Being ‘indecisive’ in Japanese

Abstract

Japanese speakers are often characterised as ‘indecisive’. The indecision is indicated by epistemic markers being frequently added to express the doubt. The sentence-final particlekanashows an indecisive attitude and is usually translated into English asI wonderormaybe. There are other similar Japanese expressions, for example,darou kaand(n) janai ka. Both expressions represent uncertainty and are generally interpreted asI wonderormaybe. Althoughkana,darou kaand(n) janai kaare often treated as ‘synonyms’, they are not necessarily interchangeable. The aim of this study is to define these Japanese epistemic markers using the reductive paraphrase methodology of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. New definitions are presented to clarify semantic differences and the invariant concept embedded in each expression. This analysis elucidates Japanese speakers’ epistemic stance when they are in doubt.