Effect of referent visibility on Japanese demonstrative choice: Sensitivity to visibility to both the speaker and...

When speakers refer to objects using demonstratives, they must choose among the available forms. In Japanese, speakers select from the ko-series (proximal), so-series (medial), and a-series (distal). Previous studies have investigated factors that influence this choice, and have highlighted the role of referent reachability to both the speaker and the addressee, but the effect of referent visibility remains unclear. We conducted two experiments focusing on the effects of referent reachability and visibility. Experiment 1 replicated previously reported patterns of demonstrative choice, confirming the validity of our procedure and analysis. Experiment 2 showed that referent visibility clearly influenced Japanese demonstrative choice. When the referent was not visible to the speaker, they tended to use medial and distal forms more than when it was visible and partially visible. When the referent was not visible to the addressee, the speaker tended to use proximal form more than when that was visible and partially visible. In both experiments, the patterns around 100 cm from the speaker suggest that, when referent reachability to the speaker was not clear, factors other than reachability differently influenced demonstrative choice than in the other distance conditions. Furthermore, the results suggest that the referent visibility to the addressee influenced how speakers chose between the two non-proximal forms when the referent was near the addressee. These findings elaborate the territory model by highlighting a key role for monitoring the visual accessibility of the referent to the addressee.