THE FUNCTION OF TENSE-ASPECT FORMS IN JAPANESE CONVERSATIONS: EMPIRICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS (DISCOURSE ANALYSIS, MORPHOLOGY, NARRATIVE)

This study investigates the use of Japanese tense-aspect forms in conversations about past experiences in order to answer the ecological question, "How do tense-aspect forms function in Japanese and why?" Language is viewed as the product of human agents participating in a social activity and the function of Japanese tense-aspect forms is shown to vary across contexts.;A quantitative analysis of speakers' responses indicated that while on the average a given tense-aspect form heightened the perception of one of the above features, responses were not consistent for all occurrences of the form. An examination of feature ratings for individual clauses showed that when a clause has a high mean feature rating, i.e., is rated high regardless of the tense-aspect form used, that feature rating is negotiated through other elements in the context. In these clauses, the speaker is free to implement tense-aspect forms in other communicative strategies such as participant tracking or foregrounding. When a clause has a mid to low mean feature rating the relevance of a feature is less easily inferred from the context and is negotiated more through the tense-aspect form used. This study supports the view that tense-aspect forms function as moves in a "language game"--they can only be explained in reference to the particular context in which they occur.;Research methods included both systematic analysis of naturally occurring conversations and controlled investigation of the intersubjective agreement among 199 native speakers regarding their interpretation of the use of tense-aspect forms. The methodology used kept all elements of the discourse constant while varying the tense-aspect forms across surveys. This approach minimized confounding of effects and allowed for a stronger inference of cause than previous studies. Associations of the following cognitive-affective features with tense-aspect forms were investigated using indirect methods: pastness, speaker's experience, emotionality, evaluation, narrative events, vividness/listener involvement, characterization, explanation, description, continuity maintenance.