Although in written Japanese grammatical relations such as subject and object are marked by postpositional particles, in informal conversation they may occur without any particles. This paper examines the occurrence and non-occurrence of the direct object marker o in spontaneous informal conversation and clarifies that the choice of object marking is a device to facilitate selective focusing on information. Our study shows that zero-marking is the unmarked option for marking direct objects and o is used when the information indicated by the direct object NP is salient in the discourse or when cognitive processing requires some additonal effort.
2004. Discourse within a sentence: An exploration of postpositions in Japanese as an interactional resource. Language in Society 33:03
Heffernan, Kevin
2021. Correlating cognitive effort and noun role in spoken Japanese. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 37:2 ► pp. 181 ff.
Heffernan, Kevin, Yusuke Imanishi & Masaru Honda
2018. Showcasing the interaction of generative and emergent linguistic knowledge with case marker omission in spoken Japanese. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 3:1
Iwasaki, Shoichi
2015. A multiple-grammar model of speakers’ linguistic knowledge. Cognitive Linguistics 26:2 ► pp. 161 ff.
2003. Unit linking in conversational Japanese. Language Sciences 25:5 ► pp. 433 ff.
McGregor, William B.
2010. Optional ergative case marking systems in a typological-semiotic perspective. Lingua 120:7 ► pp. 1610 ff.
Minagawa, Harumi
2012. Marking of case and referential intent: A study of the ka-indefinite noun in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics 44:11 ► pp. 1519 ff.
Miyagawa, Shigeru, Danfeng Wu & Masatoshi Koizumi
2019. Inducing and blocking labeling. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 4:1
Nakayama, Toshihide & Fumino Horiuchi
2021. Demystifying the development of a structurally marginal pattern: A case study of the wa-initiated responsive construction in Japanese conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 172 ► pp. 215 ff.
Nishikawa, Tomomi
2023. Acquisition of morphology by L2 children in naturalistic environments: a case of Japanese case markers. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 61:3 ► pp. 909 ff.
Ogihara, Saeko
2016. Japanese Learners’ Use of Zero - case Marking. Journal of the society of Japanese Language and Literature, Japanology null:73 ► pp. 95 ff.
Tsuyoshi Ono & Sandra A. Thompson
2003. Japanese (w)atashi/ore/boku I: Theyre not just pronouns. cogl 14:4 ► pp. 321 ff.
2020. Multiculturalism or Cultural Nationalism? Representation of Ellie Kameyama as a Conduit and the Other in the NHK Morning Drama Massan. Japanese Studies 40:2 ► pp. 121 ff.
TANAKA, HIROKO
2005. Grammar and the “timing” of social action: Word order and preference organization in Japanese. Language in Society 34:03
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