Revisiting the two-dimensional approach to mimetics: a reply to Kita (1997)

In this response I would like to take up the issues that have motivated the two-dimensional approach to mimetics in Japanese advanced by Kita (1997). Kita claims that mimetics belong to the affecto-imagistic dimension while o ther world classes belong to the analytic dimension, and that the semantic properties of mimetics are not fully integrated with the other parts of a s entence. I will demonstrate that the phenomena that have motivated Kita are based on inaccurate assumptions or can receive other interpretations and a nalyses. Drawing on the data from mimetic predicates, I will demonstrate th at what Kita calls the "meaning of a mimetic" should nor be attributed sole ly to the mimetic word itself but rather result from more global informatio n obtained throughout a sentence in which the mimetic appears. The conclusi on drawn from my argument is that mimetics are indeed fully integrated with the other putts of the sentence.