The Quotative System In Modern Japanese

Quoting generally refers to the speech act of paraphrasing the original speech.As a clause pattern defined from the functional perspective,a quotative construction is a product of quoting.A quotative construction are usually made up of a quotation,a quotative word,and a quotative verb.In this dissertation,quoting is regarded as a system,which consists of elements such as the original speech,the quotation,the quotative word,the quotative verb and the quotative construction itself.The speech act of quotating strings up these elements.In this dissertation,a systematic study on the quotative system in modern Japanese is conducted on the basis of the previous research by Japanese scholars.It mainly focuses on quotations,quotative words,quotative verbs,and quotative constructions.A quotation is the paraphrase of the original speech.In previous studies,quotations are divided into direct quotations and indirect quotations.Judging from whether the original speech occurs in the context,this dissertation distinguishes three types of quotations: direct quotation,indirect quotation,and direct/indirect quotation.When the original speech appears in the context,the quotation may be a direct quotation or an indirect quotation.If the perspective of the original speech is consistent with the quotation,namely they both adopt the original speaker's perspective,the quotation is a direct quotation.If the original speech adopts the perspective of the original speaker,but the quotation is made from the perspective of the quoter,the quotation is an indirect quotation.If the original speech is not present in the context,it is impossible to judge whether the quotation is direct or indirect.In this case,I propose it is the third type,i.e.direct/indirect speech.Besides,this dissertation also discusses clause patterns of quotations,i.e.,declarative,interrogative,imperative and exclamative.In modern Japanese,quotations are used with quotation markers,and scholars hold different opinions as to their nature.Some people see quotation marker as morphemes,and some see them as an auxiliaries(case particles or citation particles),while others use the general term of quotation marker.In this paper,Japanese quotation markers are identified as one type of function words.More specifically,they are a type of relational word,whose function is to clearly indicate the quotation and connect the quotation and the quotative verb.According to their conjunctional functions,quotative words can be divided into adverbial quotative words and attributive quotative words.The former include tote,yooni,tte,toka,nante,and towa,and the latter have tono,yoona,mitaina,tte(iu),to iu,to itta,and nante.The heads of attributive quotative words are nouns indicating speech act,e.g.kotoba(‘word')or koto(‘thing').In the quotative constructions,quotative words are used not only in relation to their conjunctional functions,but also the language style in which they are used,and the semantic relation between the quotation and the quotative verb as well.Quotative verbs are content words which specify the ways of quotation.As to the types of quotative verbs,scholars have regarded the so-called ‘think' verbs as a subclass of quotative verbs.However,from the definition of quotation,it is problematic.This dissertation proposes that quotative verbs in Japanese are mainly composed of ‘say' verbs and ‘write' verbs.The former is represented by iu(‘to say'),and the latter is represented by kaku(‘to write').The SOV word order of Japanese language stipulates that Japanese quotative verbs always appear in the sentence-final position.Although the quotative verb is one of the main elements of quotative construction,it is not indispensable.Quotative verbs can be covert,which is also a character of the Japanese quotative constructions.The quotative verb can be used as the predicate of the main clause,and can also take the adverbial form in a sentence.This paper focuses on the predicative use of quotative verbs.Quotative constructions can be divided into two major types,i.e.those with overt quotative verbs and those without overt quotative verbs.The latter can be further divided into predicative use and non-predicative use.Non-predicative use refers to the construction of “quotation + quotative word" followed by verbs other than quotative verbs.At this time,the quotation and the quotative word serve as an attributive clause of the following verb.In summary,by adopting empirical methods,this dissertation discusses in depth the essential elements of the quotative system.Furthermore,through an investigation of a large number of examples,it illustrates the basic features of quotations,quotative words,quotative verbs and quotative constructions.The major innovations of this dissertation are:(1)It constructs the quotative system of modern Japanese and illuminates the interrelationships among its main elements.(2)It makes clear that quotations and quotative words are indispensable parts of quotative constructions.(3)It points out that the quotative markers in Japanese are function words,which are called “quotative words”.They are indicators of quotations as well as qutotative constructions.(4)According to its relationship with the original speech,quotations are divided into three types: direct quotation,indirect quotation,and direct/indirect quotation.