Mathematical Linguistics Vol. 31

Vol. 31 No. l (June, 2017)	Vol. 31 No. 2 (Sep., 2017)	Vol. 31 No. 3 (Dec., 2017)	VOl. 31 No. 4 (Mar., 2018)
VOl. 31 No. 5 (June, 2018)	Vol. 31 No. 6 (Sep., 2018)	Vol. 31 No. 7 (Dec., 2018)	Vol. 31 No. 8 (Mar., 2019)

Vol. 31 No. 1 (June 25, 2017)

Classification:
Paper (B)
Author:
HONDA Yumiko
Title:
Transparency of Two-Character Sino-Japanese Words: Analysis of Words and Component Characters Based on a Corpus

Pages:
1--19
Keywords:
two-character Sino-Japanese words, kanji, transparency, three groups, Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), Japanese dictionary, Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), Japanese language education, Japanese native speaker
Abstract:
This paper aims to show the quantitative transparency tendency of two-character Sino-Japanese words and to obtain useful information for teaching Japanese language through a survey and analysis of high frequency words in the written language. The transparency degree of two-character Sino-Japanese words is divided into three groups: transparent, half-transparent, and opaque. For examining transparency, descriptions of words in Japanese dictionaries are used to retain the objectivity of examining. The survey results indicate the following:
1. Each group accounts for a ratio of high frequency words;
2. The ratio of transparent words is higher in the intermediate and above intermediate levels than in the elementary level for words appearing in the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. However, the ratio of opaque words is higher in the elementary level than in the intermediate and above intermediate levels.
3. The survey results obtained from using description of words in Japanese dictionaries have similarities to those obtained from using questionnaires to Japanese university students.
Therefore, in this paper, the quantitative transparency tendency is useful information for teachers in considering contents of teaching two-character Sino-Japanese words.
Classification:
Paper (B)
Author:
TAMAOKA Katsuo
Title:
Investigation of the Similarity between Newspaper Corpus and Native Speakers’ Production in Collocation Patterns of Sound-symbolic Words and Verbs
Pages:
20-35
Keywords:
sound-symbolic words, onomatopoeia, collocation pattern, entropy, redundancy, newspaper corpus, native speaker’s production
Abstract:
Newspapers articles are written by reporters for the general public, so provide accurate information using simple standard expressions. However, it is not clear whether written texts in newspapers reflect typical language production by native speakers. It is assumed that mature native Japanese speakers produce various sound-symbolic words--such as onomatopoeia and mimesis, which are cultivated through childhood experience--with various related verbs. The present study investigated the similarities of collocation patterns for 28 different sound-symbolic words co-occurring with verbs, by comparing nine years of Asahi Newspaper articles (1991-99) with verbal production by 36 native Japanese speakers within 30 seconds. No significant differences were found in either the variation criterion of entropy or the regularity criterion of redundancy for collocational patters between newspaper corpus and native speakers’ production. The result indicated a great similarity between newspaper corpus and native speakers. Exceptional words were only found in 4 out of 28 sound-symbolic words from the descriptive perspective.
Classification:
Resource
Author:
HIGUCHI Koichi
Title:
Using KH Coder in the Field of Linguistics
Pages:
36-45
Keywords:
KH Coder, content analysis, linguistics, parts of speech
Abstract:
The author introduces how to perform statistical analysis of textual data in an automated and effective way by utilizing a free software “KH Coder” in the field of linguistics. First, the major functionalities and philosophy of the KH Coder are explained to provide an overview of the software. The KH Coder was originally developed to perform analysis in the field of sociology or social research rather than that of linguistics. Because the KH Coder was developed in a different discipline, this overview will help with understanding its function and how to actually use it as applied to linguistics. Second, procedures for customizing the KH Coder settings are described to demonstrate how it will be more useful in the field of linguistics. For example, with the default settings, the KH Coder ignores all function words such as particles or auxiliary verbs, and focuses only on content words. To analyze function words, the parts of speech setting needs to be modified. Additionally, we can modify the word extraction setting to manually correct morphological analysis results to increase their accuracy.
Classification:
Author’s Book Review
Author:
ITO Masamitsu
Title:
Studies of Japanese Linguistics Employing Lyrics of J-pop Songs: For an Development of the Artificial Intelligence with a Function of the Creative Writing. Asakura Shoten
Pages:
46-47
Classification:
TUTORIAL
Author:
OGINO Tsunao
Title:
Data Visualization (9): How to Output Image File from Pascal Program to LIPS Printer
Pages:
48-59
Keywords:
LIPS, printer, command, Pascal, unit
Abstract:
This paper explains my Pascal program which generates an image file (including printer commands) for Canon’s LIPS printers. This program thus enables the users to print out all the varieties of outputs. The program is coded as a unit in Pascal language and can be used by various user programs. This paper also introduces two application programs (1) to draw a rectangle graph based on some crosstable, and (2) to draw isoglosses in a linguistic map based on a tentative algorithm.

