Filler words in Japanese textbooks and Japanese classes
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Minori Momose
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to report differences in the use of filler words in Japanese language textbooks and provides examples. Filler words like “Ano(o),” “E(e),” “Ma(a),” and “De(e)” are used as fillers in Japanese conversation, but in Japanese language textbooks, they are not considered appropriate teaching items for actual use. Specifically, examples of filler-like usage that need to be adopted as teaching items include “Ano(o),” which appears commonly in the beginning or middle of sentences; “E(e)”,which is used in situations with a large number of listeners; “Ma(a),” which is used in response to questions; and “De”, which appears in the middle of sentences.
The materials in this paper were collected by NHK through the NHK Program Archive Academic Use Trial 2017, the second reading of which was approved by the NHK. They are permitted to be viewed by NHK based on the following article: “Filler Conjunctions in NHK Interview Programs: A Study of the Changes in Postwar Japanese Conversations from the Perspective of Their Origin, Types, Functions, and Expressive Effects.” The following are the numbers and titles of the materials.
“Expressions of Time: Ten Years After the Death of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru” (February 28, 1964, Sogo)
“Women’s Hour” “This Person, This Way” “Daisuke Suzuki” (May 21, 1964, Overall)
“Living National Treasures (Reportage and Interview)” (November 3, 1966, Education)
“Islands of the Humans: 18-year-old Men” (June 10, 1971, General)
“Camera Report (L)” “Ryuno Furusato” “Northern Chiba Prefecture～” (January 6, 1976, Comprehensive)
“The Second Meeting of People in the World” (December 30, 1979, Comprehensive)
“Interview Visits: Dialogue in the 80s (1)” (January 1, 1980, Education)
Sunday Interview Takeo Okuma for the Business Weekly Top Report Textile Kanban System (September 28, 1986, Education)
Sunday Interview with Teru Miyamoto (November 19, 1989, Comprehensive)
Industry Interview Top Interview (January 12, 1990, Education)
“ETV Special Issue Interview—atomic bombs don’t fall unless people drop them” (August 22, 1994, Education)
Holiday Interview: Toshimitsu Wakabayashi, Neurosurgery (September 15, 1999, Overall)
“BS Forum: The New Generation Design of the Changing Lifestyles” (January 27, 2001, BS)
Shokusai Roman: My Grandmother’s Udon Is My Origin (October 8, 2006, General)
Katsuma Wadai: Working Women’s Theory to Overcoming Work Challenger Part 2 “Harmonizing with the Team” (August 13, 2009, Education)
“Sawayaka Nature 100th Annual Spring Special” “Forest Japan” (January 2, 2012, Comprehensive)
“SWITCH Interview with Experts” “Mari Natsuki x Hoki Sawa: Conditions for StylishWomen” (May 10, 2014, Educational)
Introduction to HeartNet TV Kenji Yamada’s Mental Health #1 “Narcolepsy” (February 2, 2016, Education)
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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
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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
