日本語における指示詞の省略可能性 : 名詞の種類と述語による影響の観点から

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that enable the deletion of demonstrative adjectives in Japanese language. Iori (2007) and Si (2008) pointed out that demonstrative adjectives can be omitted when the anaphor is a common noun but not an abstract noun. However, the demonstrative adjectives may not be omitted in certain situations even when the anaphor and its antecedent consist of the same common noun. In addition, a certain abstract noun allows the deletion of the demonstrative adjective. For these reasons, the present study attempts to find the answers to the following two questions: 1) Does the predicate type play any role in the omission of demonstrative adjectives? 2) What are the characteristics of abstract nouns that allow the deletion of demonstrative adjectives? The data analysis revealed that the type of predicate determines the possibility of the omission. That is, when the predicate describes the property of a noun, demonstrative adjectives tend not to be omitted regardless of the noun types. However, when the predicate expresses a specific event, a common noun is interpreted as a specific object and it can refer to the antecedent without demonstrative adjectives. In the case of abstract nouns like gengo (language), the demonstrative adjectives tend not to be omitted even if the predicate expresses an individual event. In contrast, abstract nouns like risou (ideal), which can be interpreted as a specific object, e.g. someone’s ideal, raise the likelihood of deletion.