of Japanese and myself, an L2 Japanese language learner. Native speakers have verified the examples I give here and I am in their debt for that assistance. My status as a non-native speaker should, however, temper the linguistic reality of the data presented here, if for no other reason, than simply due to the fact that native speakers may not to speak to non-native speakers in same fashion as they might with native speakers. I acknowledge my own limitations with the Japanese language as playing a factor in the presentation of this data as well, and furthermore, admit to a somewhat English-centered linguistic bias, since stated goal of the present paper is to understand a salient feature of the Japanese language from a non-Japanese point of view – that feature being the role tense plays in the semantic realization of Japanese constructions. D. Where I have given translations for the Japanese examples provided (either my own or the translations of others) I have used Leipzig interlinear glosses in an attempt to capture the full morphological range of syntactic and semantic meaning, at least wherever meaning between English and Japanese can be arguably constructed. viii 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Tense Ambiguity いづれのおときにか (idure no otoki ni ka) – so begins The Tale of Genji, Japan’s quintessential literary classic.