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In:Emancipatory Pragmatics: Innovative approaches to pragmatics incorporating the concept of “ba”
Edited by Yoko Fujii, William F. Hanks, Sachiko Ide, Scott Saft and Kishiko Ueno
[Culture and Language Use 24] 2025
► pp. 68–96

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Japanese as a ba-oriented and predicate-centered language

Non-western perspectives for the representation of the world

 | Japan Women’s University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 2 December 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.24.03fuj
Abstract
This study presents the ba-oriented and predicate-centered nature of Japanese through an analysis of Japanese and English language practices. Grounded in the principles of ba theory, it explores three key linguistic characteristics of “ba-oriented” Japanese, illustrated with examples from both languages. This study further demonstrates the distinctive nature of predicates in Japanese compared to English, highlighting their pivotal role. In Japanese, predicates convey not only a holistic/situation-focused perspective but also a wide array of information, including the speaker’s emotions, and attitudes toward objects and events, and the relational dynamics between the speaker and the addressee within a given context. Finally, this study proposes a new pragmatic paradigm that elucidates ba-oriented and predicate-centered languages, offering a non-Western perspective on how the world is represented.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic assumptions of ba theory
    • 2.1Ba and basho
    • 2.2Assumptions of ba theory
  • 3.Ba-oriented language practice in Japanese
    • 3.1Inexplicit mention of agency and holistic/situation-focus expressions
    • 3.2Internal perspective
    • 3.3Non-separation of self and other
  • 4.Japanese as a predicate-centered language
    • 4.1“BE-language” and “HAVE-language”
    • 4.2“BECOME-language” and “DO-language”
    • 4.3Other rich expressions in the predicate
      • 4.3.1“Shimau ” as an auxiliary verb in the predicate
      • 4.3.2“Giving” and “receiving” auxiliary verbs
      • 4.3.3Other various elements in the predicate
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Transcription symbols
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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