Page 47 - Makino,Tsutusi.DictionaryOfIntermediateJGrammar

SPECIAL TOPICS IN INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE GRAMMAR
(The fall of Russian communism was, let's see, December of 1991, if
I remember correctly.)

Fifthly, the phrase 'nan to ittara ii desho (ka)' in (1 1) and its informal equiv-
alent 'nan to ittara ii ka nalne' are used when the speaker is looking for the right
expression.

(The recent tendency in world ideology is, how shall I put it? Bor-
derless thinking.)

Sixthly, the interjection ma is used primarily to avoid making a definite
statement, as shown below.
Cb+< df<irrti
(12) a. A: Z OAf C2f &%$hi. PO ('6 b\T?75',
(What's the student population at this college?)
L.$*,L z *AKA.
B: 36, --Z5T-ACL;b~TLhid.,
(Somewhere around 15,000, I suppose.)
b. A: %!tl2~%&Tti5..
(Have you been in good health lately?)

B: 36, ?-i Ttb0
(I guess so.)
I: ItL LI <
it,
c. s$gct., 36, lli~~hgd::*i~', M,~zlfhari C:~;L\~S'
36 Sh p
%t 3T&b~Ttb0
(I can eat practically all Japanese food, but natto (=fermented
soybeans) has too strong a smell for me and I don't like it.)
C. Rephrasing

Just as native speakers of Japanese know how to rephrase words using other
explanatory expressions when they cannot recall the most suitable words,
intermediate learners of Japanese, too, should start to learn how to rephrase
words they don't know or cannot remember. By doing so embarassing pauses
can be avoided. A common way to rephrase a noun is by means of a noun
modification, as shown in (13a, b).