大阪府八尾市方言の素材待遇形式ヤルの機能 ──三者の関係を表すマーカー──

The aim of this article is to clarify the function of the subject honorifics form yaru in the Yao dialect of Osaka. In previous research, yaru is said to indicate the ‘endearment’ because it is used when the subject is younger than the speaker, or the same age. However, this article claims that the function of yaru is not to indicate the feeling of the speaker, but the relationship of the speaker, the hearer, and the subject from the viewpoint of the speaker. Yaru indicates the close relationship of the speaker, subject, and the hearer. Therefore it indicates that the three members are all in ‘internal’ (or close) relationship. This article claims that ‘endearment’, which is claimed as a main function of yaru in previous research, can be thought of as the discourse function by the use of the relation marker yaru.
Yaru is uncommon in that it represents the ‘close’ relationship of both the hearer and subject from the viewpoint of the speaker, while Japanese honorifics (linguistic politeness) are said to represent the ‘distant’ relationship to the subject or hearer from the viewpoint of the speaker.