Is formality relevant? Japanese tokenshai,eeandun

Abstract

The use of particular lexical, semantic and pragmatic elements to determine the degree of formality is well recognised. In Japanese, formality in a communicative interaction is achieved not only by the use of the appropriate speech style but also of backchannels and short responses. Three such short affirmative responses that also have different pragmatic functions in Japanese are hai, ee (also variants e and eh) and un. Hai is considered to be the most polite while ee and un decrease in degree of formality. However, when looking at real data their use is not that clearly defined. While hai is found only in formal settings, ee and un are used just as frequently in those interactions. Hence, formality or politeness alone cannot account for their use. This paper looks at the use of hai, ee and un in formal interviews, and shows that all three tokens are used frequently as answers, backchannels and discourse markers. However, their distribution is determined by the speakers’ roles suggesting that they project a particular stance and have a distinct emotive value. It appears that hai puts the content in the foreground and is therefore mostly used by interviewees while un is hearer-centered and is more frequently used by interviewers as a backchannel. On the other hand, the ee token is used by both interviewers and interviewees but has other very different functions to hai and un. The fact that these tokens originally used as affirmative tokens are now multifunctional suggests that they are going through a process of intersubjectification.

Listener response as a facet of interactional competence

“…Their analysis suggested that particular Japanese backchannels differ in their form, distribution and functionality, noting that hai (yes) promotes the continuity of the interlocutor’s topical focus while indexing a socio-pragmatic interlocutor role distinction, whereas ee (yeah) and un (uhum) function as less formal backchannels more like English “uhum”. The social dimension of the three most common aizuchi variants was, however, only partly corroborated by Tanaka (2010) who observed that hai tends to encode perceived situational formality, but does not clearly fall into complementary distribution with ee (yeah), soo (right) , or un(uhum) . It should be noted also that hai (yes) can appear as a listener response in a non-backchannel role, as it can function as an affirmative reply to an interrogative.…”

So How Do English Language Learners Use "So"?

“…Although ee does not translate to so in English, ee's function as a DM is potentially comparable to that of Move so. Ee's purpose of showing attention and interest (Tanaka, 2010) may be one of the reasons Japanese ELLs frequently produced Move so in the present study. In an attempt to make up for slower word-searching and word-production times, or to signal that they are not yet ready to give up the floor, Japanese ELLs may have employed Move so at a higher rate than the Korean ELLs and the EDSs.…”

Learning conversational dependency: Children’s response using un in Japanese

“…For example, un for backchanneling tends to be turn-initial or turn-final, and un for positive responses tends to be turn-initial (Angles et al, 2000;Togashi, 2002). Turn-final uns may serve to either emphasise or change turns (Tanaka, 2010). In summary, although classifications differ across researchers, and despite the apparent multifunctionality of un, these previous studies have shown that speakers use un to respond to its preceding utterance (either their interlocutors' or their own) and to signal their understanding, agreement, and/or acknowledgement.…”