フィラー「まあ」の意味を考える

The purpose of this paper is to build a hypothesis that can explain the meaning and usages of filler "Maa". In previous studies, there are two typical hypotheses (Wadakamari Hypothesis and Aimaisei Hypothesis). We summarized these two typical hypotheses as a new one —"Restricted Condition Hypothesis". This hypo thesis is highly valid and can explain special usages such as interjection usage and figurative usage in a unified way. However, there are still some usages and characteristics that this hypothesis cannot explain. For example, “Maa” cannot co occur with hu mble or apologetic expressions, and it is easy to give an impression of arrogance, and so on. Previous studies have rarely mentioned these characteristics. To explain these characteristics, we proposed another hypothesis that "Maa" has the meaning of super iority. From some evidence, it was confirmed that the Superiority Hypothesis had priority over the Restricted Condition Hypothesis, but the relationship between the Superiority Hypothesis and the Restricted Condition Hypothesis could not be fully clarified . In the future, we will use natural conversation to verify the validity of the hypotheses and clarified the relationship between them.