Vol. 31 No.2 (Sep. 20, 2017)

Classification:
Paper (A) to the Special Issue
Author:
OYAMADA Yuki
Title:
Study of the Functional Verb of the Passive Voice: Focusing on the Comparison of atsumeru and kurau
Pages:
84-98
Keywords:
functional verb, passive voice, periphrastic passive, BCCWJ, continuity from the concrete noun to the event noun, writing style, animate, inanimate, sentiment polarity
Abstract:
This study examines the functional verbs of the passive voice. Functional verbs of the passive voice do not seem to have the same function, but considered to have their unique characteristics. Therefore, I try to clarify the difference in characteristics of functional verbs by investigating their descriptions in dictionaries and the corpus. I first investigate the characteristics of functional verbs by conceptual consideration, then I perform quantitative consideration based on the result. In the quantitative consideration, three following viewpoints were useful; distribution of the functional verbs from the appearance field, noun part of the functional verb, and combination of the nominative and the active subject. By the above-mentioned consideration, the difference in characteristics of functional verbs such as the passive type, the characteristic of the noun part, the writing style and the sentiment polarity became clear.
Classification:
Invited Paper (B) to the Special Issue
Author:
ISHIKAWA Shin’ichiro
Title:
Semantic Role of the Case Particle de in Modern Japanese: A Corpus-based Approach to the Improved Usage Description and Verification of the Radial Category Model
Pages:
99-115
Keywords:
case particle, semantic role, collocation, cognitive linguistics, semantic expansion, correspondence analysis, cluster analysis
Abstract:
Although semantic roles of the Japanese case particle de have been studied from varied angles, relatively few studies have attempted to incorporate a quantitative approach into examination of its usage. The author, therefore, conducted a quantitative analysis of the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ) and assigned twenty-four semantic role codes to seven hundred text samples taken from the corpus. Then, the author investigated (1) what kind of features each of the twenty-four semantic roles had, (2) how often each of them occurred in the attested data, (3) how they were classified, and (4) to which extent each of them deviated from the prototypical semantic role. The frequency-based investigation has pr’) place-related semantic roles occur most often, and they are followed by measure/ situation-related semantic roles, (3’) semantic roles can be classified into a core group (place, measures, reasons, state) and the others, and (4’) the distances from the prototype are roughly in accordance with those suggested in the radial category model.
Classification:
Invited Paper (B) to the Special Issue
Author:
LEE Jaeho & HASEBE Yoichiro
Title:
Extraction of Grammatical Items Using N-grams and Its Validation Based on Learner Corpus
Pages:
116-127
Keywords:
function expression, N-gram, educational grammar, learner corpus, frequency analysis
Abstract:
In this paper, we extract grammatical items using N-grams and show that grammatical items or functional expressions can be taught efficiently by extracting expressions using the word N-grams from the corpus. First, we review the literature on corpus and grammar research from the viewpoint of Japanese language education. Then, we examine the collocation expression list of Lee & Sasaki (2015) and construct a functional expression list. For the purpose of verifying the validity of these extracted functional expressions, we have compared them with the frequency data of YNU corpus. The result indicates that the numbers of intermediate-level functional expressions tend to increase as learning proficiency increases. we argue that analyzing quantitatively learner corpora enables us to grasp the whole picture of the learner language.
Classification:
Paper (B) to the Special Issue
Author:
LIU Xueqin & JIN Mingzhe
Title:
Quantitative Analyses of Koji Uno’s Works before and after the Illness
Pages:
128-143
Keywords:
Koji Uno, mental illness, writing style, quantitative analysis
Abstract:
This manuscript aims to clarify the changes of Koji Uno’s writing styles after he suffered mental illness in 1927. In order to understand the differences in Uno’s works before and after his illness, a quantitative analysis using correspondence analysis and statistical hypothesis testing was employed. By analyzing the textual measurements, we found that his writing style after recovering from the illness is different from the previous. Both the frequency of Chinese characters and the vocabulary richness increased in the works written after the illness. These results, after further analysis, mainly consist of an increase in the use of nouns in later writings. Consequently, the overall writing style changed from spoken to written language. Furthermore, the overuse of the comma has an impact on the loss of the garrulity and fluency, which led to the changes in the style of the writings after the illness. Additionally, the work named ‘Nichiyobi ’ which had been published before the disease treatment is more similar with the works written after recovering, indicating that the writing style had been changed even before the illness.
Classification:
Paper (B) to the Special Issue
Author:
ARAI Teiko, BUNJI Kyosuke, ISHIHARA Yuki, MATSUZAKI Takuya & KAGEURA Kyo
Title:
Complexities of Text from the Points of View of Lexical and Syntactic Characteristics: Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Features of Primary School Textbooks
Pages:
144-159
Keywords:
textbook, word familiarity, dependency, learning gap
Abstract:
This paper analyses linguistic features of primary school textbooks for the penultimate and final grades (grades five and six) and junior high school textbooks for the first and second grades (grades one and two), in order to reveal factors affecting the so-called “primary-secondary” learning gap. We chose science textbooks and analysed their complexities from the points of view of lexical and syntactic characteristics. The analysis revealed that there is a clear gap in syntactic complexities of sentences between primary and secondary school textbooks. The analysis showed that the factors constitute the gap between primary and secondary school textbooks.
Classification:
Paper A
Author:
NISHINA Kikuko, YAGI Yutaka, HODO??EK Bor & ABEKAWA Takeshi
Title:
Construction of a Connectives Dictionary for Academic Writing Assistance System
Pages:
160-176
Keywords:
Writing Assistance System, Japanese language learners, conjunction, connectives, academic papers and assignment report, register, Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), science and technology texts data, UniDic, Japanese connectives list
Abstract:
We aim to construct an academic writing assistance system for learners of Japanese as a second language who are tasked with writing academic papers and reports during the course of their studies. We propose to provide suggestions for rewriting inappropriate expressions within learner compositions using a dictionary and a method of comparing learner composition text data to authentic corpus data. From among many possible language elements, this paper focuses on defining connective expressions and the construction of a connectives expression dictionary. Beginning with a definition of connectives based on their role in text, we select 568 connective expressions using a combination of manual selection and automated extraction, and demonstrate the importance of the automatic approach as well as its weaknesses.
Next, we manually annotate the connective expressions with ratings on their suitability to be used in the academic register. Finally, we show the possibilities of the resulting connectives dictionary in providing guidance to learners in the appropriate selection of connective expressions within the academic register.
Classification:
Book Review
Author:
MABUCHI Yoko
Title:
TANAKA Makiro ed. (2015). Corpus and Education of Japanese as the Mother Language. Series of the Japanese Corpus, vol. 4. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten.
Pages:
177-183

