日本語の感謝表現と共に用いられるフィラーについて : 自由記述式談話完成テストの回答分析から

要旨

This paper examines whether any particular types of fillers are used in Japanese thanking situations by focusing on native Japanese speakers' responses to an open discourse completion test. The results of the questionnaire clearly revealed that certain types of fillers were more likely to occur with thanking expressions than were others ; they can be further classified according to their functions such as showing hesitation about receiving a favor or unexpectedness of the offer. It was also suggested that the varieties of fillers used could be limited by the status of the hearer and that some situations induced more fillers than did others. While fillers are a unique characteristic of spoken languages, the study results seem to indicate the speakers' patterned and strategic uses of fillers. This study also investigated the interlanguage pragmatics of German learners of Japanese. Contrary to the expectation that they would not use fillers as often as the native Japanese, the results provided evidence of the learners' high awareness of the use of fillers in Japanese.