Synergistic strategies in grammar: A case of nominalization and commentary predicate in Japanese

Abstract

This study examines two grammatical strategies in Japanese, nominalization and commentary predicate, with a special focus on how they are distributed in discourse and how they join together to bring about related meanings to discourse. I focus on no and koto nominalization co-occurring with commentary predicate (i.e., nominal da ‘be’ and adjectival predicate), where the nominal clause may occur as a part of the nominal predicate or elsewhere.

After examining 24 contemporary Japanese essays, I argue that a synergistic relationship exists—in terms of distribution, and consequently in terms of rhetorical effects—between no nominalization and the commentary predicate strategy. Koto nominalization, on the other hand, appears elsewhere frequently and no overt mutually enhancing relationship is recognized. However, upon closer examination, it was revealed that the formulaic expressions in which koto frequently appears share characteristics similar to the commentary predicate. It is suggested that in certain discourse the Japanese language prefers the strategy of synergy between no/koto nominalization and commentary predicate when communicating stative description and commentary expression.