Vol. 31 No.3 (Dec., 20th, 2017)

Classification:
PAPER A
Author:
ONO Yohei,YOSHINO Ryozo,HAYASHI Fumi,WHITMAN John
Title:
A Multiple Correspondence Analysis of the Latent Structure of Features in Linguistic Typology (1): A Statistical Reanalysis of Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh (1995a)
Pages:
189-204
Keywords:
adpositionless,clustering,Genitive-Noun,head-initial,head-final,language typology,linguistic classification,multiple correspondence analysis,Noun Phrase internal,word order
Abstract:
This paper uses Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to re-analyze the linguistic data studied in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh (1995a). Tsunoda et al. (1995a) applied cluster analyses to the word order parameters in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh’s (1995b) database and identified as the main component the word order parameter category “prepositional,” thus positing a basic dichotomy between prepositional languages versus adpositionless and postpositional languages. We reanalyze the same data using MCA, together with certain clustering techniques, applied to both the languages and the linguistic parameters in Tsunoda et al.’s (1995b) database simultaneously. This approach confirms the significance of word order parameters involving adposition but suggests a reconsideration of Tsunoda et al.’s (1995a) classification. We find a dichotomy between a cluster of “head-initial” (prepositional, verb-object, and noun-genitive) parameter categories versus a cluster of “head-final” (postpositional, object-verb, and genitive-noun) parameter categories similar to those often grouped together by linguists on the basis of informal cross-linguistic observations. We also find that Noun Phrase internal word order parameters, excepting parameter governing the order of noun and genitive,cluster separately from the others.
Classification:
PAPER A
Author:
MORI Hideaki
Title:
Comparing the Usage Rate of a Word between Two Corpora: Which should We Use as an Observation Unit (Case), a Word or a Text?
Pages:
205-221
Keywords:
corpus, chi-square test, observation unit, text frequency, effect size
Abstract:
If any differences are found in the usage rate of a word between two corpora, the common method to verify them is to conduct a chi-square test using word frequencies. However, when an assumed word is used as an observation unit, there is criticism that it does not to meet the assumption of randomness underlying the statistical test. Basically, the choice of words and their regularity depends on the author’s judgment. In comparing the usage rate of a word, texts that reflect the author’s judgement, rather than the individual words should be observed as the observation units. In this paper, we propose an analytical method using a text as the observation unit to compare the usage rate of a word between two corpora. Differences of the usage rate of a word can be explained by the differences in the text frequency distribution. Furthermore, using text frequencies to perform a chi-square test makes it possible to effectively demonstrate the degree to which the text distribution varies between two corpora based upon their effect size. In comparing the usage rate of a word, therefore, we should consider the text rather than the word as an observation unit.
Classification:
REVIEW
Author:
TOJO Kana
Title:
TANOMURA Tadaharu (ed.) (2014). Corpus and Japanese Linguistics. Series of the Japanese Corpus, vol.6. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten.
Pages:
222-226
Classification:
TUTORIAL
Author:
NAGATA Mizue
Title:
Recent Methods of the Questionnaire Research with the Large Sample Size (1): The Problems Posed by Refusal to Research Cooperation: Consideration about the Problems of Recent Increasing the Rate of Refusal to Research Cooperation
Pages:
228-243
Keywords:
Research Ethics, Research Cooperation, Refusal to Research Cooperation, Problems Posed by Refusal to Research Cooperation, Protection of Research Cooperation
Abstract:
In recent years, the rate of refusal to research cooperation appears to be increasing in the field of psychology. Hence, this paper aimed to examine the actual state of research cooperation by comparing journals of psychology published in 2006 and 2016 with regard to the procedures for collecting research collaborators and the rate of cooperation acceptance. The results suggest that most journals did not have a description on procedures that gathered research collaborators, and the actual condition of refusal to research cooperation was not clarified. On the basis of these considerations, the problems posed by refusal to research cooperation were examined and a method to secure research collaborators to gather as many biased data as possible was proposed.

