コウシタ類とコノヨウナ類の相違－文体と文章媒体に着目して－

Abstract

In contemporary Japanese, the koushita-group and the konoyouna-group of demonstratives share a number of grammatical properties, but no serious analysis has be given to clarify the relation between these two groups. The aim of the present article is to reveal differences between the two groups in terms of style and the medium of style. Our analysis that focuses on style shows that the distinction between the plain form and the polite form has little effect on the differences between the two groups. According to the analysis relating to the medium of style, no significant difference in frequency between the two groups is observed in white papers, the Diet records, and books which are not restricted in terms of quantity such as newspaper and magazines. This finding suggests that the perspectives of “complexity and formality of discourse” and of “the extent to which a discourse is conceived of as a written language or spoken language” are not appropriate for explaining the difference between the two groups. On the other hand, the frequency of items belonging to the konoyouna-group is high in Chie Bukuro. This indicates that the occurrence of items belonging to the koushita-group is restricted when a discourse is relatively characterized as that of spoken language and the context and the relationship with the hearers or readers are formal. In this respect, it is suggested that the demonstratives of the koushita-group are particularly suited for formal discourse.