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Paper short abstract:

In this work, the particles ne, yo and yone and their uses are investigated in context, as one of the demanding resources to be mastered by Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) learners.

Paper long abstract:

The Japanese language presents some features that are deeply rooted in the society in which it originated. A non-native speaker (NNS) could find it difficult to acquire some specific linguistic structures that are inborn with being native, such as the sentence-final particles ne, yo and yone.

Redefined as interactional particles in Maynard (1993) and later in Morita (2005), these are prominent elements in Japanese everyday communication. Ne, yo and yone are acquired early by Japanese children: a two-year old child can already use them efficiently in their different functions. However, for JFL learners their acquisition is often problematic. The usage of the particles ne, yo and yone in NNSs of Japanese will be the focus of the talk. More precisely, the study involves five Italian learners of Japanese owning an intermediate to advanced proficiency level, who have been recorded while talking to their Japanese native speaker (NS) friends. The extracts of speech, in which the interactional particles appear, are analyzed while observing the information involved in the utterance and their position between the interactants.

The functions found differ in every conversation as not every learner used identical ones. Ne is the most used among the three particles considered. Yo, and yone appear to be used less: only two learners out of five use them, limitedly in functions and number of times. Nevertheless, it can be outlined a general tendency to use the particle ne in showing agreement to others more than other functions. In addition, ne is often found linked to fixed sentences, like sōne, sōdane and sōdesune. One of the five Italians uses ne also when the conditions to use yone were fulfilled, and one of the NNSs has the tendency to use ne in excess.

Based on the results, it can be hypothesized that the responsibility of an effective acquisition of the interactional particles lies in the learners' subjectivity.