LINGUISTIC CONCEPTUALIZATION OF LYING IN JAPANESE

Abstract

This paper uses corpus data to track the interpretation of the act of lying as conceptualized by the Japanese speakers. To this end we review the lexical environment of relevant speech verbs, namely their argument structure, modifiers and upper predicates. The semantic field, described on the basis of these data, is structured by the parameters of degree of cognitive status of the communicators, intentionality, interpersonality damage and scope of distortion. For example, interpersonal vs. institutional principle of nomination is reflected in transitivity. Secondary parameters include shift of focus (to the technical or the ethical aspect), legal sanctions or, more broadly, social acceptability, reflected in modification patterns. The dominance of the neutral lexeme USO carrying a minimal set of semes can be explained by sociopragmatical, beside purely structural, reasons.

Keywords

• японский язык
• речевой глагол
• корпусные данные
• ложь
• сочетаемость
• семантическое поле
• japanese language
• speech verb
• corpus data
• lying
• collocations
• semantic field