Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal: an analysis of expressions of emotion and evaluation in written storytelling found in I-JAS data
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Noriko Yabuki-Soh
and
Yukiko Okuno
Abstract
Japanese is considered to be a language in which speakers tend to take a subjective stance by locating themselves within the situation they construe. Previous research indicates that in storytelling, Japanese L2 learners employ fewer expressions of viewpoint than L1 speakers do, and viewpoint tends to shift from character to character. Do Japanese L2 learners, then, typically take an objective stance, or do they use other devices to take a subjective stance? The present study compared Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal with that of L1 speakers in two types of storytelling. The results indicated that while Japanese L1 speakers typically used passive voice to maintain a viewpoint, L2 learners employed a variety of expressions related to emotion and evaluation to subjectively describe the given events throughout each story. The study suggests the existence of interlanguage in that L2 learners use vocabulary-based devices instead of grammatical devices for subjective construal.
Funding source: JSPS KAKENHI
Award Identifier / Grant number: JP19KK0055
Acknowledgments
We thank the two anonymous reviewers and the chief editor of Journal of Japanese Linguistics for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper.
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Research funding: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP19KK0055 (Project name: “Building of a global network of teaching and research based on the corpus of Japanese language learners”).
Cartoon strips used for the written storytelling tasks in I-JAS.
Sample compositions of “Picnic”
L1 speaker (JJJ12):
ケンとマリが地図を見ていると、バスケットに犬が飛びこみました。ケンとマリは犬がバスケットに入ったことに気づかないまま、公園にピクニックに出かけました。公園についてバスケットを開けてみると、バスケットから犬が飛び出しました。ケンとマリがバスケットをのぞいたところ、せっかく作ったサンドイッチが全部犬に食べられていました。
L2 learner with L1 Thai (TTH14):
ケンさんとマリさんは食べ物を準備してます。例えば、サンドイッチやりんごなどです。その時は、犬はバスケットに入ります。ケンさんとマリさんは全然知りませんでした。それから、二人は地図で家の近くの場所に探して、行きました。ケンさんとマリさんはけ庭へいきました。バスケットをあけたとたん、犬が出ました。とてもびっくりです。犬は全部食べ物を食べてしまいました。とても残念でした。
Sample compositions of “Key”
L1 speaker (JJJ57):
夜遅くに帰ってきましたが、うちに入れません。二階の窓が開いているのに気づいたので、マリを呼んでみました。しかし、マリはぐっすり眠っているようです。仕方がないので、家の外にあったはしごで二階に上ろうとしていると、通りかかった警官に職務質問をされました。警官はケンが泥棒ではないかと疑っているようです。しかし、ちょうどマリが目を覚ましてくれたので、ケンの疑いは晴れました。
L2 learner with L1 Vietnamese (VVN27):
その時は、まだ遅くなりましたから、マリさんはねむっていました。ケンさんは窓のそばに大きい声で呼んでいました。そうすると、マリさんはなかなか起きません。それで、ケンさんは梯子をつかって、上の方に登ろうでした。でも、そんなときに、警官が出ていました。ケンさんはたくさんの説明をしながら、マリさんも起きてしまいました。警官は確認して、全部のことは大丈夫でした。
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Editors’ notes
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- How is laughter used to create and reinforce food attitudes in Japanese Dairy Taster Brunch conversations
- Hard-to-learn conjunctive expressions for advanced learners: a survey on storytelling in I-JAS
- Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal: an analysis of expressions of emotion and evaluation in written storytelling found in I-JAS data
- Filler words in Japanese textbooks and Japanese classes
- How an utterance is regarded as implying disagreement: an analysis of confirmation requests in Japanese decision-making meetings
- Reexamining Japanese youth language
- Book Reviews
- Yuta Sakamoto: Silently Structured Silent Argument
- Ken-Ichi Kadooka: Japanese Mood and Modality in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theory and Application
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Editors’ notes
- Articles
- How is laughter used to create and reinforce food attitudes in Japanese Dairy Taster Brunch conversations
- Hard-to-learn conjunctive expressions for advanced learners: a survey on storytelling in I-JAS
- Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal: an analysis of expressions of emotion and evaluation in written storytelling found in I-JAS data
- Filler words in Japanese textbooks and Japanese classes
- How an utterance is regarded as implying disagreement: an analysis of confirmation requests in Japanese decision-making meetings
- Reexamining Japanese youth language
- Book Reviews
- Yuta Sakamoto: Silently Structured Silent Argument
- Ken-Ichi Kadooka: Japanese Mood and Modality in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theory and Application
