Paper short abstract:

In this research we study benefactive constructions of modern Japanese in Internet and spoken language using National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) corpora. We take a look at the way they deviate from standard Japanese using semantic and syntactic criteria.

Paper long abstract:

Natural languages are constantly evolving, and first of all we can observe these changes in spoken language and the language of the Internet communication. Language rules functioning there are sometimes very different from what is being prescribed in grammar books, they flexibly reflect changes in society and people's minds. In Japanese these changes affect, among other issues, the politeness system, since many young people find honorific language troublesome and only necessary for use at work.

Japanese benefactive constructions, being a rather complicated system including 7 different auxiliary verbs, undergo some changes in informal speech, and we try to grasp this process in our research.

The research have been conducted using Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ) and Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese (CSJ) by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL). We take a look at both semantical and syntactical criteria of the verb and particles choice, such as benefactive or malefactive meaning of the whole construction, syntactic roles of the actants, transitivity of the main verb.

It turns out that especially constructions with auxiliaries 'yaru' and 'ageru' tend to deviate from standard grammar rules. Though now some might criticize this usage as corrupted language, in few decades it might become a standard.*

*supported by RFFR (Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, grant #16-06-00226)