Explorations in Japanese Sociolinguistics: (VII:1 Pragmatics & Beyond)

Explorations in Japanese Sociolinguistics provides a treasure of information on the Japanese language and the social and cultural system it has developed and is embedded in. To the non-specialist, it opens an unknown world. To the specialist it offers theoretical and methodological perspectives aimed at avoiding the interference of myth and musing with accurate characterizations. A general introduction on Japanese sociolinguistics is followed by two case studies, one on the ethnography of ritual and address at a Japanese wedding reception, and one on the pragmatics of Japanese donatory verbs. The final chapter discusses cross-cultural contrasts and the danger of semiotic schism in Japanese-Western interaction.

Table of Contents:
1. 1. Japanese Sociolinguistics - with Special Reference to Western Research, p1; 2. 1.1. Japanese language and society, p1; 3. 1.2. Encoding social organization, p4; 4. 1.3. Social variation, p8; 5. 1.4. Language attitudes, p19; 6. 1.5. Contact between Japanese and other languages in sociolinguistic perspective, p24; 7. 1.6. Other topics in Japanese sociolinguistics, p31; 8. 1.7. Conclusion, p32; 9. 2. The Ethnography of Ritual and Address at a Japanese Wedding Reception, p33; 10. 2.1. The reception: setting, participants, activities and functions, p33; 11. 2.2. The linguistic components of ritual, p37; 12. 2.3. Hierarchical and collective signals: the contextual dynamics of designatory forms, p47; 13. 2.4. A concluding note, p55; 14. 3. Speaking of Giving: The Pragmatics of Japanese Donatory Verbs, p57; 15. 4. Cross-Cultural Contrasts, p79; 16. 4.1. Pitch, politeness and sexual role, p79; 17. 4.2. Semiotic schism in Japanese-Western interaction, p96; 18. Appendix: Background notes on Japanese concepts of family and marriage, p119; 19. Notes, p121; 20. References, p135; 21. List of Figures, Tables, Diagrams; 22. Fig.1 Simple flowchart of Japanese suffixes of address and reference, p7; 23. Fig.2 The performance and relationships of participants at the wedding reception, p36; 24. Fig.3 Corporate identification in designatory markers for the groom, p53; 25. Fig.4 Semiotic schism, p97; 26. Table 1. A comparison of speech giver's speech acts, p41; 27. Table 2. Apologetic formulae occurring at the reception, p44; 28. Table 3. Designatory markers for the groom occurring at the reception, p53; 29. Table 4. The phonational ranges of the subjects, p86; 30. Table 5. The fundamental frequency in Hz of Japanese and English politeness formulae obtained by pitch meter at the beginning and end of each utterance, p89; 31. Table 6. The fundamental frequency in Hz of Japanese and English politeness formulae obtained by spectographic analysis at the peak and end of each utterance, p89; 32. Diagram 1. Donatory forms where G is not the speaker nor belongs to the speaker's ingroup, p58; 33. Diagram 2. Donatory forms where G is the speaker or in the speaker's group, p60; 34. Diagram 3. Donatory forms where R is the speaker or in the speaker's ingroup, p63; 35. Diagram 4. Scales of implicational deference where the giver is the speaker, p76