A study of proposition and modality focusing on epistemic modals in the Japanese language
Abstract
This study discusses proposition and modality in the Japanese language, focusing on epistemic modals. In the literature of modality recently, detailed discussions of individual modals have been made to clarify their function. However, clear definitions of proposition and modality have not yet been adequately provided. The issue about whether morphemes such as ta (tense/aspect) and masu (honorific) belong to the modality part has not yet been clarified, and the issue of clarification of the difference between the similar modals yōda and rashii remains unclear. Hence, the first main question concerns whether the sentence consists of proposition and modality (including the classification of modality). The second is how epistemic modals function (whether they express subjectivity or objectivity, and how different similar modals are). In addressing these questions, the study analyses actual examples used in novels and critical essays by use of the phrase-additional and the modal-substitutional methods. Modals used at the end of a sentence are focused on, so modality-expressions appearing at the beginning and in the middle of a sentence are excluded from the subject of this study.
This study starts with newly proposing definitions of proposition and modality to distinguish between the two, integrating the following two views: Lyons (1995)’s approach of truth-value from the logical viewpoint, and Japanese scholars such as Teramura’s (1982) approach from the viewpoint of objectivity. By way of the definitions proposed here, the phrasal-discriminator between proposition and modality is established. Consequently, it is shown that any sentence expresses both proposition and modality, and that the copula da/dearu, the polite forms masu and the desiderative tai are propositional parts. Moreover, the new classification of modality is set up from the viewpoint of orientation into three categories: proposition-oriented, situation-oriented, and listener-oriented modality. Thereby, the modality of any sentence can be located in one of the three categories of this classification. This is supported by exploration of the various usages of -ta in chapter 3. In the latter half, in examining similar modals, nodarō and darō, this study has found that nodarō expresses the interpretation of the specific situation, and darō the utterer’s soft claim, and it newly categorises the relationship between judgement and situation in the nodarō sentence. As well, this study has clarified the difference between yōda and rashii, by introducing the concept of ‘inside or outside the utterer’s perceptible domain’.
The outcome of this study will contribute to a better and more precise understanding of modality in the Japanese language. In particular, the definitions of proposition and modality and the method of distinguishing them can also be applied to modality-expressions appearing at the beginning and in the middle of a sentence.