2026, Vol., No.89

Possibilities for Function-Based Instruction of the Sentence-Final Particle yone: Insights from Speech Data Analysis and Textbook Examination

Komatsu Nana | 2026, (89) | pp.5~23 | number of Cited : 0

This study proposes pedagogical approaches for teaching the Japanese sentence-final particle yone across different proficiency levels, in response to the current lack of classroom instruction on this form despite its frequent occurrence in natural conversation. To this end, the study investigates both patterns of yone usage across different speech situations and the treatment of yone in existing teaching materials. The analysis draws on three types of spoken data—first-meeting conversations, opinion-exchange conversations, and simulated lectures—as well as ten Japanese language textbooks currently used in Korean high schools. The speech data analysis revealed that in first-meeting conversations, yone was frequently used to seek confirmation and express empathy, as speakers attempted to establish common ground with their interlocutors. In opinion-exchange conversations, yone commonly served agreement-seeking and empathy-display functions, helping speakers elicit their interlocutors’ views and facilitate smoother exchanges of opinion. In simulated lectures, by contrast, yone was used to engage listeners in the speaker's narrative and to convey consideration in presenting information to an audience. The textbook analysis showed that yone receives considerably less attention than the related particles ne and yo. It also found that textbook examples often lack accurate Korean translations and sufficient explanation of how yone differs functionally from ne. A comparison of general Japanese language textbooks and conversation-focused textbooks further showed that yone appears somewhat more frequently in the latter, which also tends to provide broader coverage of sentence-final particles overall. Based on these findings, the study discusses how yone can be taught at each stage of Japanese language proficiency, offering implications for function-based, staged instruction.

The Semantic Extension of the Korean ‘-(u)silkeyyo’ from a Contrastive Perspective with Japanese: A Gricean Pragmatic Approach

Moon Chang hak | 2026, (89) | pp.25~44 | number of Cited : 0

Changes in Learner Modality across the Acquisition and Attrition Stages of the L2 Life Cycle: A Comparative Study of Colonial Japanese and Returnee Japanese

HWANG, YOUNG HEE | 2026, (89) | pp.45~66 | number of Cited : 0

This paper presents a longitudinal comparison of modality use by Korean learners of Japanese across two phases of the L2 life cycle—acquisition and attrition—drawing on two sociolinguistically distinct populations. The first group consists of members of the colonial generation who acquired Japanese under colonial rule before 1945 and subsequently lost regular contact with the language. The second group comprises Korean returnee children who naturally acquired Japanese while living in Japan and underwent attrition after repatriation. Diary-based written data from the colonial period and conversational corpora from the returnee group are examined within a unified analytical framework consisting of four modality categories: negation, conditionals, sentence-final forms, and sentence-final particles. The analysis identifies four convergent tendencies in the attrition stage across both groups: (i) regression of the dialectal negative N; (ii) convergence on TARA among conditional forms, as it is the form least constrained by sentence-final modality, along with avoidance of TO, BA, and NARA; (iii) destabilization of the NDA, NDESU explanatory system and a shift toward analytic restructuring; and (iv) erosion of interpersonal modality expressed through sentence-final particles, with the politeness-oriented function of YO being lost earlier than its information-marking function. At the same time, marked differences also emerge between the two groups: colonial Japanese retains the strong-negation function of dialectal N and exhibits interlanguage pragmatic transfer, whereby Korean honorific norms lead to overextension of the addressee-oriented use of YO, whereas returnee Japanese shows more rapid regression of dialectal and interpersonal forms without comparable L1 pragmatic transfer. These findings demonstrate that L2 attrition does not proceed as uniform loss but rather as functionally selective restructuring shaped by age of acquisition, contact conditions, and sociolinguistic environment. The study thus carries clear implications for the explicit teaching of modality in Japanese-language pedagogy and for L2 relearning.

