John Benjamins Publishing Company
Chapter 6. Negotiating entitlement in Japanese
Abstract
This study investigates how speakers construct their entitlement (the speaker’s right and/or capacity to perform certain actions) in requests observed in Japanese workplace discourse. It shows that the -te kudasai format frequently appears in requests originally issued by an outside entity and whose content had already been agreed upon. Other forms of request appear when issuers framed their request as their own, and these requests tend to include mitigation elements (e.g., qualification of requested actions and apologies). The study concludes that the speaker’s strong or weak entitlement to issue a request is related to the discourse participants’ understanding of institutional procedures (knowledge of duties, channels of agreement) and institutional identity (their connection to the original issuer of requests).
Abstract
This study investigates how speakers construct their entitlement (the speaker’s right and/or capacity to perform certain actions) in requests observed in Japanese workplace discourse. It shows that the -te kudasai format frequently appears in requests originally issued by an outside entity and whose content had already been agreed upon. Other forms of request appear when issuers framed their request as their own, and these requests tend to include mitigation elements (e.g., qualification of requested actions and apologies). The study concludes that the speaker’s strong or weak entitlement to issue a request is related to the discourse participants’ understanding of institutional procedures (knowledge of duties, channels of agreement) and institutional identity (their connection to the original issuer of requests).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication vii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgement xv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammar
- Chapter 1. Reason-coding in Japanese 17
- Chapter 2. Amari/anmari/anma and totemo/tottemo in history and discourse 49
- Chapter 3. The form and meaning of the dangling mitaina construction in a network of constructions 75
- Chapter 4. “Late projectability” of Japanese turns revisited 99
-
Part II. Interaction
- Chapter 5. Superiors’ directives in the Japanese workplace 125
- Chapter 6. Negotiating entitlement in Japanese 149
- Chapter 7. From subjectivity to intersubjectivity 173
- Chapter 8. Ne as an “impoliteness” (“detachment”) marker? 197
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Part III. Culture
- Chapter 9. Genre and the cultural realms of taste in Japanese, Korean, and U.S. online recipes 219
- Chapter 10. Metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech 245
- Chapter 11. Linguistic nationalism and fictional deception 267
- Chapter 12. How does a non-native Japanese literary writer dissimulate and diversify the Japanese language? 289
- Subject index 309
- Name index 311
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication vii
- Foreword xi
- Acknowledgement xv
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammar
- Chapter 1. Reason-coding in Japanese 17
- Chapter 2. Amari/anmari/anma and totemo/tottemo in history and discourse 49
- Chapter 3. The form and meaning of the dangling mitaina construction in a network of constructions 75
- Chapter 4. “Late projectability” of Japanese turns revisited 99
-
Part II. Interaction
- Chapter 5. Superiors’ directives in the Japanese workplace 125
- Chapter 6. Negotiating entitlement in Japanese 149
- Chapter 7. From subjectivity to intersubjectivity 173
- Chapter 8. Ne as an “impoliteness” (“detachment”) marker? 197
-
Part III. Culture
- Chapter 9. Genre and the cultural realms of taste in Japanese, Korean, and U.S. online recipes 219
- Chapter 10. Metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech 245
- Chapter 11. Linguistic nationalism and fictional deception 267
- Chapter 12. How does a non-native Japanese literary writer dissimulate and diversify the Japanese language? 289
- Subject index 309
- Name index 311