Vol. 31 No.4 (Mar, 20, 2018)

Classification:
PAPER A
Author:
ONO Yohei,YOSHINO Ryozo,HAYASHI Fumi, & WHITMAN John
Title:
A Multiple Correspondence Analysis of the Latent Structure of Features in Linguistic Typology (2): A Statistical Reanalysis of Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh (1995a)
Pages:
261-280
Keywords:
adpositionless,clustering,Genitive-Noun,head-initial,head-final,language typology,linguistic classification,multiple correspondence analysis,Noun Phrase internal,word order
Abstract:
This paper uses Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to re-analyze the linguistic data studied in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh (1995a). Tsunoda et al. (1995a) applied cluster analyses to the word order parameters in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh’s (1995b) database and identified as the main component the word order parameter category “ prepositional,” thus positing a basic dichotomy between prepositional languages versus adpositionless and postpositional languages. We reanalyze the same data using MCA, together with certain clustering techniques, applied to both the languages and the linguistic parameters in Tsunoda et al.’s (1995b) database simultaneously. This approach confirms the significance of word order parameters involving adposition but suggests a reconsideration of Tsunoda et al.’s (1995a) classification. We find a dichotomy between a cluster of &ldquohead-initial&rdquo (prepositional, verb-object, and noun-genitive) parameter categories versus a cluster of &ldquo head-final &rdquo (postpositional, object-verb, and genitive-noun) parameter categories similar to those often grouped together by linguists on the basis of informal cross-linguistic observations. We also find that Noun Phrase internal word order parameters, excepting parameter governing the order of noun and genitive,cluster separately from the others.
Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
SAYAMA Kohichi
Title:
How Differently Postposition ni and e in Newspaper Headings Are Comprehended?
Pages:
281-296
Keywords:
grammar, syntax, postposition, newspaper, headline
Abstract:
Some literature on Japanese grammar has argued that Japanese postpositions ni and e are not differentially comprehended by native Japanese speakers reading sentences that include these postpositions. Other Japanese grammar books, however, explain that ni and e have clearly different meanings. This study was designed to ascertain whether Japanese readers can, in fact, distinguish between ni and e during sentence comprehension. Two experiments were conducted in which news headings were presented with or without ni or e, or after interchanging ni and e. Participants read the headings silently, or read them aloud, while the reading time was measured. The results of silent reading indicated no evidence that participants consciously differentiated between ni and e. The results of oral reading, however, indicated that participants took significantly longer for reading headings when e was replaced by ni than when reading the corresponding original headings. These findings indicated that participants experience difficulty in inferring meaning due to the replaced postposition, ni. It is concluded that native speakers can comprehend the difference between ni and e, especially when they read headings.
Classification:
Author’s Book Review
Author:
LEE Jae-Ho:
Title:
The Science of Measurement and Evaluation of Text. Hitsuji Shobo.
Pages:
297-298
Classification:
TUTORIAL
Author:
MATSUDA Eiji
Title:
Recent Methods of the Questionnaire Research with the Large Sample Size (2): Issues of Telephone and RDD Surveys: How to Deal with Coverage and Nonresponse Errors
Pages:
299-314
Keywords:
telephone survey, landline, cell/wireless phone, response rate, coverage error, nonresponse error, sampling error, measurement error
Abstract:
Early telephone surveys were conducted by selecting samples from telephone directories and public registers. Due to errors in survey results caused by under-coverage of individuals not listed in telephone directories, telephone survey methodology changed from the original list-assisted model to Random Digit Dialing (RDD). Surveys for samples added cell phone numbers are able to cover cell-phone-only (CPO) individuals, which now includes many young and middle-aged persons. The downsides to mobile surveys are that they have a very low response rate, and that in Japan it is difficult to obtain proper regional information from a telephone number. This article offers information to aid in the process of deciding whether or not to use telephone surveys.

