A Preliminary Study on the Tendency of “Tara” and “Ba” :

Focusing on the “Sentence Function”

Abstract

Regarding the use of “tara” and “ba” to make conditional sentences, it has been said that “ba” has syntactic constraints. However, for learners' use, it is necessary to describe when “ba” is actively used. Therefore, this paper conducted a survey in which Japanese native speakers were presented with conditional sentences and asked whether “tara” or “ba” was more natural. The results suggest that explanations based on the concept of “Sentence Function” may reduce the burden on learners.