Description

• Title:
  Casting a new ‘eye’ on an elusive suffix: The use and origin(s) of Japanese dialectal suffix ‘-me’
• Creator:
  Baudel, Étienne
• Description:
  In several regions of Japan, various dialects exhibit a peculiar suffix -me, which mostly attaches to animal names, and seems to carry out various functions. The exact nature of its use is, to some extent, still unclear, since this -me is alternatively described as expressing endearment, familiarity or smallness, or, on the contrary, depreciation, fear or distance (which lead to some authors regarding it as two different homophonous suffixes). On a more grammatical scale, its relationships with definiteness, with plural and collective number and with animacy have also been questioned. Thus, this article aims at examining the different uses of -me in Japanese dialects, and its possible connection with other suffixes, in order to tackle the question of its origin(s).
• Object availability:
  free access
• Rights:
  Prawa autorskie (c) 2025 Étienne Baudel;
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
• Date:
  2025.07.18
• Type:
  info:eu-repo/semantics/article;
  info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
• Language:
  English
• Source:
  Lingua Posnaniensis; Vol. 66 No. 2 (2024); 7-31;
  Lingua Posnaniensis; Tom 66 Nr 2 (2024); 7-31;
  2083-6090;
  0079-4740
• Format:
  application/pdf
• Publisher:
  Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan
• Relation: http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/linpo/article/view/49069/39848
• Subject:
  Japanese;
  dialectology;
  lexicology;
  suffixation;
  lexical semantics
• Identifier: http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/linpo/article/view/49069
• Data provider:
  Platforma Otwartych Czasopism Naukowych UAM
• Can I use it?:
  seek permission
• Type:
  text