Evidentiality, subjectivity and ideology in the Japanese history textbook

Abstract

This article aims to explore the relationship of evidentiality, subjectivity and ideology in Japanese history discourse. It probes into some evidentials and discursive practices present in the Japanese history textbook by drawing on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and concepts of Japanese evidentiality. Through the quantitative and qualitative analyses of a corpus based on three Japanese history textbooks, namely NHT, HSWH and EWH, the article finds that NHT has a higher distribution of evidential categories per clause, which implies a more subjective stance. Such evidential categories as modal auxiliary verbs and modal nouns indicate a strong authorial voice, and other categories like the projecting clauses of verbal and mental processes and the discursive practice of historical document citation contribute to the construal of a linguistic ideology. The discursive practice of brackets is not only the expression of authorial voice, but also the reconstrual of a historical event.