This study examines self-praise, a prevalent speech act frequently observed in both routine conversations and social media contexts, where it may be encountered more regularly due to its potential to violate politeness norms and threaten another's face. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research analyzed 200 self-praise posts randomly selected from Hupu, a platform predominantly used by male users, and Xiaohongshu, primarily frequented by female users. The primary focus of this investigation was to explore the gender-based differences in the pragmatic strategies employed for self-praise on online social platforms. To strengthen the findings, semi-structured online interviews with users were conducted, enabling a triangulation of data sources. The results indicate that both male and female users consistently prefer implicit self-praise strategies, with 62.3% of male and 50.6% of female users adopting this approach. However, notable disparities emerge in the motivations underlying these strategies: female users exhibit heightened concern for personal privacy and are influenced by traditional values emphasizing modesty, whereas male users are more significantly influenced by psychological factors, such as vanity and the pursuit of fame and fortune. This study highlights the importance of cultural and psychological factors in shaping gendered self-praise behaviors in the digital realm, underscoring the need to consider these factors in future studies on self-presentation in online spaces. It also points to the influence of broader social phenomena, such as network group psychology, on self-presentation strategies, emphasizing the interaction between individual psychological drivers and the social dynamics of digital communication.
Given the relative scarcity of research on the identities constructed by parents from a discursive perspective, this article explores how parents construct their pragmatic identity in family discourse. To this end, the authors chose the couples Luo Su and Bi Shengnan in Tiger Mom and Cat Dad and Bob Duncan and Amy Duncan in Good Luck Charlie as the subjects. Based on Chen's (2013) analytical framework, discursive practices concerning identity construction were analyzed in the two couples' parent-child conversations. A comparative study was then conducted on the identity construction between the Chinese parents and their American counterparts. Applying thematic discourse analysis to identify, analyze, and report patterns within data, this study finds that speech act, deixis, discourse content, discourse features, grammatical choice, and style are discursive practices employed in identity construction. Using these devices, the two couples construct three types of pragmatic identities: instructive parent identity, authoritative parent identity, and amiable parent identity. In addition to the three common identities, Luo Su and Bi Shengnan construct a utilitarian parent identity while Bob Duncan and Amy Duncan construct a narcissistic parent identity. Besides the descriptive study, this article also attempts to explain why Chinese parents and American parents construct similar and/or different identities.
This paper explores how hospitality is practised in community-based shouten (small grocery shops) in Japan, where staff and regulars are often acquaintances living in the same local community. It focuses particularly on the participation of third parties, who are co-present in the compact “conversation-hearable space” of shouten, in remedial work following transactional mistakes regarded as triggering events. Based on Goffman's participant framework, it analyses how the third parties contribute to shaping hospitality by: 1. evaluating a triggering event, 2. inducing humour from a triggering event, and 3. being drawn into the remedial work as if one were a ratified recipient. In conclusion, it suggests that spatial compactness and familiarity, which allow co-present individuals to overhear and follow a conversation, enable individuals who were initially third parties during triggering events to participate in remedial work, noting a retrospective way to treat an unratified overhearer as a ratified recipient.
Utilising a self-compiled corpus of political interviews broadcast in English on CGTN's The Point with Lin Xin, the present study investigates the frequency and function of the discourse marker (DM) "but" employed by interviewees (IEs) from a socio-pragmatic perspective. Quantitative findings reveal statistically significant disparities in both the frequency and specific functions of the DM "but" utilised by IEs in divergent socio-pragmatic categories (e.g., cultural and linguistic features), and the qualitative analysis illustrates the multifunctionality of the DM "but". Specifically, the study identifies functions such as contrast, topic, addition, concession, specification, monitoring, reformulation, conclusion, and approximation. IEs from the western culture and native English-speaking IEs use this marker, the "contrast" function, and the "ideational" domain statistically more than their counterparts, suggesting that cultural and linguistic backgrounds are potential factors influencing IEs' deployment of the DM "but" in political interviews, advancing our understanding of how sociocultural factors shape the use of DMs. The findings have significant implications for the field of pragmatics and political communication, highlighting the importance of considering cultural and linguistic contexts in the analysis of political discourse.
This study investigates the act of requests in email communication between students and faculty within the Vietnamese university context. The data consists of 298 emails, collected from 149 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at a public university in southern Vietnam over three consecutive semesters within approximately 2 academic years. The instruments included two situations ranging from low to high imposition. The data were analyzed using the move structure analysis framework proposed by Chen (2015). Meanwhile, some new categories were also developed based on the collected data. The results indicate that the emails elicited in both situations were quite similar in terms of concrete subjects, informal openings, and formal closings. It was interesting to observe a mismatch in the level of formality between the opening and closing remarks. Request strategies and request support differed greatly from low- to high-imposition situations. Direct strategies in combination with supportive moves including apology and commitment were more common in low-imposition requests while indirect strategies coupled with such supportive moves as gratitude and seeking alternative solutions were predominant in high-imposition requests. The study contributes to the understanding of linguistic characteristics in student-faculty email communication while offering pedagogical implications for EFL contexts. The study also provides insights into the current state of pragmatic research in East and Southeast Asia.
