Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Politeness Strategies Used In Invitations In Japanese, Natsuko Llewellyn

Dissertations and Theses

This study explored how Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) utilize politeness strategies compared to native speakers of Japanese (J1) in invitation discourses within the framework of Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP). Invitation is one of the speech acts that requires careful consideration when conveying speakers' intentions through speech. It is assumed that JFL will struggle with appropriately inviting friends in different cultures while utilizing the politeness strategies in their invitation discourse in Japanese. Szatrowski (1993) revealed that there are thoughtful utterances to each other, the discernment utterance by the inviter and considerate utterance by the invitee, in the Japanese invitation discourse. Native …

A Study Of Small Talk Among Males: Comparing The U.S. And Japan, Chie Furukawa

Dissertations and Theses

This study seeks to understand the social interaction of small talk in two different countries. Defining small talk as 'phatic communion' and 'social talk' as contrasted to 'core business talk' and 'work-related talk,' Holmes (2000) claims that small talk in the workplace is intertwined with main work-talk. Small talk can help build solidarity and rapport, as well as maintain good relationships between workers. Much of the research on small talk has been focused on institutional settings such as business and service interactions; thus, there is a need for research on non-institutional small talk between participants without established relationships.

This study …

The Role Of Compliment Topics In Compliment Response, Hiroko Katsuta

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the role of compliment topic by analyzing compliment responses by Japanese and American college students. Compliment responses can be seen as solutions for maintaining a balance between (1) a preference to avoid self-praise and (2) a preference to accept or agree with the compliment (Pomerantz 1978). Building on studies showing that response strategies can be influenced by compliment content and context, the study analyzed responses to compliments on ability, achievement, belongings, appearance, and personal characteristics by determining the subjects' choice of response strategy--categorized as acceptance, avoidance, or rejection--for each compliment topic. Compliment responses were elicited in a …

Cross-Cultural Differences In Written Discourse Patterns : A Study Of Acceptability Of Japanese Expository Compositions In American Universities, Hiroko Kitano

Dissertations and Theses

Since Kaplan started the study of contrastive rhetoric, researchers have investigated Japanese and English compositions and have found some differences between them. However, few studies have investigated how these differences are perceived by native English readers when the different rhetorical patterns are transferred to English writing.

Drawing from Hinds' study, this research focuses on the following: how the Japanese style of writing is evaluated by Japanese and American readers, especially in academic situations, how Japanese rhetorical patterns are perceived by American readers, and how a change of organization affects the evaluation by American readers.