Functions of the Discourse Markerでも in Casual Chats Among Thai Learners of Japanese

Abstract

The discourse marker でも (demo) is considered one of the discourse markers that play a crucial role in conversation. The objective of this research is therefore to study the usage of でも in casual chats between Thai learners of Japanese and their Japanese friends to reveal the functions that でも serves for Thai learners of Japanese; the frequencies of the individual functions; and to discuss certain uses that are not natural sounding and that are incorrect. The findings indicate that the usage of the discourse marker でも has five functions, in descending order according to frequency of occurrence as follows: 1) expression of contrast, which is the same basic function as found with the most frequent occurrence among native Japanese speakers; 2) topic shifting; 3) topic development; 4) addition of information; and 5) comparison. The fact that the majority of uses of でも were for its topic shifting and topic development functions, as compared to uses for the other functions, demonstrate attempts to use でも as a conversational strategy to engage in a conversation where learners try to raise various issues to keep the conversation going. However, caution should be taken in the usage of でも regarding its topic shifting function, for some uses may give a conversational partner the feeling that the topic has shifted all of a sudden, and also in the usage of でも outside its actual scope of use, which may be influenced by the mother tongue, resulting in unnatural sounding or incorrect uses.