True Colors of Japanese Prime Ministers

Abstract

Recent studies on the Japanese conjunction ga revealed its pragmatic and discourse functions in detailed forms and found their implications for discourse settings. In particular, two variation analyses of ga in public speeches of two prominent Japanese political figures suggested their attempts to project certain sociopolitical images. However, data from individuals in two unparallel setting types and misattribution of the addressers’ sociopolitical considerations prevented these studies from substantiating a connection between the observed ga variations to the addressers’ sociopolitical images. This study analyzes ga occurrences in domestic and international press conferences with three Japanese prime ministers to evaluate the relevance between ga occurrences and their sociopolitical implications. This study finds that ga frequencies in domestic press conferences suggest the prime ministers’ attempts in varying degrees to craft an image of a consensus builder, which would appeal to key members of their party. On the other hand, the study observes different patterns of ga frequencies in international press conferences, which suggest their attempts in varying degrees to present their true colors to the general public.