A Descriptive Study on Neologism Formation in Japanese Dialects' Expressions of Agreement Requests.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13048
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02070:Japanese linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: KUROSAKI Takashi 山口大学, 大学院東アジア研究科, 東アジアコラボ研究員 (60836386)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 同意要求表現 / 否定疑問形式 / モダリティ / 若者語 / 方言 / 社会言語学 / 語用論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study elucidates the usage of agreement request expressions 'Kunai,' 'Njanai,' and '(ッ)Pokunai' commonly used by the younger generation. Firstly, 'Kunai' can be prefixed to various verbs and is more frequently used in situations where the speaker's emotions are expressed, particularly in Western Japan compared to Eastern Japan.
Secondly, it was revealed that these expressions are selectively used based on the criteria of "whether information sharing is possible" and "whether the individuals involved have an equal amount of information," considering the speaker, the listener, and other individuals present in the discourse context. Furthermore, it became evident that the strength of the speaker's conviction is reflected in the order of 'Njanai' → '(ッ)Pokunai' → 'Kunai'.

Free Research Field

社会言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「クナイ」「ンジャナイ」「(ッ)ポクナイ」という表現は，若者の間で広く使われ，「相手に自分の判断について同意してもらいたい」ときに使われる。これらの使い方を明らかにし，若者のコミュニケーションのあり方を知ることができた。
例えば，自分の判断に自信がない場合は「ンジャナイ」，最も自信がある場合は「クナイ」を使う。「(ッ)ポクナイ」はその中間に位置する。これらを使い分けて，自分が伝える情報の正確性を相手に知らせていると考えられる。このように，未来の社会を担う若者たちのコミュニケーションや思考に関わる本研究成果は，学術的にも社会的にも意義があるといえよう。