Kureru Verb as an Example of Enantiosemy in Japanese Language. Analysis of Corpus Data and Results of Informant Survey

Abstract

Joining research of the phenomenon of enantiosemy (auto-antonymy) in different languages of the world, the article deals with examples from fictional literature (including those found in Japanese language corpus), where one can observe auto-antonymy in the meaning of the verb kureru “give”. This is the first work exploring semantics of a Japanese lexeme from the point of view of enantiosemy. Based on analysis of usage of this verb as auxiliary we suggest there is a semantic shift, which leads to simultaneously existing benefactive and malefactive meaning, and also differently directed vectors of the act described by the verb (either “from within to outside” vs “inside from the outside” or “from the second or third person to the first person” vs “from the first person to the second or third person”). Results of the informant survey (60 people, aged from 18 to 45 and older) confirm existence of antonymous meanings and differently directed vectors of the act, depending on the semantics of the main verb and context, including grammatical context.

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