Semantic Role of the English Preposition In in Japanese Compounds
Semantic Role of the English Preposition In in Japanese Compounds

Summary/Abstract: There are cases where English prepositions are used in Japanese compounds. This paper investigates compounds in which the English preposition in appears between two nouns, namely, N1-in-N2, and clarifies the semantic role of in in this type of compound. Previous studies have attempted to identify the meaning of in in the compound based on another similar type of compound, namely N1-iri-N2; however, there remain some unresolved issues in their analyses. Therefore, unlike these studies, this paper analyzes the compound N1-in-N2 independently from the compound N1-iri-N2, and proposes that in of N1-in-N2 expresses two semantic relations between N1 and N2: (i) a containing relation and (ii) an inseparable relation. This paper, furthermore, demonstrates that the second semantic property comes from a peculiar categorial status of the constituent N1-in.

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