語種の異なる類義語の相違について ‒BCCWJにおける「独特な･珍しい･ユニークな」を中心に‒

Abstract

This study focused on the characteristics and usage differences of the synonyms ‘Dokutoku-na’, ‘Mezurashi-i’, and ‘Yuniku-na’ by utilizing corpus materials. Regarding the frequency of occurrence, the native Japanese word ‘Mezurashi-i’was used the most, followed by ‘Yuniku-na’ and ‘Dokutoku-na’. And, investigated the genre-specific usage patterns of ‘Dokutoku-na’, ‘Mezurashi-i’, and ‘Yuniku-na’, ‘Dokutoku-na’was frequently used in formal texts and rarely in daily life texts such as blogs. On the other hand, ‘Mezurashi-i’ was used fairly evenly across various genres, indicating that its usage is less restricted. Additionally, ‘Yuniku-na’ was used extensively in official texts aimed at information dissemination, suggesting that the loanword ‘Yuniku-na’ has become quite established in Japanese and is possibly used to convey a stylish and innovative image to the audience. Finally, the analysis of collocations revealed that ‘Dokutoku-na’ is often used to emphasize an inherent characteristic or quality of something and is likely to carry a negative connotation. In contrast, ‘Mezurashi-i’ was found to have a stronger positive image derived from its sense of rarity. Meanwhile, ‘Yunīku-na’ was confirmed to express the characteristic of being ‘only one, special one’, with a positive image.