2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Japanese speakers' folk psychology : meaning structures of mental verbs and their usage in text

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21500257
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Cognitive science
Research Institution	Joetsu University of Education
Principal Investigator	NAITO Mika 上越教育大学, 大学院・学校教育研究科, 教授 (00212077)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	素朴心理学 / 心的動詞 / テクスト内語使用 / 意味構造 / 多次元尺度構成 / クラクラスター分析
Research Abstract	Investigated Japanese folk psychology analyzing the usage and meaning structures of mental verbs. Japanese novels' English translations literally translated mental verbs and put them that did not appear in original text more than English novel's Japanese translations. Thus, as compared with English, the Japanese language does not articulate mental states using mental verbs. Multi-dimensional scaling and cluster-analyses of Japanese mental verbs showed that they have meaning structures of information input from self and other, knowledge constructions and its use at present, and its use for the future. Such structures reflect Japanese speakers' unique conceptions of mind.