The Japanese Motion Verb Kuru - Deixis in Dialects

Abstract: The focus of this paper is the dialectal usage and divergence of the Japanese verb kuru ‘to come’ found in Kyushu, Okinawa, Toyama, Ishikawa, northern Gifu and Shimane. In said areas kuru is used in the same way as the verb iku ‘to go’ in standard Japanese. A survey concerning this aspect of the different dialects has been carried out. The results are examined to find possible differences between the areas in the form of factors that affect, among other things, the semantics and the frequency of use. These results will also be compared to the results of earlier research regarding this subject.