Vol. 31 No.5 (Jun, 20th, 2018)

Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
CHEN Xiuyin
Title:
The Actual Usage of the Phrase koto ni naru in Corpus of Spoken Language
Pages:
323-337
Keywords:
koto ni naru, Corpus of Spoken Language, toiu koto ni naru, wakeda
Abstract:
This article illustrates the actual usage of the phrase koto ni naru in spoken language. In spoken language, I found that the usage which expresses “development of the fact” ,e.g. “I will have a headache tomorrow if I drink so much”, is used most often. I also found certain characteristic relating to forms preceding and following koto ni naru. As for preceding constructions, toiu appears frequently, especially in the Diet records, which accounts for nearly 70%. This complex phrase toiu koto ni naru serves to emphasise the proposition and has the function of “onnecting”. Also, after koto ni naru, wakeda occurs frequently, but depending on the place of occurrence, its function is also different. Specifically, when occurring at the end of a sentence, koto ni naru which can be considered to express a logical consequence, tends to co-occur with wakeda meaning “result”, the entire phrase as a whole then having the meaning of “consequence”. With koto ni naru wakeda ga appearing in the sentence, wakeda ga is irrespective of the meaning of koto ni naru -has the function of presenting facts.
Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
ASAISHI Takuma
Title:
The Occurring Process of Terminology in Junior-high and High School Science Textbooks
Pages:
338-351
Keywords:
terminology, textbook, text analysis, occurring process
Abstract:
In this paper, the occurring process of terminology in junior-high and high school science textbooks has been analyzed. I extract index terms from the body text of textbook, which I consider as terms that represent main concepts in textbooks. Then I visualize and describe how new terms appear, and how they are repeated from the beginning towards the end in the body text. The primary results are as follows: (1) New term appears constantly as a whole, while many more new terms appear in some sections. (2) The degree of concentration of frequency distribution (i.e., few terms are repeated many times and many terms are repeated few times) are more and more strong as a whole, while it rapidly increases in some sections. These results differ from the results obtained when terms appear randomly in the texts. In addition to that, some characteristics of each domain, school year and period are also observed.
Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
MIYAGI Shin, IMADA Mizuho
Title:
Analyzing the Developmental Process of Kanji Usage Ability Using “Written Composition Corpus of Japanese Elementary and Junior High School Students”
Pages:
352-369
Keywords:
WCCJS, survey of L1 composition by Japanese students, estimation of Kanji usage ability, Development of writing skills
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of Kanji in compositions of children / students and to estimate the ability of Kanji usage. For this investigation, we built the Written Composition Corpus of Japanese Elementary and Junior High School Students (WCCJS). This corpus comprises approximately one million words of compositions written by children and students from elementary (first grade) to junior high school (third grade). In this paper, we investigate the usage of Kanji according to grade from the order of learning, parts of speech, and word types. In addition, in contrast to the Balanced Composition Corpus by Written Japanese (BCCWJ) and compositions of university students, we analyzed the stylistic characteristics of children’s and student’s compositions, as well as the developmental process of Kanji usage ability based on the performance of university students.
Classification:
Book Review
Author:
KUBO Kei
Title:
Corpus and Education of Japanese as the Foreign Language. Series of the Japanese Corpus, vol. 5. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten.
Pages:
370-372
Classification:
Tutorial
Author:
MATSUDA Kenjiro
Title:
Recent Methods of the Questionnaire Research with the Large Sample Size (2): Problems of Contemporary Linguistic Surveys Using the Random Sampling Method
Pages:
373-390
Keywords:
random sampling, purposive sampling, area sampling, omnibus survey, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Okazaki Survey on Honorifics, Tsuruoka Survey on Language Standardization, social network method, NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute
Abstract:
Contemporary Japanese language surveys using the random sampling method face the following six problems: (1) the difficulty of accessing the basic resident register, (2) an increasing rejection rate of interviews by the respondents, (3) an increasing necessity for time, cost, and a sampling specialist, (4) the linguistic reliability of surveys conducted by external research companies, (5) the difficulty of sampling the native speakers of the dialect in the target area, (6) the paucity of data for linguistically-oriented research. Detailed explanations were given, and possible solutions were suggested for each problem. In particular, it was proposed that by conducting surveys of different kinds (different in scales and in methodology) for the same linguistic phenomenon, one could approach the true picture of the linguistic variation by comparing the results. Examples from domestic and overseas surveys were given and discussed.

