open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/106654

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/89069

On the Reflexive Expression in the Altaic-type Languages

日本語

動詞の自他対応

2023-03-20

Japan Association of Northern Language Studies

Northern Language Studies

13

143-169

It has been said that reflexive expressions exhibit properties intermediate between transitive and intransitive. In this study, I will analyze languages of the Altaic-type, specifically Altaic, Korean, and Japanese, to see whether a wide range of reflexive events are expressed in these languages in the form of intransitive or transitive expressions, or whether they show some intermediate characteristics between the two. For the Altaic languages, I will deal with Turkish from the Turkic languages, Khalkha Mongolian from the Mongolic languages, and Nanai from the Tungusic languages. In this paper, regardless of the form of the verb, if there is an accusative-argument, it is broadly considered an “transitive expression,” and if there is no accusative-argument, it is considered an “intransitive expression.” After classifying the expressions of the languages covered in this paper according to this criterion, I will again focus on the form of the verb. The characteristics of reflexive expressions in Altai-type languages contrasted to Standard Average European are as follows: Unlike in SAE, reflexive situations tend to be expressed exclusively by a mere transitive expression to a body part in Altai-type languages. This may be due to the fact that in the North Asian OV languages causative derivation is preferred on transitivity verb pairs, whereas in SAE anticausative derivation is preferred. This is further attributed to the fact that intransitive verbs are dominant in Altai-type languages, whereas transitive verbs are dominant in SAE. Part of the body tends to be treated as the subject in Altai-type languages, whereas the whole person tends to be treated as the object in transitive expression in SAE (see Kazama (2020: 20-21)). This may be another reason why reflexive expressions in Altaic-type languages are, in appearance, mere transitive expressions to body parts. The differences among the reflexive expressions in the target languages in this paper are as follows: The most striking differences were observed for the verbs of movement and physiological reaction. Whereas Korean and Japanese showed strikingly similar transitive expressions for these verb groups, and the “Altai” languages had many intransitive expressions. It seems that this is due to language contact within both groups.

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968