| Research Abstract |
This paper examines the difficulties in using and understanding sentence-final ellipses, Iisashi, in 18 free conversations between native Japanese speakers(JNS), native Chinese speakers(CNS), and native Koreanspeakers(KNS) respectively, plus 9 free conversations between native Englishspeakers(ENS). The purpose of the researchis to evaluate the influence of Iisashi on the interpretations and usages in the conversations. The research focuses on(1) how often Iisashiare used in the conversations,(2) which expressions are used as Iisashi,(3) which expressive functions of Iisashi are used in the conversations,(4) how use of Iisashi are related with contexts between speakers, and(5) how these results are different from the results of the same study between native Japanese speakers.
In the study, more than 40% of all turns finish with Iisashi in all language groups. Among those, 19～27% out of all Iisashiare external Iisashi which contains expressive functions, such as questions, additions, and inversions. These are relatively easy to interpret. But, Iisashi which contains expressive functions, such as additions, and inversions is difficult to use for CNS, KNS and ENS.
Regarding the expressions of Iisashi, it endssentences with nouns, particles, adverbs, and te-forms. Iisashi which ends sentences with nouns is easy to interpret and use. But, Iisashi which ends sentences with te-forms is difficult to use, but easy to comprehend.
These results reveal that CNS, KNS and ENS use and comprehend most of Iisashiin the same way as native Japanese speakers do. However, CNS, KNS and ENS have difficulty in replacing the objective case with predicates or adverbs with predicates.
It shows CNS, KNS and ENS have the pragmatic ability to comprehend Iisashi in Japanese conversations. Moreover, the characteristics of the Japanese language make possible to comprehend these Iisashi.
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