From connective particle to sentence-final particle: a usage-based analysis of shi ‘and’ in Japanese

Abstract Based on written and spoken corpora, this paper examines the on-going functional shift of the Japanese connective shi ‘and, and so’ into a sentence-final particle. The paper will first identify and clarify the functions of this newly emerging usage. As a sentence-final particle, shi indicates the speaker’s emotional stance (that is often negative) toward the proposition, context, or the addressee. We then propose that the reanalysis of shi from a coordinate conjunction to a sentence-final particle is an instance of ‘subjectification’ and ‘intersubjectification’ ( Traugott, 2003 ). We also argue that the change is motivated by the frequency of the specific structural and communicative context of its use.

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