2021 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 1-10
This study attempts to describe the communicative function of ne seen in recent years based on an analysis of Sonandesune and ndesukane which are composite forms with ne. Specifically, we compared the usage rates of both composite forms using multiple recorded conversation corpora. The comparison of the corpus released in the 2010s with those released in the 2000s clarified that (1) the use of Sonandesune exceeds Sonandesuka when receiving information and (2) the use of ndesukane when asking a question is increasing slightly. Based on these results, we considered the communicative function of ne seen in recent years to be “the speaker is clearly indicating to the listener that s/he intends to maintain a conversation with them.” Our conclusion is that the increasing use of ne is due to the pragmatic motivation to express the speaker’s intention “to continue the conversation” and aim to build a harmonious relationship with the listener.
