Japanese te iu ka as a sentence-final expression in writing

Abstract

The present study explores cases of the use of the Japanese expression te iu ka in the sentence-final position in internet blogs and discussion boards. The analysis shows that there are two types of sentence-final te iu ka: one used for adding supplementary information and the other for mitigating the preceding statement. The present study also discusses processes through which te iu ka is placed in the sentence-final position. When sentence-final te iu ka is used to add supplementary information, the placement of te iu ka in the sentence-final position is caused by right dislocation. When sentence-final te iu ka is used for mitigation, it is caused by the omission of the B component in A te iu ka B. The present study contributes to the existing literature by offering the notion of two different formation processes of sentence-final te iu ka, which also affect its pragmatic functions.