Educational Effects of a Generative AI-Based Japanese Self-Introduction Video Project

Kim, Se-ryun | 2026, (89) | pp.69~87 | number of Cited : 0

Research on the Homograph “绮麗” in Japanese and Chinese

蘇文鑫 | 2026, (89) | pp.89~103 | number of Cited : 0

A Study of Kanji Words Containing ‘者’ in the “Eiwajii”

Lee, Ja-Ho | 2026, (89) | pp.105~122 | number of Cited : 0

Building on Lee Ja-ho (2026), who identified the characteristics of the word forms of niji kanji + sha (二字漢字+者) and estimated their patterns, this study extends the analysis to all cases of kanji notation + sha (漢字表記+者), including niji kanji + sha, and describes their characteristics from the perspective of word type. The results are as follows. First, ichiji kanji + sha (一字漢字 + 者) showed a roughly even distribution between word-form structures and phrase-form structures in terms of word formation. This is because many forms such as ‘吹者’ cannot be regarded as independent words; in many such cases, 者 functioned as a native Japanese element combined with テ or with a synonymous expression. Second, niji kanji + sha (二字漢字 + 者) showed approximately three times as many word-form structures as phrase-form structures. This is because many niji-kanji forms combined with 者 had already been established as lexical items. Third, among all cases of kanji notation + sha (漢字表記+者), the reading シャ was used more frequently for 者, followed by ‘ニン’. This tendency is related to the growing dominance of 者 as a coined element denoting a person, replacing 人 during the late Edo and early Meiji periods.Fourth, sanji kanji + sha (三字漢字+者) and yoji kanji + sha (四字漢字+者) tend to consist of difficult lexical items, often involving technical terms such as -學 and -病. However, because the number of such examples is limited, detailed analysis and evaluation remain difficult. This study is significant in that it infers the word-form status of kanji notation + sha (漢字表記＋者), the only category in Eiwajii that does not follow the furigana notation method, and clarifies the linguistic characteristics of 漢字表記 and 者 through word-type analysis. Based on these findings, the relationship between kanji notation and furigana in “Eiwaji” can be expected to be revealed more concretely and clearly.

A Contrastive Study of Sentence-Final Expressions in Korean and Japanese Newspaper Editorial Headlines: A Dual-Classification Analysis of Discourse Function and Form

Hae-mi, Lee | 2026, (89) | pp.123~143 | number of Cited : 0

A Descriptive Typology of Noun Categorization in Japanese - Classifiers, Animacy, and Conceptual Countability -

키타오카 다이호 | 2026, (89) | pp.145~160 | number of Cited : 0

This paper proposes a preliminary descriptive typology of noun categorization in Japanese by examining the interaction among clausal animacy, numeral-classifier selection, and conceptual countability. It first distinguishes Japanese numeral classifiers from grammatical gender and noun-class systems. Unlike rigid agreement-based systems, Japanese classifiers constitute a semi-open inventory and allow contextually supported coercion, although nouns retain default classifier preferences. The paper then considers hybrid nouns such as yuurei ‘ghost’ and shitai ‘corpse’, whose behavior suggests a mismatch between clausal animacy diagnostics and counting syntax. Yuurei patterns with non-human animates in interrogative and existential constructions but normally selects the human classifier -nin, whereas shitai behaves clausally as inanimate while permitting several classifiers, including marginal uses of the human classifier in some contexts. Turning to the mass–count distinction, the paper takes the conventional Japanese classification into countable, uncountable, and flexible nouns as its starting point. Preliminary quantity judgments involving prototypically countable nouns such as hon ‘book’ and hito ‘person’ suggest that these nouns may also permit non-cardinal, aggregate, volume-based interpretations in constructed spatial contexts. If confirmed through controlled investigation, these observations would motivate a four-way conceptual taxonomy comprising countable, uncountable, flexible, and ambiguous nouns. The proposed taxonomy remains compatible with the view that Japanese bare nouns are uniformly mass at the syntactic level. More broadly, the analysis suggests that Japanese noun categorization is not determined by a single, fixed lexical classification but rather emerges from the interaction of classifier choice, conceptual representation, and pragmatic context. The paper therefore offers a preliminary framework for further experimental and cross-linguistic research.

KJCKorea
Journal Central

The Japanese Language Association of Korea 2025 KCI Impact Factor : 0.41

2026, Vol., No.89