일본어 형용사의 명사화 정도에 관한 일고찰

An Analysis of the Degree of Nominalisations of Japanese Adjectives: Focussing on Nouns Derived from the Suffix –Sa

本研究は、品詞の文法的․語彙的特性に基づいた品詞の典型性判断基準により、接尾語｢-さ｣による名詞の名詞化度合いを分析し、形容詞名詞化の一つの特徴を明らかにすることを試みた。その結果、｢-さ｣名詞は具体名詞より名詞典型性の度合いは低かったが、名詞の文法的特性を備えて構文上名詞として機能していることが確認できた。また、語彙的特性において｢-さ｣名詞は、形容詞の意味がそのまま名詞化されたり、若干の差だけが生じ、形容詞の典型性を示していた。このような文法的․語彙的特性は｢-さ｣名詞において共通してあらわれていた。述語機能の要件において ｢-さ｣名詞の間に名詞典型性の差が見られた。｢-さ｣名詞は転成過程を経て名詞の文法的特性を獲得し、形容詞の文法的特性を喪失した一方、形容詞の語彙的特性は維持していた。

In this article, I analyse the degree of nominalisations involving the suffix -sa in terms of the criteria for prototypicality of parts-of-speech based on their grammatical and lexical properties. In so doing, I attempt to reveal a certain characteristic of nominalisations of adjectives. The analysis indicates that though the nouniness of -sa-derived nouns is lower than that of concrete nouns, -sa-derived nouns are equipped with grammatical properties of nouns and thus behave as nouns in sentences. Further, in terms of lexical properties, adjectival properties are attested in -sa-derived nouns in that the lexical meaning of an adjective is persistent in -sa-derived nouns in many cases. These grammatical and lexical characteristics are uniformly observed in -sa-derived nouns. Still, there are differences in the nouniness of various -sa-derived nouns in terms of predicative functions. -Sa-derived nouns have acquired grammatical properties of nouns through nominalisation, and they have retained lexical properties of adjectives while losing grammatical properties of adjectives.