Cover not available
Part of
Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Rethinking theoretical and geographical boundaries
Edited by Yoshiko Matsumoto, Bernard Comrie and Peter Sells
[Typological Studies in Language 116] 2017
► pp. 203–250

Chapter 9
Noun-modifying clause constructions in Ainu

| Tokyo University of Science/National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL)
The Ainu (Southern Hokkaido) relative clause construction is built on the model of the nominal attributive construction, while the noun-complement construction is based on that of the nominal possessive construction in which the head is marked with a possessive suffix. Also, relative and noun-complement clauses behave differently with regard to island violation constraints: only the latter allow such violations. However, there is a small number of noun-complement clauses without possessive marking on the perception/relational head noun, which makes them look like relative clauses; these are the so-called emergent GNMCCs. I suggest that these head nouns appear in non-possessive form in order to dissociate themselves from the few homonymous possessive heads which are grammaticalized as modal/evidential markers in the relevant constructions.
Keywords: Ainu language, relative clause construction, nominal attributive construction, noun-complement construction, nominal possessive construction, emergent GNMCC
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic properties of Ainu
    • 2.1Basic clause types in Ainu
    • 2.2Noun phrase structure
  • 3.Noun-modifying clause constructions in Ainu: Relative clauses vs. noun-complement clauses
  • 4.Relative clauses
    • 4.1Relativization of arguments
      • 4.1.1Subject of intransitive verb (S)
      • 4.1.2Subject of two-place transitive verb (A)
      • 4.1.3Subject of three-place transitive verb (A)
      • 4.1.4Object of two-place transitive (O)
      • 4.1.5Object of three-place transitive (O)
    • 4.2Relativization of non-arguments
      • 4.2.1Relativization of adjuncts
        • 4.2.1.1Instrumental, comitative, and dative adjuncts
        • 4.2.1.2Standard of comparison equivalent
      • 4.2.2Relativization of possessor
      • 4.2.3Relativization of locative and allative adjuncts
  • 5.Noun-complement clauses
    • 5.1Content-taking nouns as head
    • 5.2Perception nouns as head
    • 5.3Relational nouns as head
  • 6.Grammaticalization of noun-modifying clause constructions
    • 6.1Relative clause construction with bound nouns as head > lexical nominalizations
    • 6.2Noun-complement clause construction with perception nouns as head > ‘mermaid construction’
    • 6.3Noun-complement clause construction with relational nouns as head > subordinate temporal clause construction
  • 7.Noun + noun compounds
  • 8.Emergent GNMCC
  • 9.Island violation
  • 10.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Sources
  • References
Published online: 28 February 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.116.10bug
References (59)
Sources
AB Bugaeva, Anna. 2004. Grammar and Folklore Texts of the Chitose Dialect of Ainu (Idiolect of Ito Oda). ELPR Publication Series A-045. Suita: Osaka Gakuin University.Google Scholar
CY Chiri, Yukie. 1978. Ainu shin’yōshū (Ainu songs of gods). Tokyo: Iwanami Bunko.Google Scholar
K Nakagawa, Hiroshi, Bugaeva, Anna & Kobayashi, Miki. 2016. A Glossed Audio Corpus of Ainu Folklore (English HP) NINJAL. <[URL]/>
KH Kirikae, Hideo (2001 (1984)).Google Scholar
KI Kubodera, Itsuhiko. 1977. Ainu jojishi shin’yō seiden no kenkyū (The study of Ainu heroic epics and songs of gods). Tokyo: Iwanami shoten.Google Scholar
KS Bugaeva, Anna, Endō, Shiho & Akasegawa, Shirō. 2015. A Topical Dictionary of Conversational Ainu (English HP) NINJAL. <[URL]/>
N Nakagawa, Hiroshi. 1995. Ainugo chitose hōgen jiten (A dictionary of the Chitose dialect of Ainu). Tokyo: Sōfūkan.Google Scholar
N1 Nakagawa, Hiroshi. 2002. Ainu kōshōbungei tekisuto 3. Yūrashia gengo bunka ronshū 5: 111–143. Chiba: Chiba University.Google Scholar
NV Nevskij, Nikolaj. 1972. Ajnskij fol´klor (Ainu folklore). Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
OI Oda, Ito (1908–2000), informant of the Chitose dialect of Ainu; the author’s fieldnotes.Google Scholar
SK Sunazawa, Kura. 1983. Watashi no ichidai no omoide Ku sukup opuspe (My life story). Sapporo: Miyama Shobō.Google Scholar
