Contextual resources for inferring unexpressed referents in Japanese conversation

Tomoyo Takagi

Abstract

The phenomenon of “elliptical” expressions in Japanese has been extensively studied in the field of Japanese linguistics. However, this phenomenon has been often treated as a general syntactic feature of Japanese, and the question of how this feature is realized in actual use of the language has been rather neglected. The present paper is intended to analyze how speakers of Japanese actually deal with the task of interpreting unexpressed elements that emerge in their talk in interaction. Using video- and audio-data of naturally occurring conversations in Japanese, it is shown that, in producing and understanding utterances involving unexpressed referents, conversational parties utilize not only their morphological and syntactic knowledge but also various, multilayered resources that are available to them in the immediate context of interaction.

Keywords:
Quick links
A browser-friendly version of this article is not yet available. View PDF
Chafe, Wallace
(ed.) (1980) The pear stories. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Clancy, Patricia M
(1996a) Discourse motivations of referential choice in Korean acquisition. In Japanese/Korean Linguistics V.Google Scholar
(1996b) Referential strategies and the co-construction of argument structure in Korean acquisition. In Barbara Fox (ed.), Studies in anaphora. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 33-68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1997) Lecture. Seminar in psychology. Winter Quarter, The University of California, Santa Barbara.
in preparation) A discourse-functional approach to argument structure: A developmental study of Korean .
Cook, Haruko M
(1992) Meaning of non-referential indexes: A case study of the Japanese sentence- final particle ne . Text 12.4: 507-539. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Du Bois, John W
(1980) Beyond definiteness: The trace of identity in discourse. In Wallace Chafe (ed.), The pear stories. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex, pp. 9-50.Google Scholar
(1997) Lecture. Advanced discourse course. Winter Quarter, The University of California, Santa Barbara.
Du Bois, John W., Stephan Schuetze-Coburn, Susanna Cumming, and Danae Paolino
(1993) Outline of discourse transcription. In Jane A. Edward and Martin D. Lambpert (eds.), Talking data: Transcription and coding in discourse research.Google Scholar
Du Bois, John W., and Sandra A. Thompson
(1991) Dimensions of a theory of information flow. ms.
Goldberg, Adele
(1995) Constructions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Heritage, John
(1984) Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul, and Sandra Thompson
(1980) Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56.2: 251-299. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Iwasaki, Shoichi
(1993) Subjectivity in grammar and discourse: Theoretical considerations and a case study of Japanese spoken discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kamio, Akio
(1990) Joohoo no nawabari riron (A theory of territory of information). Tokyo: Taishuukan.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Kuno, Susumu
(1987) Empathy perspective. In Functional syntax: Anaphora, discourse and empathy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Lee, Won-Pyo
(1989) Referential choice in Korean discourse: Cognitive and social perspective. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California.
Levinson, Stephen C
(1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  BoP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maynard, Senko K
(1989) Japanese conversation: Self-contextualization through structure and interactional management. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex.Google Scholar
(1993) Discourse modality. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Myhill, John, and Junko Hibiya
(1988) The discourse function of clause chaining. In John Haiman, and Sandra Thompson (eds.), Clause combining in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 71-100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, Shigeko
(1985) Ellipsis in Japanese discourse. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of California, Berkeley.
Ono, Tsuyoshi, and Sandra A. Thompson
(1997) Deconstructing ‘zero anaphora’ in Japanese. Berkeley Linguistics Society 23.Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi
(1990) The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Ryoko
(1990) The role of particles in Japanese gossip. Berkeley Linguistics Society 12: 315-324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tannen, Deborah
(1989) Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. New York: Cambridge.  BoPGoogle Scholar