Two puzzles on the nominative particle ga in Japanese

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243
Author(s):  
Noriko Kawasaki

Abstract Back in the 1970s, Kazuko Inoue observed that some active sentences in Japanese allow a prepositional subject. Along with impersonal sentences pointed out by S.-Y. Kuroda, such examples suggest that the nominative subject is not an obligatory element in Japanese sentences. While this observation supports the hypothesis that important characteristics of the Japanese language follow from its lack of (forced-)agreement, Japanese potential sentences require the nominative ga on at least one argument. The present article argues that the nominative case particle ga is semantically vacuous even where a ga-marked phrase is indispensable or the ga-marked phrase is construed as exhaustively listing. Stative predicates require a ga-marked phrase because they can ascribe a property to an argument only by function application. The exhaustive listing reading arises by conversational implicature when the presence of a ga-marked phrase signals that a topic phrase is being avoided. The discussion leads to a semantic account of subject honorification whereby the honorification only concerns the semantic content of the predicate, and does not involve agreement with the subject. It is also shown that sentences with a prepositional subject allow zibun only as a long-distance anaphor, which indicates that they do lack a subject with the nominative Case.

2020 ◽  
pp. 301-323
Author(s):  
Natalya I. Kikilo ◽  

In the Macedonian literary language the analytic da-construction used in an independent clause has a wide range of possible modal meanings, the most common of which are imperative and optative. The present article offers a detailed analysis of the semantics and functions of the Macedonian optative da-construction based on fiction and journalistic texts. The first part of the article deals with the specificities of the optative as a category which primarily considers the subject of a wish. In accordance with the semantic characteristics of this category, optative constructions are used in those discourse text types where the speakers are explicitly designated (the most natural context for the optative is the dialogue). The analysis of the Macedonian material includes instances of atypical usage of the optative da-construction, in which the wish of the subject is not apparent and thereby produces new emotional tonalities perceptible to the reader of a fiction/journalistic text. The study describes Macedonian constructions involving two different verb forms: 1) present tense form (da + praes) and 2) imperfective form (da + impf). These constructions formally designate the hypothetical and counterfactual status of the optative situation, respectively. Thus, the examples in the analysis are ordered according to two types of constructions, which reflect the speaker’s view on the probability of the realisation of his/her wish. Unrealistic wishes can be communicated through the present da-construction, while the imperfective construction denotes situations in which the wish can be realised in the future. The second part of the article is devoted to performative optative da-constructions, which express formulas of speech etiquette, wishes and curses. The analysis demonstrates that these constructions lose their magical functions, when used outside of the ritual context, and begin to function as interjections.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1689
Author(s):  
Tomasz Neumann

The subject of the article is a comparative long-distance transport analysis based on the relationship between central and eastern China and Poland. It provides an overview of issues related to long-haul China–Poland. The technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method was proposed in the multi-criteria analysis. This method was briefly discussed, and its choice was justified. Then, the criteria adopted in the analysis were presented, i.e., time, cost, maximum number of containers, and ecology index. Multi-criteria analysis was carried out for three cases: the transport of one loading unit, 82 loading units, and 200 loading units. The geopolitical and operational situation on the transport route for the analyzed modes of transport was discussed.


Author(s):  
Iman Pal ◽  
Saibal Kar

Several strands of the static and dynamic theoretical constructs and the empirical applications in the subject of economics owe substantially to the well-known principles of physical sciences. The present article explores as to how the development of the popular gravity models in international trade can be traced back to Newton’s law of gravitation, and to both Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff’s Law of current electricity, as well as to the pattern recognition techniques commonly deployed in scientific applications. In addition to surveying these theoretical analogies, the article also offers numerical applications for observed trade patterns between India and a set of countries. JEL Classifications: F41, F42, C61, F47


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gualtiero Calboli

AbstractI started from the relative clause which occurs in Hittite, and in particular with the enclitic position of the relative pronoun. This is connected with the OV position and this position seems to have been prevailing in Hittite and PIE. The syntactic structure usually employed in Hittite between different clauses is the parataxis. Nevertheless, also the hypotaxis begins to be employed and the best occasion to use it was the diptych as suggested by Haudry, though he didn't consider the most natural and usual diptych: the law, where the crime and the sanction build a natural diptych already in old Hittite. Then I used Justus' and Boley's discussion on the structure of Hittite sentence and found a similarity with Latin, namely the use of an animate subject as central point of a sentence. With verbs of action in ancient languages the subject was normally an animate being, whereas also inanimate subject is employed in modern languages. This seems to be the major difference between ancient and modern structure of a sentence, or, better to say, in Hittite and PIE the subject was an animate being and this persisted a long time, and remained as a tendency in Latin, while in following languages and in classical grammar the subject became a simple nominal “entity” to be predicated and precised with verb and other linguistic instruments. A glance has been cast also to pronouns and particles (sometimes linked together) as instruments of linking nominal variants of coordinate or subordinate clauses and to the development of demonstrative/deictic pronouns. Also in ancient case theory a prevailing position was assured to the nominative case, the case of the subject.


2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Dombrowski

The purpose of the present article is to explicate and criticize the most detailed philosophical appreciation of the ‘noble’ and other lies in Plato on a Straussian basis: Carl Page’s instructive 1991 article titled ‘The Truth about Lies in Plato’s Republic’. I carefully summarize and criticize Page’s sober, scholarly approach to the subject matter in question. Ultimately I reject his attempt to justify the ‘noble’ and other lies told by both Plato and contemporary government leaders.


