Violations of the basic Japanese referential system in reintroductions

Abstract

Referential systems are language specific, and the Japanese referential system is achieved by using grammatical particles (wa and ga) as well as ellipsis. While there are basic patterns, violations of these patterns commonly occur. This study examined the reasons why violations could occur by focusing on reintroductions. The data were collected from ten oral narratives and five written narratives. The results demonstrated that grammatical constraints and additional functions constituted the two main reasons why the most expected referential markings were not used. Other observed factors included the centeredness of the character in the story and the different types of referential markings. It was also found that referential markers were highly related to predicates that could predict which particle would predominantly be used. However, predicates themselves were not the only primary driver of particle selection. Instead, other components of the sentence outside the predicates may have contributed to the selection of referential marking.