A Study on the Prepostion "noda" Using the Discourse Completion Test

The Difference Between Taiwanese Learners of Japanese and Japanese Native

Speakers

Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to explore the usage of the prepositon "noda" in
spoken Japenese for Taiwanese learners. The preposition "noda" is used when
there is something that a speaker would like to imply. It is difficult for the
learner of Japanese to distinguish the difference between the use of "noda" as
a way to emphasize or explain an idea and the preposition "noda" which is
used to imply that there is more to the statement. There are two
questionnaires used in this thesis: one is a conversation-oriented
questionnaire, namely, the Discourse Completion Test, and the other is a
descriptive questionnaire about the differences between "masu" ending
sentences and "noda" ending sentences.
According to the Discourse Completion Test, Taiwanese learners got less
correct answers than Japanese native speakers did. Also, in all the questions,
not only Taiwanese learners but also Japanese native speakers made
unnatural responses when the preposition "noda" was used. The unnatual
responses were found especially in the discourse completion questions which
have common use language such as "went to the bathroom" or "had bread
for breakfast." Many unnatural responses were given because it is hard to
anticipate what a speaker is really trying to convey when using the
preposition "noda". On the other hand, there were more correct answers
given in questions when