PMLA ◽  
1919 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-129
Author(s):  
Karl Young

The more recent discussions of the dramatic manifestations within the liturgy of Easter-tide have given fair consideration to a type of play,—Peregrinus,—centering in a dramatization of the appearence of Christ to the two disciples at Emmaus, as recounted in the Gospel of Luke. Although the importance of this post-Resurrection play has been sufficiently evident, the limited number of the extant texts has suggested that it was closely restricted in its distribution and development. Recent researches, however, have given promise of substantial future additions to this branch of knowledge. Since the date of the last comprehensive surveys of the subject, one complete new text has been discovered, together with a mutilated fragment of another text. The purpose of the present article is the communication of an additional version, considerably more extended in dramatic content than any of the versions published hitherto.


Transport ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inesa Gailienė ◽  
Martynas Gedaminskas ◽  
Alfredas Laurinavičius

One of the technical possibilities to solve a gauge crossing is to install a dual gauge. This solution has several advantages and disadvantages discussed in this paper. Lack of experience of maintenance and lack of standards for the design of dual track are among the most important disadvantages. The wheel and rail interface on track curves is more difficult than in straight sections. Therefore, the subject of the present article is a geometrical parameter of dual gauge track, i.e., the rail superelevation, which has an impact on the wheel–rail interaction at curves and influences the value of uncompensated acceleration, occurring when a train passes a curve, and, consequently, the intensity of rail wear. The objective of the present article is to analyse the features of dual gauge track and the superelevation calculation methodology considered, to present the approach to rational calculation of superelevation for dual gauge track of Šeštokai–Mockava (Lithuania–Poland) using several calculation versions as well as to make recommendations for the calculation of superelevation.


Author(s):  
Sergey V. Malanov ◽  
◽  
Marina S. Polyakova ◽  

In the article describes the influence of syntactic organization of speech utterances on peculiarities of actualization and reproduction of their subject-semantic content (meanings). There has been tested the hypotheses that the semantic content of subjects, predicates, and objects is reproduced more efficiently: 1) when attributes are used in the composition of statements with nouns (subjects and objects), and with verbs (predicates) – adverbial modifiers; 2) when there is a deliberate focus on highlighting the semantic content of nouns or verbs in the composition of statements. The methods of varying lexical and syntactic means in the text composition presented to respondents were used as independent variables. The language means respondents used to manifest fragments of semantic content were analyzed as dependent variables. The study involved 90 respondents (72 men, 18 women) aged 25-40. While the first hypothesis has been confirmed, the second still requires additional research. The results obtained indicate that in updating and reproducing the subject-semantic content of speech utterances it is the attribution of signs and properties to objects and processes that is of great importance.The experimental organization scheme used in the study reveals a wide range of patterns that can serve to confirm / refute various hypotheses and theoretical models in psycholinguistics.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 256
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Zaitsev ◽  
Natalia V. Antonova

<p>The tradition of studying Spanish Renaissance in Russia is quite a complicated phenomenon, which requires a detailed analysis. The main questions which arise when referring to the issue are those of developmental patterns and interdisciplinary aspect of the letter. Spanish Renaissance culture is traditionally the subject to scrutiny for historians, philologists and art historians. The present article aims to outline a preliminary picture of interdisciplinary interaction, which gained momentum in the Soviet period of Russian Hispanism. Special attention is paid to the imminent figures of Spanish Renaissance historiography, as well as their ideas and concepts. The evolution of Spanish Renaissance studies is described against the background of the principal research areas. The present paper will be of interest to both intellectual historians and scholars investigating Renaissance and medieval history.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (311) ◽  
pp. 679
Author(s):  
José Reinaldo Felipe Martins Filho

Este artigo tenta suscitar algumas pistas de reflexão sobre o protagonismo laical presente no catolicismo popular brasileiro, tendo como mote superar uma leitura meramente dicotômica e de oposição entre as esferas do oficial e do popular. Vale-se, para isso, de conceitos já consolidados pelas pesquisas em Teologia e Ciências da Religião, bem como de suas interfaces com a Antropologia, a Filosofia e a Sociologia. Entre as principais características do catolicismo popular que apontam para o protagonismo dos leigos estão a dimensão comunitária, a capacidade de ressignificação espaçotemporal e identitária e a ausência de intermediadores na relação entre céu e terra, como é o caso dos santos. Trata-se de um vasto e rico horizonte a ser explorado, cuja contribuição também alcança nossas atuais discussões sobre a identidade dos cristãos leigos. Abstract: The present article is an attempt to rise some reflecting clues on the lay protagonism presents in the Brazilian popular Catholicism, aiming at overcoming a merely dichotomous reading and opposition between official and popular spheres.  In this way, it is worth to recur to concepts already established by researches in Theology, Religion Science, as well as their interfaces with Antropology, Philosophy and Sociology. Among the main characteristics of popular Catholicism that point out in the direction of the lay Christian  are communitarian dimention, capacity of  identity espacio-temporal resignification and the absence of mediators such as saints, in the relationship between  Heaven and Earth. The subject matter, whose contribution meets our current discussions  about identity and lay Christians, is of great amplitude and still needs to be explored in depth.Keywords: Lay protagonism; Popular Catholicism; Identity.


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