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Usage-based Approaches to Japanese Grammar: Towards the understanding of human language
Edited by Kaori Kabata and Tsuyoshi Ono
[Studies in Language Companion Series 156] 2014
► pp. 109–134

What typology reveals about modality 
in Japanese

A cross-linguistic perspective*

This paper presents a functional-typological analysis of three linguistic manifestations of modality-related phenomena in Japanese. When compared with English, German, and Korean, Japanese is characterized by a modal system that encodes event, epistemic, and evidential modalities, and a relatively impoverished grammatical mood, as well as a rich discourse system of sentence-final particles that can be grouped into speaker-oriented and hearer-oriented particles. The modality system in Japanese demonstrates a relatively high degree of elaboration in formal coding of evidential and discourse modalities. The cross-linguistic differences in the degrees of elaboration among different subcategories of modality as presented in this study require an explanation beyond the confines of grammar to find a link between grammar and other cognitive and communicative systems.

Published online: 10 June 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.156.09hor
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Cited by 1 other publications

Moriya, Tetsuharu & Kaoru Horie
2009. Japanese Modality, ► pp. 87 ff. DOI logo

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