On the usages of conditional clauses in Japanese maptask dialogue

Abstract

The present study examined how four well-known particles of Japanese conditional clauses, namely TARA, TO, BA, and NARA, were actually used by analyzing Japanese Map Task Dialogue Corpus. We found clear differences in how they were used. In particular, different particles were used to refer to different contents of the main clauses. We argue that the differences are caused by difference in knowledge that speakers try to share with hearers, and we introduced discourse functions of the particles on the basis of the differences in knowledge that is tried to be shared.