1. A Study of Japanese Explanatory Modality Using a Corpus
KADOOKA Ken-Ichi
Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan

2. Introduction
corpus ‘Shonagon’ compiled by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL).
Shonagon is a balanced corpus of the Japanese written language with 100 million words.

3. Materials of Shonagon
Books (1971〜2005、22,058 cases、62.70 million words）
Magazines (2001〜2005、1,996 cases、4.4 million words）
Newspapers (2001〜2005、1,473 cases、1.4 million words）
White papers (1976〜2005、1,500 cases、4.9 million words）
Textbooks (2005〜2007、412 cases、0.9 million words）
Public relations magazines (2008、354 cases、3.8 million words）
Yahoo! Consulting pages (2005、91,445 cases、10.3 million words）
Yahoo! blog (2008、52,680 cases、10.20 million words）
rhyme (1980〜2005、252 cases、0.2 million words）
law (1976〜2005、346 cases、1.1 million words）
diet session shorthand (1976〜2005、159 cases、5.10 million words）

4. Definition of Modality in Japanese
‘the speaker’s mental inclination realized in the utterance’
‘the residue of the utterance excluding the proposition.’

5. Sample of Sentences with Modality
‘Kore ga sono hon da (This is the book).’ -- plain
‘Kore ga sono hon na no da (This is the very book).’– Modality marked by ‘no da’
Emphasis or explanation

6. Polite form desu Kore ga sono hon desu. this NOM the book POLITE
Kore ga sono hon na no desu.
　　　　　　　MODALITY POLITE

7. Modality expressions Abstract nouns are used
no da: no nominal + da auxiliary
wake da: wake ‘reason’
koto da: koto ‘event’
mono da: mono ‘thing, material’

8. Interchangeability
Onore wa kyuuka-chuu ni chihou ni hakkutsu ni iku hiyou ya hoshii hon wo kai-tai
self leave-midst at other region to digging go expense and want book buy-want
tame ni, kokoro ni soma-nu nagara, sono shigoto wo shi-ta no (wake / mono / koto) da.
for mind want-NEG while the work do-PAST MODALITY
Kare-ra no youshoku-dai ya eiga-dai wo dasu tame ni shigoto shi-ta no (wake / mono/ koto)
they meals-money film expend MODALITY
de wa nai.
NEG
“He did the work to earn the money to go digging in a far place, or to buy some books he wanted. It was not for going for a dinner or go to see movies.”

9. 2. Explanatory Modality in Japanese

10. Frequency order
no desu / da > koto da/ desu > mono da / desu > wake desu / da
no desu / da > koto da > mono da > koto desu > wake desu > mono desu > wake da

11. no da Watashi no naka wo fuki-nukeru kaze ga kai-ta no da.
I GEN inside ACC blow-through: wind NOM write-PAST MODALITY
“Watashi” ga sore wo kai-ta no de wa nai
myself it MODALITY NEG
“It was the wind blowing through me that wrote it. I didn’t write it myself.”

12. wake da
Sonata ni shite-mire-ba, chichi-oya wa kitai ijou no hataraki o
you DAT do-try- TEN father TOP expectation more-than contribution ACC
shite-kureta wake da.
did MODALITY
‘For you, your father has contributed more than you expected.’

13. koto da Dousatsu to wa, saki no mitooshi to-iu koto da.
insight QUOT future GEN prospect MODALITY
‘An insight means a prospect.’

14. mono da Nantomo huben na mono da. anyway inconvenient MODALITY
‘Anyway, it is inconvenient indeed./
How inconvenient it is!’

15. no desu
Rekidai no taikou wa hotondo ga ookimi no ibomai ka mei dat-ta no desu.
previous queen dowager most emperor sister-in-law or niece BE-PAST MODALITY
Kono taikou no chii wa Bintatsu Tennou no jidai ni settei sare mashi-ta.
this position Bintatsu emperor era establish PASSIVE POLITE-PAST
‘Most of the queen dowagers were emperor’s sisters-in-law or nieces. Such position of the queen dowagers was established during Emperor Bintasu’s reign.’

16. wake desu
Iwa-ba fu-tashika na koto wo kumi-awase-te, aru michi no koto ga
so-to-speak uncertain thing combine a given unknown
nari-tat-te iru to ii-tai wake desu.
established say-want MODALITY
Kore wa okashi-na koto de shou ka.
this strange AFFR be-FUT Q
“In a sense, we would like to say that a certain unknown fact is proven on the basis of the combination of uncertain things. Is this strange?”

