Indexing ‘entrustment’ An analysis of the Japanese formulaic construction [N da yo N]

Japanese conversations are known to contain a large amount of unexpressed information. When a speaker speaks with elliptical information, he or she assumes that the addressee will understand what is not overtly expressed based on the knowledge that is supposed to be shared textually, personally or c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDiscourse studies Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 402 - 421
Main Authors Kaneyasu, Michiko, Iwasaki, Shoichi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2017
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Conversation
Formulaic language
Indexing
Interpersonal communication
Japanese language
Nouns
Pragmatics
Trust
entrustment
indexicality
Construction
formulaic expressions
pragmatics
Japanese conversation
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Summary:Japanese conversations are known to contain a large amount of unexpressed information. When a speaker speaks with elliptical information, he or she assumes that the addressee will understand what is not overtly expressed based on the knowledge that is supposed to be shared textually, personally or culturally. The addressee, on the other hand, must determine what is not being expressed overtly using such shared knowledge. At the heart of this kind of communication is the existence of trust assumed among the interlocutors. Using the term ‘entrustment’, we will examine how one particular Japanese formulaic construction, [Noun (da) yo Noun], ‘It’s Noun, you know, Noun’, indexes mutual trust to manage conversational interaction. We will argue that this meta-pragmatic awareness needs to be recognized beyond surface interactional patterns identified in conversation.
ISSN:1461-4456
1461-7080
DOI:10.1177/1461445617706592