Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64762

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the Japanese discourse marker nanka by “procedural meaning” and to show that the properties of nanka discussed in the previous literature can be naturally accounted for in this approach. I will firstly outline the Relevance Theory background and introduce some important concepts. Secondly, I will review the previous studies of nanka and discuss their problems. Then, I propose an analysis of nanka using “procedural meaning”, which helps the hearer notice that the speaker has uncertainty about his utterance at some level and form a relevant higher-level explicature with less effort. I also argue that functions of nanka, such as alleviation of the speaker's commitment to the truth of an utterance, euphemism, filler, and facilitation of turn taking, are derived from the procedural meaning of nanka by inference.