Functions of to and koto-o in speech and thought representation in Japanese written discourse

Abstract

This paper explores the functional differences between to quotation, the major linguistic device for marking both direct and indirect quotation, and koto-o clause, another device for marking speech and thought representation in Japanese written discourse. After defining the notions of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ speech, some syntactic, semantic and discoursal characteristics are discussed as we contrast the to quotation on the one hand and koto-o together with to yuu koto-o on the other. Syntactically, although koto-o clause invariably constitutes a subordinate clause, to quotation may not necessarily do so. Semantically, to quotation implies direct-orientation, often with immediate access to the verbatim speech, while o clause is more likely to co-occur with only a limited number of verbs of communication that are less directly oriented. It is argued that the availability of the to quotation and the limited usage of koto-o clause in Japanese influence the literary style where points of view can shift rather freely without disturbing the flow of discourse and where the maintenance of the point of view may be accomplished by a cross-sentential scope relation of to. In this paper, the possibilities of exploring the literary style idiosyncratic to a particular language system from a linguistic perspective are discussed.