哲学的・言語学的研究における因果関係の分類

本研究ノートでは、先行研究で提案されてきた因果関係の分類について概観し、関係する言語現象についてまとめる。哲学、言語学両分野の研究において、因果関係をいくつかの種類に分けられることが提案されている。本論ではそのうち4つの分類基準について論じる。すなわち、(A)因果関係の担い手が事実・命題であるか出来事であるか、(B)結果を引き起こすものが個体であるか出来事であるか、(C)原因と結果の間に別の出来事が介在しているか否か、(D)原因と結果の間に、何らかの主体による原因の認識が介在しているか否か、の4点である。2, 3節では(A)の基準にかかわる先行研究をまとめた。まず2節では、因果関係に関する古典的研究として、Davidson(1967)の因果言明causal statementと因果的説明causal explanationの分類について述べた。前者は川来事の間の関係を表すが、後者は事実にかかわるものである。その後3節で、出来事間の因果と事実間の因果の両方を認める研究として、Vendler(1967)とBennet(1988)を取り上げた。4節では、(B)の観点による分類として、日本語の使役動詞を分析した影山(1996)について見た。影山は、使役動詞の形態意味論的分析のための概念として、因果関係をCAUSEとCONTROLの2種類に分けることを提案している。5節と6節は原因と結果の間の介在物に注目した分類を扱った。5節は(C)の観点について、直接因果direct causationと間接因果indirect causationという分類を取り上げ、因果関係の違いが言語現象に影響する場合を見た。最後に6節では、(D)の基準による分類を論じた。原因と結果の間に認識が介在する場合は意思的因果volitional causation、介在しない場合は無意志的因果non-volitional causationとした上で、日本語の(1)のような例にもこの分類が関わることを論じた。(1) a. アクセルペダルが故障したことが事故を引き起こした。(無意志的因果)b. アクセルペダルが故障したことが消費者のトヨタ離れを引き起こした。(意思的因果

Entropy and Redundancy of Japanese Lexical and Syntactic Compound Verbs

The present study investigated Japanese lexical and syntactic compound verbs (V1+V2) using Shannon's concept of entropy and redundancy calculated using corpora from the Mainichi Newspaper and a collection of selected novels. Comparing combinations of a V2 verb with various V1 verbs, syntactic compounds were higher in entropy than lexical ones while neither differed in redundancy. This result suggests that V2 verbs of syntactic compounds are likely to combine with a wider range of V1 verbs than those of lexical compounds. Two exceptional V2 verbs, komu and ageru, both of which create lexical compounds, showed a wide variety of combinations with V1 and therefore act like prefixes in English. Comparing V2 verbs in the two corpora, the V2 eru, which adds the meaning of "possibility" to a V1, functions like the auxiliary verb "can" in English and seems to be a favored expression in newspapers. In contrast, the V2 komu, adds the meaning of "internal movement" similar to the preposition "into" in English and appears to be preferred in the novels to enrich the expression of lexical compounds. In general, both lexical and syntactic compounds were used similarly in both corpora

The Multiphase Flow CFD Analysis in Journal Bearings Considering Surface Tension and Oil-Filler Port Flow

This chapter presents the multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis on oil-lubricated high-speed journal bearings considering the oil-filler port. Journal bearings are widely used for high-speed rotating machinery such as turbines, compressors, pumps, automobiles, and so on. They can support the rotating shaft utilizing the oil lubrication film wedge effects used in the bearing clearance. Previously, in the analysis of journal bearings, which clearance is very narrow compared with shaft diameter, the Reynolds equation has been used on journal bearing analysis because of its applicability on the narrow space calculation and its low calculation cost. However, the gaseous-phase area generated in the journal bearing and the effect of oil-filler port cannot be reproduced accurately using the method. Under these backgrounds, some researchers use the CFD analysis to calculate the journal bearing characteristics in recent years. In this chapter, the authors describe the multiphase flow CFD analysis on journal bearing based on our previous studies . At first, the multiphase CFD calculation model on journal bearing and the experimental method are explained. Then, four types of calculation results under flooded and starved lubrication conditions are compared to the experimental ones. Additionally, the effect of surface tension on journal bearing characteristics is discussed. Finally, the CFD thermal analysis results under two types of supply oil conditions are shown

The Interplay of Relational and Non-relational Processes in Sentence Production: The Case of Relative Clause Planning in Japanese and Spanish

Speech planning involves different steps in order to transform a conceptual message into speech. These include establishing structural relations among constituents (i.e., relational information), and selecting the appropriate lexical items to convey the intended message (non-relational elements). However, the precise way relational and non-relational information are computed when undertaking linguistic encoding is not clear. This paper explores how the pre-linguistic message undergoes linguistic encoding, and what kind of information (relational or non-relational) is prioritized in doing so. We analyze the production planning of Relative Clauses in Spanish (a head-initial language) and Japanese (a head-final language) by monolingual speakers, by means of the eye-tracking method while participants described colored pictures. Although in both Spanish and Japanese the structure under study is the same (with the same syntactic configuration), word order is entirely opposite between both languages. In Japanese, the head noun is not uttered until the end of the clause, thus making it possible to explore sentence planning in a structure where the syntactically most dominant element (the head noun, HN) is not the first element. Variables tested were type of relative clause, with either the agent or the patient as head noun, and the animacy of the agent and the patient of the event, the latter allowing the manipulation of the conceptual saliency of the elements involved. Results showed Japanese speakers focus extensively on the HN before directing their gazes to the element they are going to utter first, suggesting a speech planning process that prioritizes relational information, that is, structural scaffolding. Spanish monolinguals, in turn, showed a pattern in which both structural and linear information appear to be more closely related from the beginning. In both languages, the animacy of isolated elements had little effect on gaze patterns. Results point to a planning process that prioritizes structural relations over access to lexical elements in order in the planning of complex structures, with room for flexibility when the grammar of the language allows so

