The Structure of Modern Japanese Exclamatory Sentences: On the Structure of the Nanto-Type Sentence

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  • 現代語の感動文の構造 : 「なんと」型感動文の構造をめぐって
  • ゲンダイゴ ノ カンドウブン ノ コウゾウ ナント ガタ カンドウブン ノ コウゾウ オ メグッテ

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Abstract

While many preceding studies have regarded kando-kantai sentences (an exclamatory sentence typically ending in a bare noun such as utukusii hana 'beautiful flower !', referred to as A-type sentence in this paper) as a type of exclamatory sentence, sentences bracketed with nanto and daroo (such as nanto utsutkushii hana daroo 'what a beautiful flower !', referred to as the nanto-type sentence in this paper) have been regarded as a peripheral kind of interrogative sentence, despite it being an attempt to project the emotion of the speaker. This paper suggests that the form and function of the nanto-type sentence correspond to those of the A-type sentence, which leads to the conclusion that the former is not an interrogative but an exclamatory sentence. Specifically, the paper shows that the nanto-type sentence is characterized by the following three points: (1) nanto does not function as an interrogative; (2) nanto must accompany a noun with a modifier phrase expressing an attribute, which indicates that the nanto-type sentence is the phrasal nominal; and (3) the markers -daroo, -ka, and -da, which usually encode the illocutionary force of a declarative, lose this function when they co-occur with nanto; consequently, the categorical selection of -daroo is limited to nominal phrases.

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