A remarkable language phenomenon in evaluating peers

– Effect(s) of a word of “chotto” –

Abstract

This paper examines what effect or effects a small word “chotto” (literally, a little, a bit, sort of ) has in expressing opinions about other fellow members in a peer group, on the basis of an analysis of language

phenomena observed in evaluations of students attending language teacher training courses. It is found that they utter this small word so that they reserve strict judgments about other members in order to avoid hurting their feelings.