The use of noun-modifying clauses in storytelling by L2 learners and native speakers of Japanese

本研究は、大学の日本語コースの学習者30名（母語は英語・中国語・韓国語）および母語話者20名によるストーリーテリングの作文に現れた連体修飾節を、意味的・機能的観点から比較分析した。結果として、学習者は母語話者に比べ、行為主体者を被修飾名詞にとる節や述語の事態が主節時と時間差のある説の使用が少ない一方で、ストーリーによっては、学習者には「進行」や「過去」の動作を表す節が使用されやすいこと、先行文脈をまとめるための多重構造の節は見られないことなどが分かった。また、英語が母語の学習者は状態性の高い節を多用し、中国語母語話者は談話展開型連体説節を使用せず、韓国語母語話者は日本語母語話者に近い使い方をしている等、学習者の母語が連体修飾節の産出に影響している可能性も見られた。日本語学習者は、どのような「ことがら」を関係節化できるか、また談話レベルでどのように連体修飾節が活用できるかを知る必要があると言える。This study compared and analyzed, from semantic and functional points of view, the noun-modifying clauses that appeared in storytelling compositions written by 30 L2 learners in a university Japanese course (their L1s: English, Chinese, and Korean) and 20 native speakers of Japanese. The results showed that, in comparison with the native speakers, the learners used fewer clauses that took active agents as head nouns and fewer clauses that involved a time lag with main clauses. The learners produced more clauses that described “progressive” or “past” events depending on the story, but they did not use multiple-clause structures in order to summarize prior events. The possible influence of the learners’ L1 was also observed in their production of Japanese noun-modifying clauses- the L1 English learners almost exclusively used highly attributive modifiers attached to certain head nouns; the L1 Chinese learners did not use non-restrictive relative clauses that have the discourse function; and L1 Korean learner’s use of noun-modifying clauses was found to be the closest to that of native speakers of Japanese. L2 learners of Japanese may need to know what sort of “matters” can be relativized and how noun-modifying clauses can be used at the discourse level