Abstract
This paper examines the nature of Final-Attributive sentences in Heian Japanese conversational texts, in comparison with sentences ending in the canonical Conclusive form and the Focus Concord construction (kakarimusubi) used with particles namu and zo. The following three results were obtained: (a) The Final-Attributive form is often found with verbs of emotion, thought, or perception in sentences relating concrete events or the speaker's evaluation/comments. (b) It is often found with adjectives denoting emotion but not with adjectives denoting properties. (c) It is found with auxiliary verbs denoting (1) emotion/thought, (2) past/perfect, (3) conjecture, (4) negation, (5) assertion, in decreasing order. In conclusion, the Final-Attributive in conversational texts of Heian Japanese is considered to be a form which indicates that the information is in the speaker's territory.
