Phornthip Nithithanawiwat. A corpus-based study of antonym sequence in Japanese. Doctoral Degree(Linguistics). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2018.
A corpus-based study of antonym sequence in Japanese
Abstract:
A corpus-based study of antonym sequencing in Japanese aimed: (1) to investigate antonym sequencing when co-occurring in one sentence; (2) to investigate the factors affecting antonym sequencing; (3) to examine whether the preferred ordering within antonym pairs is determined by frequency or not. This study tested 2 hypotheses. First, different frequency patterns of the order within antonym pairs in antonym sequences in Japanese follow the markedness principle; Second, more frequently used antonyms of antonym pairs occur more frequently in the preferred position within antonym sequences in Japanese. The data was collected from Tsukuba Web Corpus, and the test hypothesis regarding population proportion was used for the test statistic. The collected antonymous pairs were ordered according to predictive markedness properties, and they were tested by population proportion. The 131 antonym pairs (69 percent from total 191 pairs) which had p value below 0.05 may support the first hypothesis, that different frequency patterns of the ordered antonym pairs in antonym sequences in Japanese follow the principle of markedness. It was found that 7 factors based on the principle of markedness influenced sequencing, namely positivity, phonology, morphology, magnitude, chronology, spatial position and culture-specific factor. The later consists of yin-yang principle which is based on Chinese philosophy, uchi-soto and seniority. These three exist in the socio-cultural fabric of Japan. Uchi-soto notion is unique character of Japanese culture. It is reflected in real language use and appears in antonym sequencing such as kokunai 'domestic' prcedes kokusai 'international by 72%. It seems to provide priority of relationship with Japan (as uchi 'inside') more than other countries (as soto 'outside') following uchi-soto notion. Moreover, the word frequency influenced the preferred ordering of 85 antonym pairs in Japanese by 65 percent (from total 131 pairs), and it may be sufficient evidence to support the second hypothesis, that more frequently-used antonyms of antonym pairs occur more frequently in their preferred position within antonym sequences when co-occurring in one sentence in Japanese.