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The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary
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Abstract: “Anta” and “Chotto”: Two Cases of Extension of Meaning －A Semantic and Pragmatic Study. This article has two main objectives. One is to make a detailed description of the two Japanese words “anta” and “chotto”, and the other is to explain the mechanism that causes the semantic extension of the two words. “Anta” has four meanings other than the basic one, ie. the pronoun of the second person singular. Each meaning corresponds to the position that “anta” occupies in the semantic structure. In Type-A it is included in the proposition. In Type-B it ocupies a position outside the proposition, but as a possessor of an argument of the predicate of the proposition it is integrated into it indirectly. In Type-C it is no longer a pronoun but a kind of sentence adverb that emphasizes the content of the proposition. It occupies the position of modality outside the proposition. But as an element of modality it modifies the proposition, that is it keeps some relation with the proposition. And in Type-D its position is completely outside the sentence and has no relation with the proposition: it is a pure vocative. These meanings of “anta” constitute a semantic network on the basis of their relation with the proposition (the “dictum” part of the sentence. In the case of “chotto” too, we can differentiate four meanings －they are rather pragmatic than semantic －other than the basic meaning: the adverb of small quantity or low degree. In Type-A “chotto” is still adverb of quantity or degree but it has lost the meaning “small” or “low”: its meaning is “the quantity or degree is over the “Standard”. It this case “chotto” is integrated in the proposition. In Type-B it is rather a sentence adverb and, as such, it modifies the proposition. But the meaning is the same as the basic one: small quantity or low degree. The important difference is that, by saying that the degree of the content is low, it weakens the tone of the sentence and gives the effect of politeness. In Type-C, always keeping the meaning “small quantity or low degree”, it mentions a low degree of hearer’s burden and asks him/her to accept the speaker’s request. In these types “chotto” occupies the position of modality and modifies the proposition. In Type-D it no longer modifies the proposition: it is a pure vocative, like the Type-D of “anta”, and its position is completely outside the sentence. In both cases, the distance from the proposition corresponds to the meaning of the word. |
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