高知県方言ラ(ー)の暗示性と明示性

高知大学Kochi University高知県方言では,接尾辞「ら」に由来するラ(ー)が,高年層から若年層まで幅広くさかんに用いられている。しかも,接尾辞の機能の他に,文法上では接尾辞でありながら意味的には副助詞相当の機能を帯びる用例が多数認められる。接尾辞の本来的な機能のもつ暗示性と,副助詞的機能に込められる明示性とが,接尾辞機能の拡大と分化によって高知県方言に共存していると解釈した。ラ(ー)は和歌山・三重・石川県にも分布するが,少なくとも高知県方言では,接尾辞ラがラーという長呼形を派生し,取り立て・強調を担う副助詞的機能を拡大させたと考えるのが妥当であろう。In modern Japanese, the suffix ra functions as an indicator of the plural and it is generally used in conjunction with personal nouns and pronouns. In olden Japanese, however, ra was used not only with personal nouns and pronouns but also with various nouns. In particular, ra is a commonly used suffix in the Kanbun Kundoku-go, an olden Japanese translation of Chinese literature, in which it functioned as both a suffix and an auxiliary particle. In Kochi dialect, ra and ra-a are frequently used in conjunction with the various nouns regardless of the user\u27s age and gender. In this study, the usage of ra and ra-a in Kochi dialect was analyzed and their semantic characteristics were found to be the following. 1. Ra and ra-a function as both suffix and auxiliary particles. When they function as a suffix, the nouns become more implicit in terms of expression. 2. When ra and ra-a function as auxiliary particles, the nouns become more explicit in terms of expression. A similar usage of ra and ra-a is found in dialects in Wakayama, Mie and Ishikawa prefectures which surround Kyoto, the old capital and the center of the old culture. The char acteristic distribution of the usage of ra and ra-a in Kochi, Wakayama, Mie and Ishikawa dialects indicates that they are derived from olden Japanese and that the olden usage of ra still remains in these dialects