Om sumimasen, sumanai och suman : en jämförande analys

Sammanfattning: The main purpose of this paper is to describe the pragmatic and morphological attributes of sumimasen, sumanai and suman used as routine formulae. By way of introduction, previous research, pragmatic theory and key informants of Japanese descent have been consulted in order to provide a detailed interpretation of sumimasen and its properties. By conducting interviews with aforementioned informants, data regarding practical usage of the etymologically related expressions sumanai and suman (alongside a few variations) has been collected, analyzed and compared to those of sumimasen. Although demonstrable differences have been recognized, the findings of the present thesis suggest that all three expressions share some similar features.