Contrastive rhetoric: A case of nominalization in Japanese and English discourse

Abstract

This paper argues for the rhetorical differences in nominalization (nominal clauses and nominal predicates) in novelistic discourse between Japanese and English. Following partly the findings in my earlier studies, I argue that nominalization expresses objectification while the da -predicate creates personal and subjective effects (partly through the use of the topic-comment structure), and that in Japanese these contradictory forces help create a rhetorical style which I call “rhetoric of commentation.” In English, nominalization occurs significantly less frequently and the subject-predicate relationship remains primary in sentence construction as well as in rhetorical effect in discourse. The rhetorical differences contrasted in this study resonate with various other features of the structure and use of the Japanese language vis-à-vis English. The paper emphasizes the importance of contrastive studies in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of cross-linguistic differences in how different cultures view the world, how such views are manifested through language and rhetoric, and how the worlds (re)created in discourse express similar yet different perspectives and meanings.