日本語学習者の自称詞「自分」の使用様態に関する考察― 主語部における「自分」を中心として ―

Abstract

This paper examines the usage patterns of the self-referential term ‘jibun’ (自分) in the speech of Japanese language learners, exploring the implications of these patterns for language education. The results indicate that when ‘jibun’ is used as a self-referential term, it most frequently refers to the speaker, similar to the first-person pronoun ‘watashi’ (私). On the other hand, the usage of ‘jibun’ to refer to an unspecified collective, serving an objective function, was less than half as frequent. An examination of the contexts in which ‘jibun’ was used revealed that it most frequently appeared in statements describing the speaker’s personal situations, emotions, and thoughts—what can be categorized as ‘internal states.’ Following this, ‘factual descriptions,’ where events or circumstances were narrated, also appeared frequently. In contrast, the use of ‘jibun’ to refer to an unspecified collective, as seen in generalized statements or expressions of duty, was much rarer, with ‘assertions’ being the least frequent type of utterance. These findings reveal that intermediate learners were the group that used ‘jibun’ most frequently, primarily employing it as a first-person pronoun, substituting for pronouns like ‘watashi’ (私). This suggests that while learners are exposed to more diverse forms of Japanese as they progress, they may not have fully mastered the nuanced distinctions, leading to the indiscriminate use of the term at certain stages. Moving forward, there is a need to reassess the learning materials and develop more targeted instructional plans in order to help learners acquire more natural-sounding Japanese by studying the authentic use of the language by native speakers.