Research on use of referring expressions in narrative discourses of Japanese native and non-native speakers

在这项研究中，我分析了日语本族语者和非本族语者在日语叙事中对指称表达的使用情况，以及指称选择与篇章情节结构的关系。这些数据是通过让线人向日本的一位朋友讲述一部动画电影的故事而获得的。我将指称短语定义为指称话语中的人或物的短语，并将所谓的“ko-，so-，a-”指示词作为指称短语的一个子类别。我认为NP和省略都是指称表达的形式。根据Clancy(1980)和Givon(1983)的研究，指称选择的一般原则是：1)在第一次介绍指称对象时使用NP，2)省略应该用于听话者意识中心的指称对象，3)NP应该用于指称距离较大或有干扰的指称对象。在我的数据中，以日语为母语的人经常违反这些原则，在省略不会造成任何歧义的情况下使用NP，甚至在所指对象可能有歧义的情况下使用省略。我演示了以英语为母语的人使用这些名词和省略来标记语篇的部分。相反，一些非本族语使用者不能在动词施事所指对象发生变化时使用NP来标记语篇结构，或者在涉及主要人物时经常使用省略。

In this study, I analyzed Japanese native and non-native speakers' use of referring expressions in Japanese narratives and the relationship between referential choice and episodic structure of discourse. The data were elicited by having informants tell the story of an animated film to a friend in Japanese.I define referring expressions as expressions that refer to people or things in the discourse and include so-called "ko-, so-, a-" demonstratives as a subcategory of referring expressions. I consider both NPs and ellipses to be forms of referring expressions. According to research by Clancy(1980) and Givon(1983), the general principles of referential choice are 1) an NP should be used at the first introduction of a referent, 2) ellipsis should be used for referents in the center of the hearer's consciousness, 3) NP should be used for referents with greater referential distance or when interference occurs.Native speakers of Japanese in my data often violated these principles by using NPs in cases where ellipsis would not cause any ambiguity, and using ellipses even in cases when the referent was potentially ambiguous. I demonstrated that native speakers used these NPs and ellipses to mark sections of discourse. In contrast, some non-native speakers failed to mark discourse structure by using NPs whenever the referent of the agent of the verb changed, or constantly using ellipsis when referring to the main character.