This study examines the interplay between gender and language use in Japanese online communication, focusing on reader comments on news articles. It investigates the frequency of participation, comment length, and (im)politeness strategies employed by female and male internet users. The findings indicate that there are no substantial gender-based differences in these online comments. The female and male participants exhibit similar levels of activity; the impoliteness strategies examined are observed in comments from both gender groups, and the female participants often do not adhere to traditional sociocultural norms and expectations associated with "women's speech style." However, women do appear to differ from men by using fewer and milder impoliteness strategies. In this specific aspect, they seem slightly more polite than men. The findings also suggest that topic may be a more significant factor than gender in driving impoliteness, especially for topics that activate ingroup/outgroup identities.
While there has been a growing body of research on vague language conveying unspecific meaning, there is a dearth of studies that specifically examine the use of vague and indefinite deixis referring to definite referents. This study investigates the variation of the Chinese vague deixis "renjia" in referring to definite targets, and explores the functions for an interlocutor to use this mock vague deixis instead of specific pronouns. Based on an analysis of 270 posts on Chinese Weibo, this study revealed that "renjia" referred not only to other people, but also to non-human entities and oneself. The findings showed that "renjia" performed a range of relational acts, with distinct preferences depending on the referent. The use of "renjia" adeptly modulates social proximity and interpersonal relationships by fostering solidarity while also establishing distance. This study contributes to the understanding of mock vague deixis on social media.
This study explores the interactive role performed by the Korean preface ani kuntey in turn-initial position. Based on our data, we argue that ani kuntey functions to display epistemic independence ( Heritage, 2002 ) in response to assessments and informing. Past research on ani(“no”)-initiated turns in Korean ( Kim, 2013 ) has affirmed that ani prefaces may be used to resist the propositions or challenges conveyed by the prior turn(s). The current study demonstrates that when ani(no) is used in combination with kuntey (but), the consecutive uses of negations (“no” followed by “but”) following a prior assessment or telling displays the speaker's independent epistemic position. We argue that the key functions of turn-initial ani kuntey in Korean are to convey independent yet aligning contributions to the ongoing talk. The findings of this study may contribute to prior research on conversation analysis regarding the relevance of epistemics in understanding the role of grammatical features (i.e., turn-initial particles) employed in interaction and cross-linguistic studies on turn-initial prefaces.
This review article examines research on attentiveness, which is defined as a pre-emptive response to a potential recipient's verbal/nonverbal cues or situations surrounding a recipient and a demonstrator, taking the form of offering. Attentiveness is taken up as a significant interpersonal notion in the field of recent politeness research. This study aims to survey the retrospect and prospect of attentiveness research from the following dimensions: (1) some key concepts (including the condition for attentiveness to arise and some motives to demonstrate attentiveness), (2) major themes (emic understanding of attentiveness and its related concepts, demonstration, and evaluation of attentiveness), and (3) research orientations and research instruments. Finally, it is also suggested that future research on attentiveness could include both emic and etic approaches in many more languages/cultures.
This study investigates the use of kinship terms for addressing family members among native speakers of three Northeast Asian languages: Chinese, Korean and Japanese. A comparative analysis was performed with responses from an online survey on how respondents address their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, focusing on similarities and differences across these languages. The findings indicate that Chinese speakers adhere most closely to traditional norms in using kinship terms to address elder relatives. Japanese speakers demonstrate greater flexibility in their address practices, especially towards their uncles and aunts. Korean speakers exhibit slightly more flexibility than Chinese speakers, but less than the Japanese. Our findings align with the broader tendency of using kinship terms to address senior kin. However, the extent of adherence exhibits variations in each language, reflecting the distinctive perspectives of speakers on interpersonal relationships and their linguistic approaches to them.
This study explores limao ((sic)(sic)), Chinese politeness, focusing on interactions among insiders who often deviate from traditional norms of tactfulness and discretion. The paper analyses the strategies of a woman director of a neighbourhood committee who alternates between being discreet and confrontational with face-attacking remarks. Despite instances of her rudeness, she remains well-liked by residents. Her success is attributed to creating insider status through "interpersonal anaphora" (Chan, 2000), such as switching from nin ((sic), vous) to ni ((sic), tu), using kinship terms and the inclusive pronoun zan ((sic)). These strategies transform her rudeness into "rapport" impoliteness. The study concludes that Chinese limao is selective and conditional: it is a formal performance with outsiders, while honesty often takes precedence over adherence to the norms with insiders.
