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Discourse function of ‘toka’ in the contact situation
日本硏究
2016,
(40), pp.137-152
Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
Research Area : Japanese Language and Literature
Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
Research Area : Japanese Language and Literature
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In this study, discourse function of ‘toka’ in the contact situation between Japanese female native speakers and Japanese female non-native speakers was investigated. The results of this study were summarized as follows. In this study, the functions of ‘toka’ were classified into ‘exemplification’ and ‘mitigation’. In addition to, ‘exemplification’ was subdivided into ‘enumeration’, ‘representation’ and ‘specification’, and ‘mitigation’ was subdivided into ‘topic initiation/topic switching’, ‘expression of opinion’, ‘expression of emotion’, ‘quotation’, ‘uncertainty’ and ‘others(surplus)’. Female Japanese non-native speakers used slightly more ‘toka’ than female Japanese native speakers in the contact situation. For the discourse function of ‘toka’, the ratio of ‘mitigation’ was higher than that of ‘exemplification’ in contact situation(both female Japanese native speakers’ utterances and female Japanese non-native speakers’s utterances), and this tendency was stronger in female Japanese native speakers’ utterances. Moreover, the ratio of ‘mitigation’ was higher in utterance-final. There are differences in specific usage of the function of ‘mitigation’ of ‘toka’ in contact situation between female Japanese native speakers and female Japanese non-native speakers. However, it could be said ‘toka’ in the contact situation has a function of language strategy to maintain smooth communication with interlocutors.
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