What is it about?
Japanese speakers are often characterised as 'indecisive'. The indecision is indicated by epistemic markers such as 'kana', 'darou ka' and '(n) janai ka'. Although these expressions are often treated as 'synonyms', they are not necessarily interchangeable. This article defines these epistemic markers using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
New definitions are presented to clarify semantic differences between three markers. Explications are readily translatable across all languages and can be compared with presumed equivalents in other languages.
Perspectives
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Being ‘indecisive’ in Japanese, Studies in Language, April 2016, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/sl.40.1.03asa.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page