Expressivity of Vagueness: Alienation in the Verb-tari suru Construction.

The article focuses on the vagueness in the expression of the verb, tari suru, which means "doing things like" in the English language, in modern Japanese language. The article will also mention the history of -tari, the conventional usage of the verb, tari suru construction and its primary function, and report various descriptions given of the newer usage of the construction. The author argues that the newer usage of verb-tari suru is related to other usages of the construction and that the sense of lack of specification is responsible for various connotations associated with the expression.