Sano Poster

An Optimality-Theoretic account of Sa-insertion in Japanese : 

An Optimality-Theoretic account of Sa-insertion in Japanese Shin-ichiro Sano (Graduate Student, Sophia Univ. ) shinichirosano@gmail.com

Sa-insertion: 

Sa-insertion Sa-insertion: variation of causatives in Japanese Formation of causatives in Japanese: attaching causative suffix (as, ase) to verb stems Standard causative: V - ase Sa-insertion: V - as-ase

Examples (causative): 

Examples (causative) Standard causative Watasi-ga Taroo-ni sore-o yar-ase-ru. I-Nom Taro-Dat it-Acc do-Cause Sa-insertion *Watasi-ga Taroo-ni sore-o yar-as-ase-ru. I-Nom Taro-Dat it-Acc do-Cause-Cause ‘I let Taro do it.’

Examples (honorific): 

Examples (honorific) Standard causative Watasi-ga sore-o yar-ase-teitadaku. I-Nom it-Acc do-Cause-benefactive Sa-insertion Watasi-ga sore-o yar-as-ase-teitadaku. I-Nom it-Acc do-Cause-Cause-benefactive ‘I will do it.’ (honorific)

Quantitative analysis: 

Quantitative analysis Corpus: On-line full-text database of the minutes of the Diet Sampling: by birth-year → 81 members from Tokyo Table 1. The rate of Sa-insertion in all causatives

Chronological change of Sa-insertion: 

Chronological change of Sa-insertion Pseudo R^2=0.096

Summary of quantitative analysis: 

Summary of quantitative analysis Sa-insertion: is first observed in 1949. does not contain the sequence sasa. Some Sa-insertion is observed (gradually increasing) until the 1980s. After the 1980s, it suddenly exploded. ↓ is in the beginning of a Language change. The change will proceed in an S-curve fashion.

Double causative: 

Double causative Okada (2003): Sa-insertion is a double causative. The meaning is not double causative but honorific. Double causative Double causative is not allowed in Japanese. (Shibatani 1973, among others) → suppressed to a single causative V - as - ase → V - ase Variation: suppressed → Standard causatives unsuppressed → Sa-insertion

2 types of Japanese Verbs (Bloch 1946): 

2 types of Japanese Verbs (Bloch 1946) Consonant verbs (e.g. hasir- ‘run’, yar- ‘do’) Vowel verbs (e.g. mi- ‘see’, tabe- ‘eat’) Sa-insertion is restricted to Consonant verbs.

OT analysis *Double causative : 

OT analysis *Double causative Double causative is suppressed to a single causative. OCP (morph): No identical morphological categories are adjacent. Double causative is blocked by OCP (morph) and single causative surfaces.

Paradigm Contrast: 

Paradigm Contrast Contrast between causative and honorific (reduces functional load) ParContrast (Paradigm Contrast, Ito and Mester 2004): The cells of a paradigm are pair-wise phonologically distinct. OCP (morph) ≫ ParContrast: Standard causative →　ParContrast ≫ OCP (morph): Sa-insertion Form and Content - 2 to 2 ya.ra.se

*sasa: 

*sasa Sa-insertion does not contain the sequence sasa. OCP (μ) No identical moras are adjacent.

Sa-insertion – consonant verbs: 

Sa-insertion – consonant verbs Sa-insertion is restricted to consonant verbs. Any Sa-insertion with vowel verbs contains sasa. → phonological reason (not lexical or morphological)　

Allomorph Correspondence : 

Allomorph Correspondence Paradigm optimization AlloCorr (Allomorph Correspondence, Ito and Mester 2004): Morphs in a relation of allomorphy are identical. Form and Content - 1 to 1

Language Change: 

Language Change Change of the ranking: OCP (morph) ≫ ParContrast, AlloCorr → ParContrast, AlloCorr ≫ OCP (morph) Partially ordered grammar: OCP (morph), ParContrast OCP (morph) ≫ ParContrast, AlloCorr → Standard caus. AlloCorr ParContrast, AlloCorr ≫ OCP (morph) → Sa-insertion

Conclusion: 

Conclusion Sa-insertion - Language change (initial stage) Contrast and Paradigm optimization Standard causative Sa-insertion Contrast: Form 1, Content 2 Form 2, Content 2 ParaOptim: Form 2, Content 1 Form 1, Content 1 → change of ranking OCP (morph) ≫ ParContrast, AlloCorr Paradigm optimization in Ra-deletion (variation in passives) (Ito and Mester 2004) → Global change in Japanese voice system