Explicit vs. Zero Postpositional Particles in Modern Colloquial Japanese

要旨

In this paper I will explore the conditions for the appropriate use of postpositional particles and interpretation in modern colloquial Japanese. The discussion is more exploratory than definitive — a first step in the direction of an eventual clearer understanding of what has to be an important aspect of spoken language. The Japanese particles have been the research focus of many scholars both in Japan and overseas. Although many important insights and observations have come out of the previous works, basic facts concerning the so-called ‘no particle phenomenon’ in colloquial Japanese still remain unexplained. Postpositional particles often do not appear in informal conversations, most typically in casual dialogues. I will argue that what happens in such cases is not particle drop, deletion nor ellipsis, but the use of the zero particle in place of explicit ones. Let us look at the following dialogue, where not a single postpositional particle appears. (The symbol @ stands for the zero postpositional particle, and o for the zero pronoun):

主題