Previous studies in the domain of (im)politeness have extensively examined face-threatening acts, face redressive actions, and impoliteness strategies. Nevertheless, there is a need for more studies on the implementation of strategies related to self-oriented face-saving in response to face-threatening acts. Adopting a qualitative research methodology, this study attempts to bridge this gap by investigating the self-face-saving strategies utilised by the interviewees on the Yang Lan One-on-One show. Key findings demonstrate that interviewees employ a diverse range of strategies, with notable differences observed in the strategies used by male and female guests. The study also highlights the dual audience dynamics - the interviewer and the public - necessitating a more nuanced approach than might be observed in private interactions. This research contributes to the broader understanding of (im)politeness strategies in non-Western contexts and offers valuable insights into the complexities of managing face in public discourse.
Acquiring pragmatic competence poses significant challenges for Japanese language learners. In Indonesia, university students now have the opportunity to enter an internship program at selected companies, including placements in Japan. This immersion allows students to experience the language and culture firsthand. This study explores how such experiences affect the pragmatic competence of Indonesian learners of Japanese. Despite the difficulties in achieving native-like proficiency, internships provide valuable exposure to the target language and culture. Using a qualitative approach, this study analyzed conversations between native speakers and Indonesian learners who participated in internship programs in Japan to investigate "interlanguage pragmatics." The focus was on understanding how learners use Japanese discourse markers. The study involved 165 minutes of recorded interview conversations with 11 pairs of participants and native Japanese speakers. The analysis, based on Nakajima's theory, showed varied use of discourse markers among students based on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Those with minimal interaction with native speakers demonstrated lower usage and minimal communication skills. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of immersive experience in developing pragmatic competence in language learners.
This study uses interactional sociolinguistics to analyze requests produced by American learners of Japanese during mealtime conversations in a Foreign Language Housing immersion program. Attention is given to the use of politeness strategies and honorifics during requests and to how their use may or may not encourage learning through unstructured social conversations. The analysis illustrates how honorifics are used for social activities, such as doing humor, and how a tendency to focus on accomplishing transactional goals can encourage the use of a variety of request formulations but may also lead to missed opportunities for correction and feedback. One reason for this is that participants are largely concerned with socializing with other residents and accomplishing low-risk transactions, and as such unstructured immersion environments are not natural settings for doing requests that involve more serious use of honorifics and politeness. Some implications for structuring immersion programs are discussed, including role play, one-on-one interaction, and balancing the use of participants' base language.
Japanese tea ceremony, or chad & omacr;, is a revered form of traditional culture. It embodies a synthesis of the arts, including cuisine, calligraphy, and flower arrangements. Like many hospitality traditions, chad & omacr; has experienced a decline despite its cultural significance. This decline may be partially due to factors such as the high cost of participation and substantial time commitment. Additionally, misconceptions and misunderstandings about chad & omacr; persist in the general public and within some scholarly communities, largely because of limited access to chad & omacr; classes and activities to deepen understanding its objectives and expectations. This study aims to illustrate the interactional organization and types of learnables accomplished through the pragmatic power of gesture, talk, and objects in beginning-level chad & omacr; lessons. Using a combination of ethnographic field notes and video recordings of chad & omacr; lessons, this study aims to (a) demonstrate the connection between temae, or tea procedure instruction and the concept of omotenashi (hospitality) and (b) illustrate three types of learnables and correctables that emerge in temae instructions.
This study explores how speaker identity emerges in interactions within kodomoshokud & omacr; (children's diners) in Japan, focusing on the speech patterns of Chikako Nakamoto, who operates Motomachi no Ie in Hiroshima prefecture, providing meals and support to juveniles in special circumstances. The data are primarily drawn from a documentary capturing Nakamoto's interactions with children and minors who come to eat. The study analyzes routine phrases and shifts between dialect, standard variety, and honorifics in Nakamoto's speech. Through qualitative analysis, this study reveals how Nakamoto's unique linguistic practices contribute to her identity as Bacchan ("Granny") and create a supportive environment. The findings illuminate the complex interplay between language, identity, and local communicative contexts in kodomoshokud & omacr;, demonstrating how nonstandard speech can foster intimacy and authenticity in these community-based food-sharing spaces.
At Japanese yakiniku-style restaurants, customers grill meat at the table and then often offer it to each other. Such offers are a form of recruitment-the outcome of various interactional methods for eliciting or soliciting involvement. Drawing on multimodal conversation analysis, this study focuses on sequences of lingua franca English talk between three Japanese people and their French guest in one such restaurant setting. The analysis explores dual involvements in which food-related offers are interactionally backgrounded in deference to primary talk about other topics. The cooking party times their offers to gaps in the primary talk, sometimes delaying the offer to insert it at a sequentially favorable juncture to better mobilize acceptance from the recipient. The study provides insight into the integrated roles of temporality, embodiment, materiality, and participation in the mundane, yet finely coordinated, accomplishment of attentiveness to the needs of others during table-cooked meals.