17. koto desu ‘’… tsumari, koremade-no shuukyou no you na, nan-to iu ka,
,,, in short now-until religion like how-to-say-it
dokutoku no ‘nioi’ wo kanji-sase-nai koto desu.”
particular smell feel-CAUS-NEG MODALITY POLITE
Kanojo wa katachi no yoi kuchibiru wo odora-se nagara,
she form nice lip danse-CAUS while
riro-seizen to ‘kyoumi no riyuu’ wo katat-ta.
logical-manner interest reason tell-PAST
“…in short, it is crucial not to make one feel, you know, a kind of religious touch.” She explained in a logical manner as if her beautiful lips were dancing.

18. koto (in the sense of ‘event’)
“Yume wo mite i-mashi-ta.
dream see being-POLITE-PAST
Chichi-ue ni fukujusou wo nedat-te shika-rare-ta toki no koto desu.”
Father Amur Adonis cadge scold-PASS time event POLITE
Gou-hime ga amaeru you ni Masashige no kubi ni mawashi-ta ryoute ni chikara wo kome-ta.
Gou-hime depend-on like Msashige neck hold hands force add-PAST
“I was dreaming. It was when I asked father for amur Adonis.” Princess Gou held Masashige’s neck more strongly as if she were courting him.

19. mono desu
You-suru ni, kotoba to-iu mono no, hito wo sogai site-yuku kinou wo
in short language QUOT although human alienate function
junsui-baiyou shita mitai na mono desu ne.
pure culture did like MODALITY
„Tora ga toot-ta” to-iu koto wo, dou-shite-mo hitei-suru koto ga deki-nai.
tiger went-through-PAST thing in-any-way deny can-NEG
“In short, language does have the function to alienate humans from each other; it has been pure cultured. One cannot deny the fact that a tiger went through.”

20. 3. Double Modality Single Modality: ‘wake, koto, mono + da’
‘wake na no da / desu, koto na no da / desu, mono na no da / desu’

21. wake na no da Miuchi no katei shokutaku to-iu wake na no da.
family home dining-table CIT MODALITY
‘It is a kind of dining table for a family.

22. koto na no da Toki ga sematte-iru koto o akiraka-ni shi-te,
time NOM coming thing clarify do
karera no kokoro o seka-seru dake no koto na no da.
they feeling hasten only MODALITY
‘You must clarify that it is apparently urgent, and make them haste anyway.’

23. mono na no da
Soshite doko ni ita no ka wa, kitto saigo made wakara-nai mono na no da.
and-then where at be-PAST NOM Q TOP perhaps last until clarified-NEG MODALITY
Moshi-ka-suru-to mokuteki-chi sae saishuu-chi de nai ka-mo sire-nai no da.
if destination even final-destination be NEG whether clarified MODALITY
‘Where the one had been would not be known until the last moment. Or even, the destination would not be the final one.’

24. wake na no desu
‘...nan-tomo Mother Teresa teki na jiko-gisei-seishin ni notto-ta
anyhow like be self-sacrifice-spirit by follow-PAST
monogatari na wake na no desu yo.’ Watashi wa kippari-to ii-kitta.
story be MODALITY I TOP flatly say-finish-PAST
‘…it is a kind of unrealistic story based on a self-sacrifice spirit like Mother Teresa.’ I said flatly.

25. koto na no desu Genjitu ni wa asu no koto mo obotsuka-nai no desu.
actuality future things even less-than-secure MODALITY
Hito to hito to no sa wa, sore wa sore de taihen-na koto na no desu ga,
person and gap that crucial MODALITY though
sore ni tora-ware-ta-ri, soko ni isuwaru koto ga at-te wa nara-nai no desu.
capture-PASS there linger-around exist no good MODALITY
“In actuality, the future is uncertain. The differences among people, though it is crucial itself, it is no good to be captured in it, or to stick to it.”

26. mono na no desu
O-tagai ni sonkei-shi-te tasuke-aeru taisetsu-na doushi no you na mono na no desu kara.
each other respect help-each-other important comrade like MODALITY-POLITE since
Volunteer no group de yoku iza-koza wo mimi ni shi-masu ga...
often troubles hear
“(they are) like comrades who you respect and help each other. We often hear of troubles among volunteer groups, but …”

27. Colloquial-style ratio

28. Summary
Polite ‘wake / koto / mono na no desu’ is far more often than plain ‘wake / koto / mono na no da’