Sequential patterns of storytelling using omotte in Japanese conversation

• 作者: Maki Shimotani Tomoko Endo
• 来源期刊: Journal of Japanese Linguistics
• 关键词: Areas of interest: omotte storytelling interactional linguistics quoted thought
• 年，卷（期）: 2014,（1）
• 页码范围: 28-48
• 页数: 21页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1515/jjl-2014-0104

摘要

In the literature of Japanese linguistics, the verb omou ‘to think’ has been extensively studied in terms of epistemic modality and analyzed as an expression of the speaker’s opinion specifically at a sentential level. However, through examining the data of storytelling in everyday conversation, we found that this verb rarely occurs in the non-past predicate form omou. Instead, it occurs in a connective -te form, i.e., omotte. Unlike omou, uses of omotte in storytelling sequences rarely indicate the speaker’s opinion. Rather, it shows a quotation of his or her thought evoked during an event or in telling a story; it also plays a significant role in managing larger units of talk. This study, within the framework of interactional linguistics (e.g., Ochs, Schegloff, & Thompson, 1996), focuses on the form omotte and investigates how it is used as a linguistic resource to manage the organization of a story.