Vol. 31 No.6 (Sep, 20th, 2018)

Classification:
Invited Paper (A) to the 2018 Special Issue
Author:
MATSUDA Kenjiro
Title:
The Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) Meets Variation Theory
Pages:
402-416
Keywords:
Variation Theory, language variation, language change, VARBRUL, Rbrul, logistic model, GLMM, speaker, overdispersion, individual differences
Abstract:
Variation Theory, a subfield of sociolinguistics, underwent a scientific revolution in 2009, when a logistic regression analysis was replaced as an analytical tool by a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). We first give a detailed theoretical and historical background of the revolution, followed by a demonstration of GLMM analysis that involves a reanalysis of the variation and change of the innovative potential suffix in Tokyo Japanese proposed by Matsuda(1993). Our GLMM reanalysis with two random intercepts (the speaker and the verbal stem) showed that, while the language internal (grammatical or phonological) factors mostly remained statistically significant, only a single explanatory variable, (normalized) age of the speaker, emerged as a significant external (social) factor. It also revealed that two verbal stems are exceptions in the sense that they behave quite differently from what is expected from the combinations of relevant factors. We conclude that the GLMM is better suited than the fixed-effects only logistic regression analysis to the studies of language variation and change, where overdispersion and large individual differences are more prevalent than generally assumed.
Classification:
Invited Paper (B) to the 2018 Special Issue
Author:
ZAITSU Wataru, JIN Mingzhe
Title:
Author Identification Based on Rate of Usage of Words before Period:Multivariate Analyses and Scoring
Pages:
417-425
Keywords:
author identification, period, the end of a sentence, rate, text mining,principal components analysis, correspondence analysis, multi-dimensional scaling,hierarchical cluster analysis, scoring
Abstract:
This study examined the effectiveness of author identification on the basis of the rate of usage of words before periods across texts by 100 bloggers. We analyzed one suspected text, one control text,and irrelevant texts by four bloggers using four multivariate analyses: (1) principal components analysis, (2) correspondence analysis, (3) multi-dimensional scaling, and (4) hierarchical cluster analysis, and we gave scores based on the results of the multivariate analyses. This study set two conditions:“same author: the author of suspected and control texts were same” and “different author: the author of suspected and control texts were different”. The results of comparing score distributions between both groups indicated that the rate of usage of words before periods was effective for author identification, next to rate of usage of non-independent words and bigram of parts of speech.
Classification:
Paper (B) to the 2018 Special Issue
Author:
IWASAKI Takuya
Title:
Factors Involved in Placing Comma Immediately Following a Conjunction: Modeling and Evaluation by Using Elastic Net
Pages:
426-442
Keywords:
conjunction, punctuation, comma, generalized linear model, BCCWJ, Elastic Net
Abstract:
Commas in Japanese Sentences are used arbitrarily because orthographic rules haven’t permeated through the Japanese society. In this paper, I attempt to reveal the reasons and the factors of why and where to use comma in Japanese sentences. The prediction model used in this paper is constructed from "The Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ)" core data by using the generalized linear models with the Elastic Net, which is a dynamic blending of lasso and ridge regression. I ran the cross-validation with 10 folds for assessing the model quality and in this way, we can prevent the overfitting of the model. The model can also deal with variables with a large amount of information. By reclassifying the original data using this constructed model, the result is that the recall ratio came out to be 78.99%. In conclusion, I claim in this paper that the strongest indicators according to the coefficient plot of how to place a comma after a conjunction are in the following situations: 1. After the lexeme de. 2. When a conjunction is at the beginning of the sentence. 3. After the lexeme ga. 4. After the lexeme shikashinagara. 5. Also, commas are used more frequently in the register “white papers”.
Classification:
Paper (B) to the 2017 Special Issue
Author:
TAMAOKA Katsuo, ZHANG Jingyi, MAKIOKA Shogo
Title:
Comparing Frequencies of Japanese Intransitive/Transitive 36 Paired Verbs
Pages:
443-460
Keywords:
naru(‘become’) language, intransitive-and-transitive paired verbs, intransitive verbs, transitive verbs, word frequency
Abstract:
Japanese is described as the naru(‘become’) language (e.g., Ikegami 1981, 2006), which predicts that intransitive verbs are more frequently used than transitive verbs. The present study, therefore, selected 36 intransitive-and-transitive paired verbs and compared their frequencies using 18 years (1998-2015) of news articles from the Mainichi Newspaper. A t-test analysis revealed no overall difference in the frequencies between intransitive and transitive verbs as well as no differences within the five forms of these verbs (i.e., infinitive, adverbial, conditional, imperative and predicative). The same t-tests conducted on the frequencies transformed by log_e(x+0.5) also indicated no differences except for the imperative form, indicating a reverse direction for the prediction made by the feature of naru language since transitive verbs are more frequently used in the imperative form than intransitive verbs. A correlation of frequencies between intransitive and transitive verbs was also very high (r=0.70, p < .001), showing great similarity between the two types of verbs. The present study thus demonstrated that both intransitive and transitive verbs display overall similarity in frequencies, possibly due to a great variety of usages for these paired verbs.
Classification:
Tutorial
Author:
NAKATO Yasue
Title:
Recent Methods of the Questionnaire Research with the Large Sample Size (4): Issue of Purposive Sampling Method
Pages:
461-476
Keywords:
complete survey, sample survey, random sampling, purposive sampling, case study
Abstract:
The issue of selecting samples, selecting speakers or respondents of linguistic surveys, is very important in sociolinguistic research. This paper discusses the problems and significance of purposive (non-probability) sampling method, which is most often used in Japanese language surveys, mainly in comparison with random sampling. Data collected with use of purposive sampling do not represent the whole target population statistically, but it is meaningful and valuable as a case study, especially in the study of dialectology where random sampling does not apply. In addition to sampling procedures, the issues of personal information protection policy, rapid increase of foreign residents, ethnicity and gender reflected in language use also need to be considered in methodology of linguistic surveys.

