This paper investigates the changes and actual usage of the expression tehoshii and its synonymous expression temoraitai , which have been increasingly used since 1945, by analyzing materials from parliamentary debates and everyday conversations. The ...
This paper investigates the changes and actual usage of the expression tehoshii and its synonymous expression temoraitai , which have been increasingly used since 1945, by analyzing materials from parliamentary debates and everyday conversations. The findings of the study are as follows: First, from the 1940s to the 1980s, temoraitai was predominantly used in parliamentary debates; however, since the1980s, tehoshii has surpassed it in frequency. In everyday conversations, temoraitai was used far less frequently, with over 90% of cases favoring tehoshii . Furthermore, while both tehoshii and temoraitai tend to be used as requests in parliamentary settings, in everyday conversations, both expressions are more commonly employed to express wishes or desires. These differences are thought to reflect the nature of the communicative settings, where parliamentary debates require requests for concrete actions, whereas everyday conversations often convey personal wishes or hopes.