新聞への投書に見られる表現構造

Abstract

Is the expository writing of native English speakers necessarily linear and that of Japanese non-linear, as many contrastic rhetoric scholars, taking a cue from Kaplan (1966,1972) have claimed? The purpose of this paper is not to make a definitive rebutal to this assumption but to question it and offer alternative hypothesises. To do this, this paper undertakes an informal study of letters to the editor to several English language newspapers by Japanese and native English speakers. Instances of Japanese linearity and native English speaker non-linearity are cited.