Vol. 31 No.7 (Dec, 20th, 2018)

Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
ASAISHI Takuma
Title:
The Occurring Process of Important Terms in Junior-High and High School Science Textbooks
Pages:
481-496
Keywords:
terminology, textbook, text analysis, discourse structure, occurring process
Abstract:
In this paper, the occurring process of important terms in junior-high and high school science textbooks has been analyzed. I calculated total information of text by calculating the difference between mutual information of term and paragraph and that computed on the text obtained by shuffling all term positions. I regard the degree of contribution of each term to the total information as the degree of importance in discourse structure of text. Then I extracted top 50% and 10% important terms, and describe how they appear in text. The primary results are as follows: (1) new important terms tend to appear in former part of the text, and they are repeated constantly as a whole. (2) Low-frequent terms appeared in former part of the text are gradually repeated, while the number of low-frequent terms are increased when all terms are considered.
Classification:
Note
Author:
YOKOYAMA Shoichi, ASAHI Yoshiyuki
Title:
Logistic Regression Analysis on 55-year Language Change of the Honorifics Use at Home: Evidence from Three Longitudinal Surveys in Okazaki
Pages:
497-506
Keywords:
onorifics, language change, longitudinal survey, multi-variate S shape curve, logistic regression analysis
Abstract:
We analyzed longitudinal survey data on language change of honorifics use at home in Okazaki city of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The Okazaki survey was carried out three times over 55 years, in 1953, 1972, and 2008, by National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) and The Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM). A number of studies have demonstrated that a process of the language change follows a kind of S shape curve. Yokoyama, Asahi, and Sanada (2008) proposed a logistic regression model to predict language changes, representing as a multi- variate S shape curve. The model assumes two major variables; the birth year of the participants and the year of survey. We made our predictions of the 2008 data, based on logistic regression analysis of the 1953 and 1972 data. The result showed the differences between the prediction by the model and the observed data in middle or old (or high) age class. We discussed what factors determine the differences between the prediction and the observed data.
Classification:
Tutorial
Author:
OGINO Tsunao
Title:
Recent Methods of the Questionnaire Research with the Large Sample Size (5): Reliability Issue in Responses
Pages:
507-516
Keywords:
checking item, defective response, questionnaire
Abstract:
In 2016, I distributed and collected a self-completion questionnaire for which I obtained 346 responses. Four of the various questions in the questionnaire were multiple choice and the participants were required to select their answers from the fixed options provided for each question. Then, I tallied and analyzed the collected responses in terms of how the participants responded, and how those who did not answer in the prescribed way responded to other questions. Results showed that 7.7% of all questions were not answered according to the instructions given. In addition, the responses of 26 participants who did not follow the instructions or did not respond to two or more checking items tended to differ from the majority. Thus, it is inevitable that some participants do not follow instructions, and tallying their responses with the responses of other serious respondents could be problematic. Currently, we are facing a reliability issue in questionnaire survey responses, and this should be considered in the analysis of actual survey response data.
Classification:
Conference Report
Author:
SANADA Haruko
Title:
QUALICO 2018 International Quantitative Linguistics Conference at Wrocław University in Wrocław, Poland from July 5 to 8 2018
Pages:
517-520
Abstract:
International Quantitative Linguistics Conference 2018 (QUALICO 2018) was held at Wrocław University in Wrocław, Poland from July 5th to 8th 2018. Two Keynote lectures were invited, and 48 papers as talks and 19 papers for a poster session were accepted. Participants come from EU counties, Russia, Canada, U.S.A., China, and Japan, etc. More papers focused on the applied topics like the translation，text mining, authorship attribution, comparative language studies, or study using corpora than classical or fundamental topics like linguistics laws. IQLA Council Business Meeting was also held and new board members were selected. The next conference is planned to be held in the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics in Tokyo in September 2020.

