An ’I’ for an ’I’… : the semantic development of the first person pronoun in Japanese

Författare

Tim Palmroos

Summary, in English

By way of a diachronic analysis the semantic changes of Japanese first person pronouns will
be discussed. The goal of the analysis is to shine some light on the history and evolution of
Japanese pronouns in the first person and in so doing show that these pronouns have been
subjected to change semantically throughout history. To bolster the analysis research in the
form of a survey has been conducted specifically for the sake of this thesis. What the result of
the survey shows is that use of personal pronouns in the first person is still changing
semantically. With the results of the analysis and research as a foundation the end discussion
will mostly deal with how Japanese first person pronouns change and how they might be
evolving in the future.

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