This study empirically examines the usage patterns of ‘mitiaida’ in conversations of Japanese high school students and university students. Looking at the frequency of ‘mitiaida’ and ‘yoda’ in conversations of Japanese high school students and university students , it was found that ‘mitiaida’ is overwhelmingly more used than ‘yoda’ as indicated in many existing Japanese language textbooks where ‘mitiaida’ is presented as a colloquial expression of ‘yoda’ . However, compared to conversations of university students, the significantly higher frequency of ‘mitiaida’ in conversations of high school students suggests that high school students use ‘mitiaida’ more often in actual conversations and prefer the informal expression ‘mitiaida’ over the more formal expression ‘yoda’ . On the other hand, it was observed that ‘mitiaida’ is used as a hedging expression in over 50% of both high school and university conversations, which is higher than the combined frequency of the main usages presented in Japanese language textbooks, such as metaphor, exemplification, and supposition. In conversations of university students, the frequency of ‘yoda’ used as a hedging expression is higher than that of high school students. ‘yoda’ used as a hedging expression is primarily used in the middle of sentences, but ‘mitiaida’ is mainly used at the end of sentences for hedging purposes. This indicates that the hedging usage of ‘mitiaida’ in conversations of both high school students and university students is predominantly used in the form of ‘mitiaida’ at the end of sentences. By using a modifier form like ‘mitiaida’ at the end of a sentence, it not only conveys the original meaning of supposition but also implies that the sentence is not complete grammatically, thereby avoiding the definiteness of utterance. It can be interpreted that the desire of young people to avoid making definitive statements is reflected in expression ‘mitiaida’.
한국일본언어문화학회 [Japanese Language & Culture Association of Korea]
설립연도
2001
분야
인문학>일본어와문학
소개
본 학회는 일본어학 및 일본문학은 물론, 일본의 정치, 경제, 문화, 사회 등의 일본학 전반에 걸친 연구 및 일본의 언어, 문화를 매체로 한 한국과의 비교 연구를 대상으로 하고 있다. 본 학회는 회원들에게 연구 발표 및 정보 교환의 기회를 부여하고 나아가 한국에서의 바람직한 일본 연구 자세를 확립하는 것을 주된 목표로 하고 있다.