動詞に接続する「ことだ」の意味と機能 -意味と機能の派生関係を中心に-

Abstract

This paper studies the meanings and the functions of “kotoda” connected with a verb using derivative relationships. Although there were quite a lot of previous research in the past about the "kotoda" which has the meaning of modality by connecting to a verb, almost none of literature examined the abstraction transitions from a predicative sentence with pseudo noun to the derivative usage by analyzing practical examples. In this paper, the objective is to describe the transitions by abstracting from a predicative sentence with pseudo noun to a modality format in terms of continuity. The results can be summarized as follows. First, the basic usage of the predicative sentence with pseudo noun is morphologically based on "A wa B kotoda", and there are total five forms including the basic and four other forms. These forms define the quality of the concept that “A” represents. Superlative expressions are commonly utilized in “A” with these forms. Those forms are also syntactically free. Second, the transitions to the derivative usage can be categorized into the following three cases: ① to express conjecture, ② to express exclamation, and ③ to express advice. In the transitions to the modality format, it is observed that the forms of "kotoda" have been fixed, and thus special meanings and functions are obtained. In conclusions, we identify “kotoda” as the transitions from the predicative sentence with pseudo noun to the modality format while it is connected with a verb, and these transitions significantly show the meaning of continuity.