婉曲表現としての「カナト思ウ」 ―「カト思ウ」と比較して―

Abstract

This paper considers the euphemistic use of -kana to omou from the perspective of pragmatics. If the speaker sees the situation as certain, they can use declarative language; however, -kana to omou may be used as a euphemistic expression. In this paper, we analyze euphemistic -kana to omou as a strategy to avoid face infringement by classifying its usage into the following three categories: ① When describing objective matters, ② when the speaker describes himself, and ③ when describing the listener. We found that: In ①, -kana to omou mainly functions as a strategy for the speaker to avoid losing face. In ②, it functions to protect speaker's face when expressing opinions / determinations, and both the speaker's and listener's face when expressing desires / requests. In ③, -ka to omou can be used, but -kana to omou is infelicitous. -kana to omou leaves room for the speaker to establish other propositional content, while -ka to omou implies propositional content that a person other than the speaker thinks. This difference contrasts whose face is being considered, which entails restrictions on the situations where these expressions may be sued.