Abstract
In this study, we adopted the methodology of conversation analysis and interactional linguistics to investigate the use of shiranai and wakannai ‘I don’t know’ in data from (the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation), a corpus of naturally occurring conversations. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the sequential positions and the interactional functions of these two expressions revealed that shiranai is often used as a response to a question that explicitly requests knowledge status. Shiranai is also used in response to informing, soliciting more talk from the interlocutor. On the other hand, wakannai is more often used as a response to a question that requests information. Used with prosodic features such as elongation and laughter, both shiranai and wakannai sometimes convey the speaker’s affective stance towards the lack of knowledge. Furthermore, wakannai can be used as a discourse marker to mark the speaker’s low degree of commitment, sometimes working as a sequence-closing device.
Acknowledgments
This study is supported by KAKENHI grants #JP17KT0061 and #JP20H05630, and NINJAL Collaborative Project “A Comprehensive Study of Spoken Language Using a Multi-Generational Corpus of Japanese Conversation.”
Appendix A: Transcription symbols
- ,
-
continuing intonation
- -
-
truncated speech
- .
-
terminal intonation (falling)
- =
-
latching (no gap between two lines)
- [ ]
-
overlapping speech
- huh
-
laughter or laughing quality
- X
-
uncertain hearing
- h
-
hearable exhalation
- :
-
lengthening
- .h
-
hearable inhalation
- (.)
-
micro pause
- ↑
-
sudden rise of pitch
- (2.1)
-
long pause and its length in seconds
- < >
-
slowed down speech
- º
-
soft voice
- > <
-
speeded up speech
- word
-
stressed
Appendix B: Glossing symbols
- 1SG
-
1st person singular
- COP
-
Copula
- DAT
-
Dative
- EMP
-
Emphatic
- FP
-
Final particle
- GEN
-
Genitive
- INJ
-
Interjection
- NEG
-
Negation
- NML
-
Nominalizer
- PN
-
Proper noun
- Q
-
Question particle
- SE
-
Sentence extender
- TOP
-
Topic marker
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© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Editors’ Notes
- Guest Editor’s notes
- Articles
- Formulaicity and formulaic expressions in Japanese: an introduction
- Formulaicity and contexts: a multimodal analysis of the Japanese utterance-final tteyuu
- Sequential positions and interactional functions of negative epistemic constructions in Japanese conversation
- Kedo-ending turn format as a formula for a problem statement with a deontic implication
- The utterance-final tari site construction in interaction: a general extender as a play stance marker
- Verb repetition as a template for reactive tokens in Japanese everyday talk
- Formulaicity of fictional quotative ga itteta and its functions in Japanese social media posts
- Commas as a constructional resource: the use of a comma in a formulaic expression in Japanese social media texts
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Editors’ Notes
- Guest Editor’s notes
- Articles
- Formulaicity and formulaic expressions in Japanese: an introduction
- Formulaicity and contexts: a multimodal analysis of the Japanese utterance-final tteyuu
- Sequential positions and interactional functions of negative epistemic constructions in Japanese conversation
- Kedo-ending turn format as a formula for a problem statement with a deontic implication
- The utterance-final tari site construction in interaction: a general extender as a play stance marker
- Verb repetition as a template for reactive tokens in Japanese everyday talk
- Formulaicity of fictional quotative ga itteta and its functions in Japanese social media posts
- Commas as a constructional resource: the use of a comma in a formulaic expression in Japanese social media texts