A Conceptual Approach to Existential Verbs in Japanese: The Case of Aru versus Iru

Abstract

This paper presents an alternative analysis of the two Japanese existential verbs: aru and iru. By appealing to the notion of conceptualisation that pervades the cognitive linguistic literature, I demonstrate that the two verbs pattern as motion verbs, and not simply as verbs of existence and/or location. Throughout the paper, I demonstrate that the traditional opposition of inanimacy versus animacy, said to determine the use of aru versus iru, respectively, is not a reliable predictor. Instead, contextual and cognitive factors such as perceived movement/displacement potential of the sentential subject, actual expectation of movement and the relative immediacy of potential displacement, both literally and metaphorically, will be shown to be more at play than the simple dichotomy of inanimacy versus animacy. The data include acceptability judgements by native speakers of Japanese on a 20-item questionnaire. Participants' line item responses and open-ended comments reflect a consistent tendency to draw upon traditional grammatical ‘rules’ which explicitly place the animacy/inanimacy of the sentential subjects as the primary (if not the sole) distinguishing feature. However, as will be shown, participants also exhibit a clear orientation to the concept of motion as a key element in their selection of one form over other possible competing forms.

Keywords:

• cognitive linguistics
• conceptualisation
• existential verbs
• motion
• natural class

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Peter Garrett (the Editor of Language Awareness) and two anonymous reviewers for their very insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript. In celebration of her 70th birthday, I dedicate this paper to Professor Noriko Akatsuka, who first taught me Japanese, inspired me to continue studying, and encouraged me to specialise in East Asian linguistics.

Notes

1. The ‘level’ of indefiniteness in this example corresponds to the types of distinctions made in Romance languages where the subjunctive is used to designate unknown entities, e.g. ‘I’m looking for someone who knows how to speak Korean': Je cherche quelqu'un qui sait parler koréan (indicative – the speaker is certain that s/he will locate such a person), versus Je cherche quelqu'un qui sache parler koréan (subjunctive – the speaker is not certain of being able to locate such a person).

2. This discussion appears from page 110–111 of Mikami's Gendai Gohoo Josetsu -shintaksu to kokoromi.

3. I thank Dr. Kyoko Matsumura for her assistance in collecting the survey data and providing me with invented examples. I also thank Ms. Yumiko Konishi for her help in translating the relevant Japanese reference materials.