ST Satō, Tomomi. 2011 Ainugo chitose hōgen ni okeru suyryō no jodōshi nankor no imi ni tsuite (A semantic analysis of a modal auxiliary verb nankor in the Chitose dialect of Ainu). Hokkaido-ritsu ainu minzoku bunka kenkyū sentā kenkyū kiyō 17: 1–18. Sapporo: Hokkaido-ritsu ainu minzoku bunka kenkyū sentā.Google Scholar
ST1 Satō, Tomomi (2008a).Google Scholar
ST2 Satō, Tomomi (2008b).Google Scholar
ST3 Satō, Tomomi. 1998. Ningen no kigen o monogataru Penanpe to Pananpe no mukashibanashi (A story of Penanpe to Pananpe who told about the origins of humans). In Ainu minzoku bunkazai chōsa hōkokusho 18, Hitoshi Watanabe, Minoru Ōshima, Hideo Kirikae & Tomomi Satō (eds), 120–130. Sapporo: Hokkaidō kyōiku iinkai.Google Scholar
T Tamura, Suzuko (1996).Google Scholar
T1 Tamura, Suzuko (2000 (1988)).Google Scholar
T3 Fukuda (Tamura), Suzuko (2001 (1960)) Ainugo saru hōgen-no jodōshi (Auxiliary verbs of the Saru dialect of Ainu). Minzokugaku kenkyū 24(4): 67–78. Tokyo: Seibundō Shinkōsha.Google Scholar
TS1 Tamura, Suzuko. 1984. Ainugo shiryō (1) (Ainu audio materials (1)). Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogakukyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
TS2 Tamura, Suzuko (1985) Ainugo shiryō (2) (Ainu audio materials (2)). Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogakukyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
TS3 Tamura, Suzuko (1986) Ainugo shiryō (3) (Ainu audio materials (3)). Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogakukyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
TS5 Tamura, Suzuko (1988) Ainugo shiryō (5) (Ainu audio materials (5)). Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogakukyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
TS6 Tamura, Suzuko (1989) Ainugo shiryō (6) (Ainu audio materials (6)). Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogakukyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2004. Evidentiality. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Baker, Mark. 1996. The Polysynthesis Parameter. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Bugaeva, Anna. 2008. Reported discourse and logophoricity in Southern Hokkaido dialects of Ainu. Gengo Kenkyū 133: 31–75.Google Scholar
. 2010. Ainu applicatives in typological perspective. Studies in Language 34(4): 749–801. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. Ditransitive constructions in Ainu. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF) 64(3): 237–255.Google Scholar
. 2012. Southern Hokkaido Ainu. In The Languages of Japan and Korea, Nicolas Tranter (ed.), 461–509. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2013. Mermaid constructions in Ainu. In Adnominal Clauses and the ‘Mermaid Construction’: Grammaticalization of Nouns [NINJAL Collaborative Research Project Reports 13–01], Tasaku Tsunoda (ed.), 667–675. Tachikawa: National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 2015. Valency classes in Ainu. In Valency Classes in the World’s Languages, Andrej Malchukov & Bernard Comrie (eds), 807–854. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Chiri, Mashiho. 2001 (1953). Ainugo no joshi (Auxiliaries in Ainu). In Kindaichi hakase koki kinen gengo minzoku roshū. Tokyo : Sanseidō. Reprinted in: Ainugo-kō, Bunpō I(4): 1–20. Tokyo: Yumani Shobō.Google Scholar
. 1974 (1956). Ainugo nyūmon: toku-ni chimei kenkyuūsha no tame ni. Tokyo. Reprinted in: Chiri Mashiho chosakushū, Vol. 4. Tokyo: Heibonsha.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 1996. The unity of noun modifying clauses in Asian languages. In Pan-Asiatic Linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics, January 8–10, Vol. 3, 1077–1088. Salaya, Thailand: Institute of Language, and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University at Salaya.Google Scholar
