A contrastive study of Japanese discourse viewed through cultural attitude and language expression

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520498
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese linguistics
• Research Institution: Shinshu University
• Principal Investigator: OKI Hiroko 信州大学, 学術研究院人文科学系, 教授 (30214034)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NISHIO Junji 大阪府立大学, 人間社会学部, 教授 (60314340)
• Research Collaborator: KANG Suk-Woo 韓国カトリック大学, 東アジア言語文化学部, 教授 ; ZHAO Huamin 北京大学, 外国語学院, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 談話 / 発想と表現 / 依頼談話 / 日韓中対照研究 / 終助詞 / 文法体系

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research compared the development of request discourse in Japanese and Chinese from the perspective of the mode of thinking. The differences could be observed in terms of 4 layers: an actuality; an attitude; a macrostructure of information and an expression. The Japanese requests collected in the research included less information about what the speaker wanted and were expressed indirectly. This was explained as a consequence of the Japanese belief that request acts can risk damaging a relationship. Indirect expressions with less content are regarded as polite since they do not disturb the impression that people have a strong mutual respect for one another’s feelings. For Chinese people, on the other hand, it was found that request acts have a more positive value insofar as they bind people together. Requests are therefore regarded as polite when clear and precise because this makes it easier for the listener to fulfill the request.

Free Research Field

日本語学・日本語教育学