This thesis sheds lights on the relationship between descriptions of causal events and their effects on speakers’ memory. English and Japanese are similar in that speakers can use the same constructions when describing intentional events – both comfortably use transitive sentences. However, they are different when describing non-intentional events. English speakers can use the same construction as intentional events, while Japanese speakers prefer to mark that the event is accidental. They tend to add accidental markers to cancel the agent’s intention frequently. In Experiment 1, I confirm differences in describing causal events between these two languages. Then, Japanese speakers are expected to remember event nature (i.e., intentional or non-intentional) more accurately than English speakers. However, Experiment 2 fails to support the hypothesis. I present two possible reasons why language effects are not observed. First, marking non-intentionality is not obligatory but only preferred by Japanese speakers. Thus, language effects are not strong enough to affect speakers’ memory. Second, language does not affect speakers’ memory, especially in causal-event descriptions, even though it does in other domains, such as color terminology.
Spatial Components in the Use of Count Nouns Among English Speakers and Japanese Speakers of English as a Second Language