Choice of predicate and narrative manipulation: Functions of dearu and da in modern Japanese fiction

Abstract

This paper examines the two forms of copula, dearu and da, in modern Japanese fictional discourse. While most previous studies suggest that these two forms differ in terms of style, this paper proposes that the choice between the dearu and da predicate is motivated by a narrative manipulation that is realized by the external and internal positioning the text-producer takes toward the narrative scene. Specifically, dearu is effective in expressing a conceptual view most frequently taken from the text-producer's position external to the scene and it usually constitutes a narrative discourse. Da, on the other hand, is effective in expressing a perceptual point of view frequently based on the text-producer's position internal to the scene and it commonly constitutes a direct discourse. Further, it is shown that this external/internal distinction is supported by syntactic evidence that da, but not dearu, can occur in so-called Genshoobun ‘sentence of immediate description’. This paper is an attempt to investigate occurrences of linguistic devices that are seemingly random in literary discourse from a discourse functional perspective.