This study focuses on a single class of constructions in Japanese, i.e. X to-yuu X (literally: to
‘QUOTATIVE’, iu ‘say’), in which a nominal modifies the same nominal to encode a specific
meaning ‘all the X’ or ‘the very X’, as illustrated in (1) and (2) respectively. Both copulative
tautologies and noun-modifying constructions have been reported as well-pervasive patterns
across languages (e.g. Wierzbicka 1987; Okamoto 1993; Matsumoto 1997; Sakahara 2002).
However, a noun-modifying tautological construction, e.g. X to-yuu X, has rarely been
described or analyzed in the past cross-linguistic literature. This study examines various
instances of this construction in Japanese and explores their workings in discourse.
Furthermore, this study gives a piece of evidence that Japanese has derived a
language-specific construction, i.e. X to-yuu X, from the corresponding X to-yuu Y, a
relatively well-attested construction across languages.
This construction consists of two dimensions: one is a foregrounding function by to-yuu;
the other is a nominal tautological function. To-yuu, though being lexicalized as a modal
chunk (Inoue 1983), still serves a foregrounding function to describe either X or Y in X to-yuu
Y, depending on types of nominal combinations (Noda et al. 2002). In the case of X to-yuu X,
however, it is logically redundant in meaning but becomes meaningful in function. Since the
meanings of X to-yuu X are not entirely analyzable by regular compositional semantics, they
are best regarded as associated with the morpho-syntactic pattern X to-yuu X as a whole: a
grammatical construction. This expression can be accompanied by various postpositional
particles to indicate grammatical relations. But, the morpho-syntactic pattern produces
entirely same meanings: ‘all the X’ (a generic statement) or ‘the very X’ (a repetitive
emphasis); therefore, I will regard X to-yuu X as a grammatical construction.
The diachronic dimension gives insight into the emergence of X to-yuu X. In Early Old
Japanese, X to-yuu Y was used as a hearsay expression such as ‘a man (Y) called X’. In Late
Old Japanese, X to-yuu Y started to serve a foregrounding effect on X by a clausal
modification which exhibits a structural resemblance to the English relative clause
construction, and generic nouns fill in the position of Y, as in (3). While the expressions
encoded in X to-yuu Y had represented hearsay or information secondhand, from Pre-Modern
Japanese, X to-yuu Y began to portray the speaker’s subjective interpretation: Y that looks
like X, as in (4). Almost at the same time, X to-yuu X started to be used to indicate ‘the very
X’ as an emphatic usage, as in (2). In Modern Japanese, X to-yuu X came to represent ‘all the
X’ which indicates an emphatic meaning and the speaker’s subjective interpretation, as in (1),
because it is not necessarily true that all men are childish. (Types of NPs that can be used in X
to-yuu X are also examined.) The meanings encoded in both X to-yuu Y and X to-yuu X have
been subjective over time, and X to-yuu X further packages construction-specific meanings in
it. The semantic extension in this construction is germane to semantic-pragmatic tendencies
proposed by Traugott and König (1991) and X to-yuu X has conventionalized meanings
associated with the particular morpho-syntactic pattern in the sense of Fillmore et al. (1988).
Noun-modifying constructions are common among many languages, and those
corresponding to X to-yuu Y in Japanese seem to be pervasive across languages. However, the
X to-yuu X type is found to be very rare (or none) according to my cross-linguistic survey
thus far. Suppose that X to-yuu X is specific to Japanese (and a few languages at best), it can
be emphasized that Japanese has derived a specific construction from a kind of universal
noun-modifying construction. This would suggest that language variations across time and
space exhibit a continuum from universals to relativity.
Examples (expressions in question are boldface)
(1) Honto, otoko to-yuu otoko wa, kodomo na-n-da
kara.
actually men
to-yuu men
TOP childish COP-NOML-COP because
‘Anyway, all men are childish I guess.’ (lit. men called men…)
(2) Kyou to-yuu kyou wa kare ni aiso-ga-tuki-ta
no.
today to-yuu today TOP he
to be.out.of.patience-PST FP
‘I’ve run out of patience with him this very day.’ (lit. today called today…)
(3) Wotoko mo su-naru
nikki to-ifu mono wo…
men
PT do-hearsay diary to-yuu thing ACC
‘(lit.) a thing called diary (that) men are said to write…’
(10C Tosa-nikki)
(4) Kono ko wa senzan
to-yuu metuki ga
aru ja
nehe ka
this girl TOP proper.name to-yuu look
NOM COP COP NEG QP
‘This girl has a glance like senzan (clairvoyance?), don’t you think so?.’ (18C Urihana)
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