. 1998. Rethinking the typology of relative clauses. Language Design 1: 59–86.Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 2011. Finite structures from clausal nominalizations in Tibeto-Burman. In Nominalizations in Asian languages [Typological Studies in Language 96], Foong Ha Yap, Karen Grunow Harsta & Janick Wrona (eds), 343–359. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Epps, Patience. 2012. Between headed and headless relatives: Evidence from Amazonia. In Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas: A Typological Overview [Typological Studies in Language 102], Bernard Comrie & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 191–212. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 2012. Toward a diachronic typology of relative clause. In Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas: A Typological Overview [Typological Studies in Language 102], Bernard Comrie & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 3–25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hattori, Shirō (ed.). 1964. An Ainu Dialect Dictionary. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania. 2007. The Genesis of Grammar. A Reconstruction. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward L. & Comrie, Bernard. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8(1): 63–99.Google Scholar
Kirikae, Hideo. 2001 (1984). Ainugo no meishiku no kōzō to gōsei meishi (The structure of noun phrases and compound nouns in Ainu). Gengo kenkyū 86: 105–121. Reprinted in Ainugo-kō, Bunpō II, Vol. 5, 201–217. Tokyo: Yumani Shobō.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Yoshiko. 1988. Semantics and pragmatics of noun-modifying constructions in Japanese. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Shelley Axmaker & Helen Singmaster (eds), 166–175. Berkeley CA: BLS.Google Scholar
. 1997. Noun-modifying Constructions in Japanese: A Frame Semantic Approach [Studies in Language Companion Series 35]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ohori, Toshio. 2012. The grammaticalization of subordination. In The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds), 633–642. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Okuda, Osami. 2001 (1989). Nihongo to ainugo-ni okeru rentai shūshoku to bun-no meishika (Noun-modifying and clausal nominalization in Japanese and Ainu). In Waseda daigaku gogaku kyōiku kenkyūjo kiyō 39. Reprinted in: Ainugo-kō, Bunpō II, Vol. 5, 243–256. Tokyo: Yumani Shobō.Google Scholar
Ross, John. 1967. Constraints on Variables in Syntax. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Satō, Tomomi. 1997. Possessive expressions in Ainu. In Studies in Possessive Expressions, Tōru Hayashi & Peri Bhaskararao (eds), 143–160. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.Google Scholar
. 2008a. Ainugo bunpō no kiso (The basics of Ainu grammar). Tokyo: Daigakushorin.Google Scholar
. 2008b. Ainugo chitose hōgen ni okeru gōsei meishi (Compound noun word formation in the Chitose dialect of Ainu). Journal of the Center for Northern Humanities 1:55–68.Google Scholar
Tamura Suzuko. 1984. Aynu Itak. Aynugo nyūmon. Kaisetu (The Ainu language. An introduction to Ainu. Commentary) [Goken kyōzai sensho 32]. Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogaku kyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
Tamura, Suzuko. 2000 (1988). Ainugo (The Ainu language). In Gengogaku daijiten (Encyclopedia of linguistics), Takashi Kōji, Rokurō Kōno & Eiichi Chino (eds). Tokyo: Sanseidō. English translation: The Ainu language [ICHEL Linguistic Studies 29]. Tokyo: Sanseidō.Google Scholar
. 1991, 1992, 1993. Ainugo onsei shiryō (1–6) Goi: zenyōrei-tsuki (Ainu Audio Materials (1–6) Lexicon: All with examples), Tokyo: Waseda daigaku gogaku kyōiku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
. 1996. Ainugo Saru hōgen jiten (A Dictionary of the Saru Dialect of Ainu). Tokyo: Sōfūkan.Google Scholar
Teramura, Hideo. 1969. The syntax of noun modification in Japanese. The Journal-Newsletter of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 6(1): 64–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1992. Teramura Hideo Ronbunshu, I: Nihongo Bunpoo Hen (Papers by Hideo Teramura I: Japanese Grammar). Tokyo: Kurosio Shuppan.Google Scholar
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2009. Sekai no gengo to nihongo, kaiteiban (The World’s Languages and Japanese, rev.ed.). Tokyo: Kurosio.Google Scholar
. 2013a. Mermaid construction: an introduction and summary. In Adnominal Clauses and the ‘Mermaid Construction’: Grammaticalization of Nouns. [NINJAL Collaborative Research Project Reports 13–01], Tasaku Tsunoda (ed.), 15–66. Tachikawa: National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 2013b. Mermaid construction in modern Japanese. In Adnominal Clauses and the ‘Mermaid Construction’: Grammaticalization of Nouns. [NINJAL Collaborative Research Project Reports 13–01], Tasaku Tsunoda (ed.), 67–150. Tachikawa: National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics.Google Scholar