NP as we know it 表現類が示す諸特徴の移り変わり: アメリカ英語を中心に

Abstract

本研究はlife as we know itに代表されるNP as we know it表現類と総称する一連の表現を考察対象とする。これら表現が現代英語において示す特徴の変遷について、史的アメリカ英語コーパス (COHA) を用いて調査を行った。調査にはas節主語、as節動詞 knowの時制、as節とNP間のコンマの有無、NPに生起する名詞の種類、関連する状況タイプなど多様な要因を考慮に入れている。これらの調査結果から得られたデータと観察内容を提示することで、今後の理論的考察や精緻化の基盤となる知見を提供している。

This paper investigates the development of various characteristics observed in what we call “NP as we know it” expressions, using Corpus of Historical American English (COHA). The findings revealed that within as-clauses, there was an increasing preference for the pronoun “we” as the subject, while the present tense form of the verb “know” showed a slight in crease in frequency during the period from the 1820s to the 2010s. As for the presence of a comma between the NP and the as-clause, the zerocomma variants dramatically increased, reflecting the transition of the as-clause from a supplementary/commentary element to an integral component of the NP. In these changes, the particular string pattern “as we know it” became prevalent. This shift means that the “NP as we know it” expressions began to be used in texts or discourse typically to introduce entities widely recognized in common knowledge, rather than those known to a specific person or limited group. Furthermore, the entities referred to by these expressions also followed an intriguing path of development: while they were initially associated with abstract notions in general (e.g., nature, space), they came to be linked with umbrella concepts (e.g., “life, ” “world, ” “civilization”) that are deeply embedded in human living conditions and subsume various subordinate elements. Finally, but not least, the non-nonexistence type, which represents the most dominant situation cooccurring with the “NP as we know it” expressions in modern English, was not prevalent before 19th century, with its sign beginning to appear around the 20th century.