Current Issues in Intercultural Pragmatics Istvan Kecskes and Stavros Assimakopoulos (Eds.) John Benjamins Publishing Company (2017)

Current Issues in Intercultural Pragmatics Istvan Kecskes and Stavros Assimakopoulos (Eds.) John Benjamins Publishing Company (2017)

Japanese te iu ka as a sentence-final expression in writing

The present study explores cases of the use of the Japanese expression te iu ka in the sentence-final position in internet blogs and discussion boards. The analysis shows that there are two types of sentence-final te iu ka: one used for adding supplementary information and the other for mitigating the preceding statement. The present study also discusses processes through which te iu ka is placed in the sentence-final position. When sentence-final te iu ka is used to add supplementary information, the placement of te iu ka in the sentence-final position is caused by right dislocation. When sentence-final te iu ka is used for mitigation, it is caused by the omission of the B component in A te iu ka B. The present study contributes to the existing literature by offering the notion of two different formation processes of sentence-final te iu ka, which also affect its pragmatic functions.

Inference-embedded yes/no interrogatives in Mandarin Chinese conversation

In talk-in-interaction, the details of the design of a yes/no interrogative (YNI) index the speaker’s epistemic stance about the issue in question. Adopting conversation analysis as the research method, the present study examines the interactional deployment of inference-embedded YNIs in Mandarin Chinese. The analysis of the turn designs and sequential environments of these interrogatives, as well as the design of the responses to them, indicates that a sequence organisation is engendered in and through the production of inference-embedded YNIs. Since the recipient has epistemic primacy over what is questioned, the questioner’s inference embedded in YNIs may be congruent or incongruent with the recipient’s own state of affairs. In this respect, the questioner’ s inference may be right or wrong. If the recipient finds that the inference is wrong, he or she has the responsibility to execute correction of the questioner’s wrong inference. Indeed, the recipient does display his/her treatment of the inference as wrong through correction. It is through such reflexive connection between the production (action formation) and the interpretation (action ascription) of the YNI that the inference-embedded YNI is treated as a practice for projecting a correction of what is inferred to the question recipient.

Teasing and claims to non-serious intent in Chinese talk shows

While teasing can sometimes cause offence, the limits of what counts as acceptable teasing is a function of the localised sequential environment and broader socio cultural context in which it occurs. In this article, we examine the sequential and moral implications of claims to non-serious intent in teasing sequences arising in television talk shows. Drawing from an analysis of over 28 hours of variety shows broadcast in Mainland China and Taiwan, we examined 25 sequences involving claims by participants to be ‘kidding’ (kaiwanxiao). From this analysis it emerged that claims to be ‘kidding’ are used in these contexts to: (1) disclaim any (potential) offence caused through teasing, (2) signal a return to serious talk following teasing, (3) reproach the other for teasing that is construed as going too far, (4) and boost the humorous impact of self-boasting in response to teasing. While the first two are consistent with the usage of equivalent expressions in other languages, the latter two have not been identified in studies to date, thereby underscoring the importance of studying jocular forms of teasing in different linguistic and sociocultural contexts.

Absent appreciation in Mandarin Chinese interaction

When receiving something beneficial, interlocutors are expected to express their appreciation in the second pair part (SPP) or the sequence-closing third position with linguistic resources such as ‘thanks’ and ‘thank you’, thus forming an adjency pair or a complete sequence. However, under some circumstances, relevant or appropriate appreciation is expected but does not appear. Adopting conversation analysis as the research methodology, this article examines the absence of appreciation in ordinary Mandarin interactions where gratitude and appreciation are often socially prescribed. Its sequential analysis of talks demonstrates that at times a verbal appreciative response in situations such as offering and requesting does not occur until a later conversational turn rather than in the preferred second pair part, whereas at other times the social action, although expected, is actually absent in social interaction. The analysis of the data shows that when interlocutors transgress the normative expectation of appreciation, the expected pattern of action and interactional organisation will be evidenced circumstantially within the ongoing interaction itself. The present study proves that deviations from standard forms in the interactional organisation can give rise to additional accounts or other visible interactional behaviour.

Pragmatics in Chinese Culture (3rd edition) Guanlian Qian (2020)

Pragmatics in Chinese Culture (3rd edition) Guanlian Qian (2020) Tsinghua University Press

Linguistic impoliteness in a polite society

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indexical regimentation of a male youth style in Japanese

This study explores how metapragmatic discourse denies the potential of a set of linguistic features to be recognised as a legitimate polite style. Examining the ways male students employ a new Japanese speech style involving su, the shortened form of the polite copula desu, and lay people’s evaluations of the style on a Q&A website, I demonstrate that the style’s multiple social meanings in local interactions are reduced in the mediatised website discourse. The analysis shows two main approaches to refuting the politeness of the style. One approach narrows the meanings of the style by positioning the style and its speakers as inferior to the polite style and polite speakers. The other approach reduces the style’s politeness by assigning it a humorous stance through stylised mocking. The findings suggest that the metapragmatic discourse serves to manage two culturally important boundaries between the polite/plain styles and hegemonic/subordinate masculinities.

Your politeness is my impoliteness

It is often noted that usage of Japanese honorifics has been changing over the years (see, for example, Keigo no Shishin ‘Guidelines on honorifics’, Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyujo 2007), Yet, ‘average’ Japanese adults are expected to use honorifics correctly, observing their rules, or grammar. But do they all share the same understanding of honorific rules, especially given the ongoing change in usage? If they do not, why? What are its consequences? To address these questions, this study examines native speakers’ metapragmatic comments on honorifics expressed in blogs. In particular, it focuses on their understandings of grammatical categories and indexical meanings of honorifics – a topic largely understudied. The analyses show wide diversity in the interpretation of same honorific forms, including contrary interpretations concerning politeness, which is highly related to the divergent understandings of honorific categories, the ambiguity of concepts such as respect and politeness, and language ideologies that mediate honorific forms and their meanings.

Referential and non-referential (im)politeness

Honorifics are non-referential indices that are generally understood as polite linguistic forms. Why do speakers use honorifics when they express a face-attacking referential message? Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) explains that the use of honorifics is a negative politeness strategy that mitigates an FTA (face-threatening act). However, the reason why honorifics co-occur with a face-attack probably involves more than mitigating an FTA. This article deals with a case of institutional impoliteness by examining a Japanese company’s new employee orientation discourse. This is a context in which impoliteness is ideologically legitimised and often deployed. At the same time, the goal of the orientation is to train new employees to behave in an extremely polite manner. By qualitatively analysing the speech of the trainer of a new employee orientation, this article concludes that the trainer’s use of honorifics while attacking the positive face of the new employees is a way of resolving the conflicting demands of a Japanese company. This article contributes to (im)politeness research in that it points to the importance of distinguishing referential and non-referential (im)politeness.