Research On The Constructional Network Of Japanese Passive Sentences

It is generally recognized by the Japanese scholars that in Japanese,when the patient’s body parts,belongings or whose relatives and friends etc.are affected by the external actions and behaviors,the passive sentences that describe the event regard its possessor as the subject instead of its possession.While during the process in study,it is found that possessors are taken as the subject in passives are widespread in practical application.Then the following questions have arisen the author’s interest to research more concerned the passives in Japanese.Why belongings can be taken as the subject to express passivity? Which kinds of passives are more typical between passives with possession subjects and passives with possessor subjects? What is the typical central component in the passives? How do the other marginal components come into being? And what is the relationship among the constructions in passives? Besides,while collecting and analyzing the related example sentences,it is found that not all of them are part of the passives with possessor subjects although they are consistent in whose form like the expression “X が Y に Z を V(ら)れる”.This study intends to explore the prototype and the potential extended mechanism of Japanese passive constructions from the perspective of cognitive constructicon grammar,aiming to figure the problems out.This paper employs the Prototype Theory(PT)in cognitive linguistics to cognizance the prototype of Japanese passive constructicon as AT constructicon(passive constructicon with animated subjectss and transitive verbs)like “X が V(ら)れる”,where the subjects X is directly influenced by the predicate verb V.The basic function of the prototype passives is defined as defocusing of agent,centralizing of patient and conditioning of event;the meaning of constructicon can be summarized as “affected”.Besides,according to the exploration of the constructicon “X が V(ら)れる”,it is found that IT constructicon(passive constructicon with inanimated subjectss and transitive verbs)is the hyponym constructicon extended metaphorically from AT constructicon while “X が V(ら)れる” constructicon has formed the construct-i-con centralized with AT constructicon.Owing to the SOV sentence structures employed in Japanese where the most important verb locates at the end of the sentence,therefore when citing the agent in the form of compliment before verbs will not influence the constructicon meaning “affected” in Japanese passive constructicon.Besides,the agent behaved as the compliment helps realize the defocusing of the agent and won’t affect the central status of the subjects.Therefore,one type of passive constructicon that reveals the agent like “X が Y に V(ら)れる” constructicon exists in Japanese.Then within the “X が Y に V(ら)れる” constructicon category,based AAT constructicon(passive constructicon with animated subjects and agents and transitive verbs)whose agent is animate on prototype,extending to AAI constructicon(passive constructicon with animated subjects and inanimate agents and intransitive verbs)、AIT constructicon(passive constructicon with animated subjects and inanimate agents and transitive verbs)、 IAT constructicon(passive constructicon with inanimate subjects and animated agents and transitive verbs)and IIT constructicon(passive constructicon with inanimate subjects and agents and transitive verbs)respectively.What’s more,AAI constructicon extends toward AII constructicon(passive constructicon with animated subjects and inanimate agents and intransitive verbs)and III constructicon(passive constructicon with inanimate subjects and agents and intransitive verbs)gradually,and IAT constructicon extends to IAI constructicon(passive constructicon with inanimate subjects and animated agents and intransitive verbs).Finally,“X が Y に V(ら)れる” constructicon construct-i-con has formed with the central of AAT constructicon.Another,there still exists “X が Y に Z を V(ら)れる” constructicon with objective case in Japanese,although they have the same form but they have different meanings and according to which,they can be roughly classified into passive constructicon with possessor subjects,passive constructicon with the third person and transitive verb and passive constructicon with three necessary components and transitive verb.Within the passive constructicon with possessor subjects,it could be divided into type I and type II based on that if the agent is animate or not.Type I passive constructicon with possessor subjects and passive constructicon with the third person and transitive verb are extended from AAT constructicon metaphor while type II passive constructicon with possessor subjects is extended from AIT constructicon metaphor.Besides,the relationship between passive constructicon with three necessary components and transitive verb and AAT constructicon is like the portion and the whole,and AAT constructicon adopt three necessary components is regarded as passive constructicon with three necessary components and transitive verb.Then,“X が Y に Z を V(ら)れる” constructicon has formed the construct-i-con based AAT and AIT constructicon as the starting point.To conclude,Japanese passive constructicon concentrates AT constructicon on prototype,and extends gradually for all types of hyponym constructicon,shaping the construct-i-con that all passive constructicons are covered through the connection in the single extension between hypernym constructicon and hyponym constructicon.The paper comprehensively explores the interrelationships among the passives constructicon in Japanese from the view of cognitive constructicon grammar,helping Japanese learners study and get the hang of Japanese passive expressions better.The innovations are mainly reflected in the following:1.The paper has a novel research perspective.Since the previous research concentrated on one or several types of passive constructions alone,this paper tries to explore passives comprehensively from the perspective of cognitive constructicon grammar.2.Recognizancing the prototype of the passives,making it more reasonable and reliable.3.The form,meaning,elements and other characteristics of passive constructicon are sorted out,and the relationship among the various types is clarified.4.The construct-i-con has been constructed and the complex relationship among passives is clearly revealed through graphics.