A Study of the Sentence-Final Mitai na

Abstract

Although Fillmore treats the position described in the above quote as neither particularly controversial nor in need of explanation, it does not seem to be the position that all linguists take. Expressions that occur only in spoken language are often dismissed as deviations from the norm (the norm being the written language) and receive little or no attention. For example, in Japanese linguistics there is abundant literature dealing with the marking of topics. Almost all of that literature is about the marker wa, which occurs both in written and spoken Japanese. Very little is written about topicmarking devices that occur mainly in conversation, such as tteor zeromarking.1 The analysis of evidentials in Japanese is another example. Various forms which represent evidentiality, such as soo, yoo, and rashii have been discussed extensively. However, expressions that occur mostly in spoken language such as tte and mitai have been merely mentioned in passing. The rule system that may apply only to spoken language should receive more attention.2 As Fillmore states, the language of conversation is the basic use of language. Furthermore, studying it would enrich our understanding of how language works since it reflects the changing nature of language more than written language.