Noriyasu Harada Li: Interpretation and Processing of the System of Japanese Reflexives

February 24, 2017 (All day)

Abstract

My research investigates how native speakers (L1) of Japanese link reflexives to their antecedents through experimental research on specific sets of anaphoric pronouns – zibun, zibun-zisin, kare-zisin, and kanozyo-zisin. The research also examines how L2 learners acquire these properties in Japanese. Most of the previous studies on Japanese reflexives has focused on zibun, as it is subject to Binding Principle A, but has several different properties from English anaphors (e.g., himself and herself). However, my research examines the full system of Japanese reflexives in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of reflexivity in Japanese. Subsequently, the data collected for this study show binding behaviors by L1 Japanese that contradicts how the theory claimed zibun and other Japanese reflexives bind with their antecedents. Further, I expand the scope of reflexives to all reflexive forms in Japanese, and cross-linguistically analyze acquisition between typologically related (e.g., Korean) and unrelated (e.g., Chinese) languages.