4モーラ短縮形に関する形態論的研究‒ドラマのタイトルを中心に‒

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the abbreviation patterns of drama titles in Japanese from a morphological perspective. For this purpose, we first classified the titles into three word types and four morphological features; then, we analyzed the number of shortened-form moras and their frequencies of abbreviation patterns according to the five types shown in Kim and Akiha (2018). Also, we examined the strategies to abbreviate a title to four moras except for the most typical abbreviation pattern 1, in which the four moras are taken from the initial two moras of two words. The findings of this study are summarized as follows: (ⅰ) In the abbreviation of drama titles, a four-mora acronym combining the initial two moras in the discrete segments of a title turned out to be the most common pattern. (ⅱ) Four-mora abbreviations occur with high frequency in titles containing loan words and titles in the form of a phrase or sentence. (ⅲ) Titles includescontaining a double consonant in the initial two moras tend to be abbreviated to four moras without the double consonant by dropping it or changing it into a single consonant. (ⅳ) Titles includescontaining a long vowel in the initial two moras tend to be abbreviated to four moras without dropping the long vowel. (ⅴ) A few titles were abbreviated to four moras with a morphological change or four moras cut out regardless of the delimiter of the pronunciation of Chinese characters.