Predicting Attachment of the Light Verb –suru to Japanese Two-kanji Compound Words Using Four Aspects

In the Japanese language, the light verb –suru can be attached to various two-kanji compound words containing a verb-like feature (or aspects) to allow them to be used as a verb. Using a large sample of the 2,000 two-kanji compound words, encompassing a little less than 80 percent of the total two-kanji compound words printed in 14 years of Asahi Newspaper issues, the present study investigates how much the light verb attachment is predicted by four aspects: inchoative, durative, telic and stative. A binary logistic regression analysis indicates that all four aspects are significant predictors. Among them, the telic aspect shows an overwhelmingly high predictive power. The quantitative theory type III analysis further demonstrates that, in contrast to the stative aspect, the inchoative, durative and telic aspects share a similar semantic feature of time series. Nevertheless, since the telic aspect overlaps not only the time series feature of the inchoative and durative aspects, but also the stative aspect, it is the most effective single predictor for light verb attachment, showing an extremely high prediction percentage of 93.64 with 1.05 percent error

The Effects of Phrase-Length Order and Scrambling in the Processing of Visually Presented Japanese Sentences

The present study investigated the effects of phrase length and scrambling in the processing of Japanese sentences. Reading times of short phrases, long phrases, verbs, and whole sentences, measured by the method of self-paced reading, did not differ in terms of phrase-length order and scrambling. In addition, four types of sentences constructed on the basis of phrase-length order and scrambling did not affect duration times of correctness decision-making for sentences. However, error rates differed between canonical and scrambled sentences regardless of phrase-length order. This result implies that scrambled sentences were harder to judge as correct sentences than canonical sentences. Thus, scrambling affects the appropriate integration of information, whereas phrase-length order is simply an indication of preference and not of cognitive processing. To explain the present result, the authors propose the “configurational structure without movement," which predicts no difference in speed between the processing of canonical and scrambled sentences, apart from error rates

Priority Information Used for the Processing of Japanese Sentences: Thematic Roles, Case Particles or Grammatical Functions?

The present study investigated scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences and priority information used among thematic roles, case particles and grammatical functions. Reaction times for correct sentence decisions were significantly prolonged for scrambled active sentences with transitive verbs in the first experiment and with ditransitive verbs in the second experiment. Errors were made with scrambled sentences more than canonical sentences in both experiments, which suggested that scrambling effects were apparent in active sentences. Passive sentences in the third experiment indicated that canonical order defined based on case particles, not thematic roles, was more quickly and accurately identified than scrambled order. Potential sentences in the fourth experiment and causative sentences in the fifth experiment indicated that the processing of scrambled sentences based on grammatical functions, but not on case particles, required longer reaction times and resulted in higher error rates than canonical sentences. Consequently, scrambling effects in the present study indicated that neither thematic roles nor case particles can provide fully-satisfactory information for canonical phrase order, and that only grammatical functions offer satisfactory information in all types of sentences

Radiographic comparison between male and female patients with lumbar spondylolysis

We studied the lumbar spines of 117 adults (39 women and 78 men) with spondylolysis unrelated to low back pain using multidetector computed tomography (CT). Of the 117 subjects with spondylolysis, including five with multiple-level spondylolysis, there were 124 vertebrae with spondylolysis. In adult lumbar spines with unilateral spondylolysis, there was no significant difference between the incidence of spondylolisthesis in female and male subjects. However, in those with bilateral spondylolysis, there was a significantly higher incidence of spondylolisthesis in female subjects (90.9%) than in males (66.2%). Furthermore, females with bilateral spondylolysis had significant more slippage than males. Lumbar index and lumbar lordosis were not significantly different between male and female subjects, and did not significantly correlate with slippage. In conclusion, to treat acute spondylolysis in adolescents, it is important to obtain bony union at least unilaterally, especially in female subjects, to prevent further slippage

Students' Evaluation for the Network-Utilized Class in ""Virtual University"" Project

All of the 16 faculty members of the Department of Teaching Japanese as a Second Language (TJSL) joined in ""Virtual University"" (VU) project and developed 18 VOD (Video on Demand) materials named ""Invitation to TJSL Research"" about 30-40 minutes long each. They were applied in the ""Network Class"" using ""Quiz"" and ""Bulletin Board"" functions of WebCT to compare the conventional class. The students' evaluation showed that they almost equally favored both classes. The result suggests that the developed materials are effective and they are useful to discuss what to do and what could be problems for the future. The activities in the project and other problems related to VU matters are also discussed