Come and kuru: A contrastive analysis of selected verbal constructions in English and Japanese

• Thesis title in Czech: Come a kuru: kontrastivní rozbor vybraných slovesných konstrukcí v angličtině a japonštině
• Thesis title in English: Come and kuru: A contrastive analysis of selected verbal constructions in English and Japanese
• Key words: kuru|come to|come -ing|construction grammar|contrastive analysis|Japanese|English
• English key words: kuru|come to|come -ing|konstrukční gramatika|kontrastivní rozbor|japonština|angličtina
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2019/2020
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Institute of Asian Studies (21-UAS)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Petra Kanasugi, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 18.04.2020
• Date of assignment: 20.04.2020
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 11.06.2020
• Date and time of defence: 02.09.2020 08:00
• Date of electronic submission: 07.08.2020
• Date of proceeded defence: 02.09.2020
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: doc. PhDr. Markéta Malá, Ph.D.

Guidelines

The present thesis contrasts the Japanese verbal complexes consisting of the motion verb kuru (V-te-kuru, e.g. hashittekuru, wakattekuru) with the English constructions come to (e.g. come to realize) and come -ing (e.g. come running). Building up on the extant research, the thesis attempts to analyse the usage of the respective constructions within the framework of construction grammar (Goldberg, 1995 and 2006). This approach enables us to define the verbal complexes and analyse their individual meanings as independent though semantically related units.
The thesis identifies verbal constructions consisting of kuru and come in the two languages and attempts to interpret differences and similarities in their usage. Despite being unrelated languages, there is substantial convergence in the usage of the respective Japanese and English constructions; a similarity that reflects everyday experience as well as the human physical and cognitive makeup. I address the following research questions: to what extent and how do Japanese and English use the constructions in question differently? In other words, do English and Japanese make use of the constructions in similar contexts in a similar manner, and if not, what are the alternatives to these constructions? Are there any specific usages, including constraints or preferences?
After introducing the thesis and motivation for writing it in the introductory chapter, the following chapter provides an outline of hitherto research (on semantics, aspect, cognitive properties) as a theoretical background. This includes the definition of the two verbs, the breadth of their lexical meaning extensions, and it also introduces the constructions the two verbs appear in. Additionally, it presents the framework of the present thesis, i.e. construction grammar. Following the introduction of the methodology in the third chapter (contrast and analysis of the constructions supported by authentic data extracted from corpora), the analytical fourth chapter contrasts and interprets the usages of the respective Japanese and English constructions. The final chapter provides a survey of the findings and suggestions for further research.

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