The sociological significance of ‘politeness’ in English and Japanese languages — Report from a pilot study

Obana, Yasuko; Tomoda, Takako

doi:10.1080/10371399408727576

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…If we take the "barrier-breaking" function suggested by Obana and Tomoda (1994) for English politeness to index English's display of a concept of friendliness or informal consideration, then we can support their claim that such an element exists in English politeness (though not invariably connoting politeness); this also confirms Ide et al's (1992) very strong empirical result, that while 'friendliness' can be homologous with politeness in English, it is definitely not in Japanese.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

The lexical mapping of politeness in British English and Japanese

Pizziconi¹

2007

Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture

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This paper proposes the study of British English and Japanese conceptualizations of politeness by means of a measurement of the semantic domains which arguably constrain the expressive choices of speakers of these languages. Such measurement involves eliciting native speakers' similarity judgements of pairs of lexical items (metapragmatic judgements of attitudes and behaviours such as 'polite', 'kind' or 'considerate'), mapping them onto bi-dimensional spaces, and interpreting the nature of the two principal dimensions held to contribute to the distribution of the items. These findings are compared with the results of previous works on this topic. Moreover, the paper discusses issues of methodology in the treatment of data relevant to analyses that attempt to link linguistic and cultural facts, and individual and cultural representations.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

The lexical mapping of politeness in British English and Japanese

Pizziconi¹

2007

Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture

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“…For example, in a written survey of 27 British speakers of English, Sifianou (1992) found that politeness was regarded as '…the consideration of other people's feelings by conforming to social norms and expectations…' (p.88). Obana and Tomoda (1994) found in interviews with Australian speakers of English that politeness was associated with terms such as kind, friendly, considerate, humble, respect and so on, with similar results gained from a survey of American speakers of English (Ide, Hill, Carnes, Ogino and Kawasaki, 1992;Ide and Yoshida, 1999).…”

Section: Polite (Adj)supporting

confidence: 63%

“…She claims that this means that politeness is conceptualised by Japanese as means of setting barriers (according to social norms), both vertically and horizontally. Interestingly, the nuance of horizontal distance is not encompassed by dictionary definitions of the concepts of teinei and reigi tadashii, while the nuance of 'kindness' in teinei are not reflected in the responses of Japanese interviewed in Obana and Tomoda's (1994) study.…”

Section: Mibun Ya Chiimentioning

confidence: 81%

“…(social position and rank) This analysis is consistent, at least in part, with previous research about Japanese speakers' conceptualisations of teinei and reigi tadashii. Ide et al's (1992) study of concepts which correlate with the notion of teinei found that it was closely associated with keii ('respect'), kanji yoi ('feeling good'), tekisetsu(sa) ('appropriateness'), omoiyari ('considerateness', 'kindness') (see also Ide and Yoshida, 1999), while in interviews with Japanese speakers, Obana and Tomoda (1994) found the terms were associated with knowing where one stands in social interactions (wakimae or 'discernment') and keigo (honorifics), which both involve 'upward' respect (that is, showing respect towards others of higher rank or status than oneself, and modesty about oneself), as well as horizontal distance. Obana (2000: 206) goes on to argue that Japanese often associate politeness with keigo (honorifics).…”

Section: Mibun Ya Chiimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revisiting the conceptualisation of politeness in English and Japanese

Haugh¹

2004

Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication

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The issue of what in fact constitutes politeness remains a source of considerable debate amongst researchers. There is mounting evidence that although there may be common underlying elements, politeness is conceptualised differently across cultures. A comparison of the notions of politeness in English and teinei, reigi tadashii and keii hyoogen in Japanese indicates that these respective terms encompass somewhat different conceptual ranges. Politeness in English refers to showing consideration for others, and demonstrating a polished self-presentation. In Japanese, on the other hand, it encompasses showing respect (with a strong nuance of vertical respect involved) and consideration towards the position and quality of character of others, and modesty about oneself. While politeness in both English and Japanese involves showing one thinks well of others (other-oriented politeness) and showing one does not think too highly of oneself (self-oriented politeness), differences in the underlying conceptualisation of politeness give rise to different ways of expressing politeness. It is thus difficult to maintain the assumption that politeness can be defined in the same way across different cultures, although this does not necessarily preclude the identification of common elements of politeness across cultures.

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“…5 This initial gloss of 'politeness' is consistent with the results of studies investigating the views of ordinary speakers of Japanese about the notions of teinei and reigi tadashii. 6 Ide, Hill, Carnes, Ogino and Kawasaki (1992), for example, found that teinei was closely associated with 'upward' respect (kei'i), consideration and kindness (omoiyari), appropriateness (tekisetsu), and positive feelings (kanji no yoi), while Obana (1994) reported her respondents associated 'politeness' with knowing where one stands in social interactions (wakimae or 'discernment'), showing upward respect (kei'i) towards others and modesty about oneself, as well as horizontal distance.…”

Section: Conceptualising '(Im)politeness' In Japanesementioning

confidence: 99%

Emic conceptualisations of (im)politeness and face in Japanese: Implications for the discursive negotiation of second language learner identities

Haugh

2007

Journal of Pragmatics

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Learners of languages often face various dilemmas in relation to their identities in that language. In this paper, it is argued that if learners of Japanese are to learn how to successfully manage these various dilemmas in managing their identities, they need to acquire a more emically-grounding understanding of the various dimensions that can be influenced by their second language identities. Two phenomena that have received only mention in passing in relation to the discursive negotiation of identities thus far are '(im)politeness' and 'face'. An emic analysis reveals the pivotal role occupied by place in the interactional achievement of '(im)politeness' and 'face' in Japanese. It is thus proposed that the discursive accomplishment of identities is reflexively indexed through 'place' to the interactional achievement of '(im)politeness' and 'face'. This approach is forwarded in an attempt to offer greater clarity in explicating the manner in which discursive dispute over the respective 'places' of interactants can impact upon the negotiation of identities in intercultural conversation. In this way, learners of Japanese may become more empowered in their attempts to manage their second language identities.

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The sociological significance of ‘politeness’ in English and Japanese languages — Report from a pilot study

Cited by 20 publications

References 5 publications

The lexical mapping of politeness in British English and Japanese

The lexical mapping of politeness in British English and Japanese

Revisiting the conceptualisation of politeness in English and Japanese

Emic conceptualisations of (im)politeness and face in Japanese: Implications for the discursive negotiation of second language learner identities

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