A Study of the Japanese Conjunction "chinami ni"

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  • 接続語「ちなみに」の意味・用法

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The purpose of this paper is to describe the meaning and the use of the Japanese conjunction "chinami ni," which has normally been explained as a conjunction that is used by speakers to add a following proposition concerned with the preceding proposition. However, little is known about the conditions of use that restrict the speaker to use "chinami ni." In this paper, I point out that there are three uses of "chinami ni". The first one is used to help the hearer realize more about the people or the event mentioned by the speaker in the preceding proposition. The second is used to help the speaker achieve the communicative purpose of his or her preceding utterance. And the third is used to help the conversational participants to exchange their opinions or information. From these three uses, I derive the essential meaning of "chinami ni" as follows: "chinami ni" is used to adjust the differences of the cognitive environment between conversational participants so that the speaker could have the hearer participate more in the conversation.

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