It has become well recognized that affective dimensions of language constitute an integral part of the linguistic system. Japanese provides a prime example of the significance of emotivity as it has grammaticalized a wide variety of expressions to communicate affective information. The collected articles demonstrate the rich diversity of emotive communication in Japanese and analyze various expressions with theoretical perspectives that are often independent from Western models. This volume reflects the influence of traditional Japanese scholars for whom examining affective-relational aspects of language has long been a central concern. The authors are also influenced by more recent scholars in Japanese pragmatics such as Susumu Kuno, Akio Kamio, and Senko K. Maynard. They also draw on anthropological notions such as the inside vs. outside dichotomy that have been used to describe Japanese society.

Table of contents

List of contributors, vii–ix

Emotive Communciation in Japanese: An introduction Satoko Suzuki, 1–13

Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity, and Grammaticalization Rumiko Shinzato, 15–33

How Does ‘Reason’ Become Less and Less Reasonable? Pragmatics of the utterance-final wake in conversational discourse Ryoko Suzuki, 35–51

Quoted Thought and Speech Using the m itai-na ‘be-like’ Noun-Modifying Construction Seiko Fujii, 53–95 Mo than Expected: From textual to expressive with an Old Japanese clitic Charles J. Quinn, Jr., 97–137 An Emotively Motivated Post-Predicate Constituent Order in a ‘Strict Predicate Final’ Language: Emotion and grammar meet in Japanese everyday talk Tsuyoshi Ono, 139–153 Surprise and Disapproval: On how societal views of the outside correlate with linguistic expressions Satoko Suzuki, 155–171 Overt Anaphoric Expressions, Empathy, and the Uchi-Soto Distinction: A contrastive perspective Kaoru Horie, Miya Shimura and Prashant Pardeshi, 173–190

Territory of Information Theory and Emotive Expressions in Japanese: A case observed in s hiranai and w akaranai Kiri Lee, 191–207

Embedded Soliloquy and Affective Stances in Japanese Yoko Hasegawa, 209–229 Index, 231–234