The analysis of the tones at sentence final particles in Japanese and its application to Japanese language education
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
Date (from‐to) : 2003/10 -2005/03
Author : TODOROKI Yasuko; YAMASHITA Naoko
The aims of this study are : (1)to investigate the correspondences of tones of the sentence final particles to communicative functions in modern standard Japanese, and (2)to make a framework of teaching tones of sentence final particles for education of Japanese as a foreign language.
1.The results of the listening test administered to native Japanese speakers show that some types of tones are applied to sentence final particles in the same way in any areas in Japan, despite the fact that in a few areas the accentual conjunctions of sentence final particles differ from those in the other areas ; (1)'yo' in a low level tone is used for expressing a speaker's opposite idea or complaint against the addressee, (2)'ne' or 'na' with an interrogative rise for expecting a reaction of the addressee, (3)'ka' with an interrogative rise for requiring an answer from the addressee, and (4)'yo', 'ne', and 'na' in a falling tone for the speaker's emotion.
2.The analysis of the questionnaire given to Japanese language teachers shows that they think it the most important subject to teach segmental pronunciation and that the second importance is given to sentence final tones. The third is sentential intonation, the fourth is word accent, and tone of sentence final particles has the least importance. The number of teachers who have ever taught tones of sentence final particles ranked the third after that of segmental pronunciation or dictation and sentence final tones. It seems that topics concerned with Japanese phonetics or phonology are made temporarily, not successively in class.