Vol. 31 No.8 (Mar, 20th, 2019)

Classification:
PAPER B Special Issue 2016
Author:
SAKOGUCHI Yukako, KISHIE Shinsuke, KIRIMURA Takashi
Title:
Undertaking Research of Geographical Linguistics by Utilizing Twitter Data: the Case of omoshiroi and omoshirokunai
Pages:
537-554
Keywords:
Twitter, dialect distribution, GIS, survey for university students, new dialect
Abstract:
The aim of this investigation is to explore the suitability of speech posted on Twitter to examine regional language. Accordingly, existing differences among data extracted from Twitter was examined and compared to data extracted from a dialect survey administered to old-aged people and university students in Japan. The result of the comparative analyses revealed that (a) the dialectal speech used by old-aged people hardly reflected the speech posted on Twitter, and (b) the data accumulated from the survey administered to college students mostly matched Twitter speech. Hence, we can utilize Twitter conversations as data in undertaking dialect studies. In particular, these Twitter conversations can be utilized as a data resource in the study of regional variations in word forms. Though Twitter speech cannot be utilized in elucidating regional variations pervading traditional dialects, Twitter speech may serve as a means of finding distributions of new dialects and forms of expressions used mainly by youth groups as well as regional variations pervading expressions that are hardly noticed as dialects, for instance, unnoticeable dialects.
Classification:
PAPER B
Author:
OHKAWA Komei
Title:
A Stylistic Typology of Heian-Kamakura Period Literature: Using a Multivariate Analysis
Pages:
555-571
Keywords:
wabun, kanbun kundoku-bun, wakankonkō, genre-based styles, cluster analysis
Abstract:
This paper aims to establish a stylistic typology of Heian-Kamakura period literature through a cluster analysis of stylistic indicators such as the percentage of nouns in a text, average sentence length, percentage of dialog, lexical stratification rate (percentage of native, Sino-Japanese and hybrid lexicon) and usage ratios of the complementizers to and nado when quoting dialog. Through this analysis, it was revealed that Heian-Kamakura period literature can be divided into the following five stylistic categories: wakankonkōbun (‘Japanese-Chinese hybrid’) style, archetypical wabun (‘native’) style, early wabun style, nikki bungaku (‘diary literature’) style A and nikki bungaku style B. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that such a typology is effective in illustrating the stylistic characteristics of various genres of literature as well as the differences between wabun and kanbun kundoku-bun (vernacular readings of Classical Chinese) style texts.
Classification:
Tutorial
Author:
HA Jeong-il
Title:
The Current State of Sociolinguistic Investigations Title: With a Focus on Comparative Studies on Linguistic Behavior between Japan and Korea
Pages:
572-588
Keywords:
politeness, impoliteness, face-threatening acts, confrontation and clash of interest, linguistic strategy, cross-cultural understanding, sociolinguistics
Abstract:
This study set out to examine research trends around honorifics, names, request, apology, refusal, and complaint, which had received much research attention, in comparative studies on linguistic behavior between Korea and Japan and discuss future tasks. In comparative studies between Japan and Korea, sociolinguistic investigations were conducted from various perspectives with especially many researches focused on language strategies in linguistic behavior. Future study will have to figure out entire linguistic behavior in a synthetic fashion and include both politeness and impoliteness in the scope ofanalysis from the perspective of fundamental motivations for linguistic behavior.

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