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Title:
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An Ethnography of a Speech Act, 'Aisatsu', Across Two Speech Events, 'Nyuugakushiki' and 'Kyoojukai', at a Japanese University
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Author:
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Gregory Poole
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Surrey
, Department of Linguistic, Cultural and International Studies
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Degree Date:
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2001
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Sociolinguistics
Anthropological Linguistics
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Subject Language(s):
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Japanese
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Director(s):
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Charles Mann
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Abstract:
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This dissertation addresses the topic of the Japanese speech act, 'aisatsu', at two university social events: 'nyuugakushiki' and 'kyoojukai'. Participant observation notes and supporting written texts add an ethnographic dimension to the recorded spoken data of the two different events conducted entirely in Japanese. This study of the use of language in everyday situations measures the ways in which speech acts, and their corresponding genres, are 'framed' by the events and 'constructed' by the speakers. Japanese language both produces and is a product of social behavior, and in this case acts, genres, and events are related to macro-level discussions in the anthropology of formalized and ritual language reflecting social ideals and conventions.
Japanese has a comparative abundance of ritual language and speech levels, as do other major Asian languages such as Javanese, Hindi, Korean, Thai, and Malay. Specifically, I discuss to what extent the polite 'aisatsu' of these two speech events is used to introduce an element of social distance and political expediency in the discourse of these events, and how this language is used as a form of posturing, a kind of self-defense or 'wrapping'. The data also implies that both the social event and language performance are used to emphasize, or deemphasize, social boundaries at a Japanese university. The use of 'aisatsu' in these two events suggests that the common interpretation as 'greeting' or 'formal greeting' is perhaps too narrow, and that we need to expand the notion of this Japanese speech form to include a longer 'formal address or speech'. Likewise, the creativity of use of such a formal speech genre as 'aisatsu' shows the agency of the speakers and questions the notion that context is a determinant of language use.
Finally, this analysis of two instances of social interaction at a Japanese institution provides, in a modest way, a 'thicker description' of what it is to 'be' a member of a Japanese university.
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