Event: Asian Studies Brown Bag Series

PTJC is happy to host Asian Studies Brown Bag Series.

This time, Keisuke Harada is going to share his research with us.

His study focuses on the uses of the Japanese quotative particles to and tte in conversations. The context and other linguistic items influence the selections among the two quotative particles, and studies have discussed the factors so far. Although many previous studies have examined verbal quotations, this work particularly examines the quotations of thoughts that employ the main predicate omou “to think”. The present study first investigates the total distributions of to and tte, and then takes a close look at the co-occurrences with the verb omou ‘to think’, focusing on the particles placed in the subordinate clauses. Looking at the overall uses of to and tte regardless of the following predicates, it is revealed that tte is more frequently used than to in informal speech. In terms of the following predicate omou ‘to think’, however, it is found that to is strongly preferred to tte. His study also revealed that -tte omou collocation is more related to the speakers’ uncertainty than -to omou. This research gives new insight into the nature of the two quotative particles in Japanese conversations.

All are welcome!

Please register for this event here.