A study on the Meaning and Usage of “-TA” in Japanese verbsamp;#8213;focusing on comparison with“-TEIRU”, “-TESHIMAU”―

A study on the Meaning and Usage of “-TA” in Japanese verbsamp;#8213;focusing on comparison with“-TEIRU”, “-TESHIMAU”―ang, Fang-Chiabstract -TA is usually evaluated from tense and aspect in related research. However, there is no unified view about the essential meaning of –TA in this body of research. Besides which, few recognize that –Ta contains the usage of the present except in regards to mood. In addition, the apparent difference between –Ta and –TEIRU in the same situation of continuation of result is not just “the past” and “the duration”. Moreover, the distinction between-TA and –TESHIMAU has not been clarified as both can express the meaning of the perfect. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out the semantic features of -TA, -TEIRU, -TESHIMAU. The purpose of this study is also to clarify their usage and diversity by comparing them with –TA. The objects of this study focus on -TA, -TEIRU, -TESHIMAU forms of Japanese verbs,especially when they are in the sentence final position. In this study, examples are collected from the dialogue utilized by novels and magazines, and so forth. Most of them are taken from ‘thehina-Japan translation data base” and “the pocket edition of Japan novels". The results of this study are summarized as following:. The semantic features of –TA are “the fulfillment of an event”, “the fulfillment at a point of time”, and a “vivid image”.. In conversation, -TA on the verb of variation, human beings’ psychology and physiology, or the result, can express not only “the past” but also “the present”. –Ta can not only express the past, it can also express the present. In a dialogue –Ta and verbs of time variation, verbs expressing the continuation of human psychological states, verbs or verbal phrases expressing the continuation of a result, or verbs expressing events witnessed and their times, can express the situation at the time of discourse, are also “the present.” This is related with “-Ta”s representation of a feeling “proximate to the situation”.. The semantic features of –TEIRU are the continuation of action, influence, state in a period, which are variable. To sum up, it is “the continuity”.. The fundamental diversity of –Ta and –TEIRU is the view-point. In the same situation, –Ta means that an event happens or is realized at a point of time, but can not express the continuation of that event or a result. In contrast, –TEIRU means the continuation of event oresult but cannot express when the situation begins or ends.. –Ta and –TEIRU are not mutually interchangeable. However, when they occur in a situation expressing continuation they are logically interchangeable.. The implication of –Ta and –TEIRU in their expression of the present is different.. The present which –TEIRU stands for means that the event lasts until the point of utterance; in contrast, the present which –Ta stands for expresses a situation which continues to exist even as the sentence is spoken.. This difference is related to their semantic feature.. The semantic feature of –TESHIMAU is not perfect but the variation of state.. –Ta and –TESHIMAU are not mutually interchangeable. In the same situation, –Ta expresses the situation as it is, but –TESHIMAU expresses “the variation of state”.. Comparison with –Ta, it is demonstrated that –TESHIMAU has no function descriptive of “mood” because the representation of mood is dependent on the context.