East Asian Pragmatics
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP
<p><em>East Asian Pragmatics</em> (EAP) focuses on language use and interpersonal interaction within and across East Asian cultures, including national cultures such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean, as well as ethnic minority, regional and other localised cultures, communities of practice, relational networks and other groupings including diasporic communities. <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/about">Read more</a>. </p>
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
en
East Asian Pragmatics
2055-7752
<p>© Equinox Publishing Ltd.</p> <p>For information regarding our Open Access policy, <a title="Open access policy." href="Full%20details of our conditions related to copyright can be found by clicking here.">click here</a>.</p>
-
'East Asian Pragmatics: Commonalities and Variations' Xinren Chen and Doreen Dongying Wu (Eds.) (2023)
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/27447
<p><em>East Asian Pragmatics: Commonalities and Variations </em><br />Xinren Chen and Doreen Dongying Wu (Eds.) (2023) <br />Routledge</p>
Book Reviews
book review
East Asian Pragmatics
Xinren Chen
Doreen Dongying Wu
East Asian pragmatics
Pragmactics
Wei Wang
Xingbing Liu
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
133
138
10.1558/eap.27447
-
Terms of address in Chinese
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/26871
<p>In this paper, we first present the rationale behind editing the present Special Issue dedicated to Chinese terms of address. We argue that conventionally speakers of Chinese prefer using terms of address in many interactional contexts, while personal pronouns – in particular the standard second person <em>ni </em>used without an accompanying term of address – are often perceived as face-threatening. We also argue that, while historical Chinese terms of address are very important to study because they influenced the development of honorifics in other East Asian linguacultures, present-day terms of address are of as much academic interest as their historical counterparts. At the end of this paper, we overview the contents of the Special Issue.</p>
Guest Editorial
terms of address
Chinese
facework
personal pronouns
terms of address
pragmatics
Dániel Z. Kádár
Fengguang Liu
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
301
308
10.1558/eap.26871
-
'Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics' Rong Chen
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/26552
<p><em>Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics</em><br />Rong Chen (2022)<br />De Gruyter</p>
Book Reviews
Book review
Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics
Rong Chen
Linguistics
Pragmatics
Xiaomei Zheng
Dengshan Xia
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
415
420
10.1558/eap.26552
-
Displaying emotion via dynamic use of address terms in Chinese family conflict talk
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/25803
<p>This paper investigates the dynamic use of address terms in accordance with the emotional state of the speaker. Analyses of data from three Chinese TV dramas about family life revealed that Chinese family conflict talk was characterised by a predominant use of full name and kinship term address. Moreover, two distinct patterns emerged regarding the use of address terms across the three conflict phases: A. (familiarised) given name/kinship term/no address – full name – full name/no address, and B. (familiarised) given name/kinship term/no address – (familiarised) given name/kinship term – (familiarised) given name/kinship term/no address. Further analysis demonstrated that this dynamic use of address terms was associated with the emotional state of the speaker. This study contributes to research on family life by shedding light on the ways in which participants use address terms dynamically in conflictual settings and at the same time on the ways in which address terms are embedded in such potentially aggravating and emotionally charged social actions.</p>
Articles
address terms
conflict talk
emotion
dynamic use
Chinese
family life
Address terms
Chinese linguistics
Jun Gao
Lirong Ma
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
333
355
10.1558/eap.25803
-
Another’s voice
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/20914
<p>This study examines the interactional functions of an evidential marker <em>-tay</em> in the Korean language. Despite the frequent use of <em>-tay</em> in everyday interactions, the role of this marker in spoken communication has not been sufficiently explored, compared to other Korean quotative expressions. By analysing telephone conversations, this study shows that <em>-tay</em> conveys not only another’s utterances but also indicates interaction-oriented functions in various contexts: as a marker of presenting evidence, detailing context in telling a story and introducing a new topic. In addition, this paper will discuss how speakers use this marker to facilitate interaction with hearers by incorporating multiple voices into spoken discourse and creating new meanings, including the “voice” of a third party and also speakers’ own “metamessages”.</p>
Articles
Interactional functions
indirect reported speech
spoken discourse
multivoicedness
quotative and hearsay evidentials
The Korean language
Linguistics
Hyunsu Kim
Duck-Young Lee
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
217
243
10.1558/eap.20914
-
The rhetorical use of 'Ni yiwei' +X? in Chinese interpersonal interaction
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/21879
<p>In this article, I explore how the Chinese-language construction <em>Ni yiwei</em> +X? (Do you think X?) is used as a rhetorical question in interpersonal interactions, which has been overlooked in the literature. I analysed 1,071 interpersonal interactions drawn from the Center for Chinese Linguistics corpus to examine the recurrent rhetorical uses of this construction. The results have revealed that <em>Ni yiwei</em> +X? has a conventionalised role in realising a range of relational acts dominated by expressives (including disagreeing, complaining and belittling), in the contexts where intersubjective or relational discrepancies have been invoked between interactants. Embracing the perspective of metapragmatics, I indicate that the rhetorical question <em>Ni yiwei</em> +X? arguably constitutes a case of metarepresentation where a thought explicitly attributed to the recipient is further embedded within a negative attitude expressed by the speaker towards the attributed thought. It is thus suggested that the rhetorical use of <em>Ni yiwei</em> +X? could be indicative of speakers’ metarepresentational awareness of the intentional states of both self and others, and hence their efforts to counter the relevant problematic situations, by tactfully holding the recipients accountable for the problems.</p>
Articles
Ni yiwei X?
metarepresentation
metarepresentational awareness
metapragmatics
rhetorical question
Chinese-language construction
Metapragmatics
Pragma-rhetoric
Hao Liu
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
193
215
10.1558/eap.21879
-
Gendering desire
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/22131
<p>This study considers the use of the multivalent casual Korean lexical item <em>ya</em> in a Korean television drama. Meanings of <em>ya</em> include “hey” and “oh!” and <em>ya</em> can convey a variety of affective connotations ranging from anger to romantic teasing depending on context and intonational contours. Exploring patterns of use of <em>ya</em>, this study highlights how the differences in intonational contour and choice of addressee are linked to valences of “forcefulness” and “failed forcefulness” that are implicated in the construction and performance of diverse youth-associated gendered styles. It argues that heteronormatively desirable masculine and feminine styles are constructed through the strategic use and non-use of <em>ya</em>. Specifically, romantically desirable femininity relies on the performance of failed forcefulness that creates opportunities for masculine-marked performances of paternal care.</p>
Articles
Korean
drama
gender
masculinity
femininity
style
youth
gender and language
Korean
masculinity
femininity
media language
pragmatics
discourse analysis
gender and language
Korean
Judit Kroo
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
167
192
10.1558/eap.22131
-
Thanks for trusting me, parent
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/22552
<p>Despite an increasing scholarly interest in doctors’ behaviour in online settings, doctors’ epistemic behaviour (i.e. how doctor employs discursive practices to deal with their side and patients’ side knowledge) in online medical consultation (OMC) is still underexplored in research. Drawing on 300 highly rated OMC cases retrieved from dxy.com, a well-known digital health consulting platform in China, this study explores how Chinese pediatricians discursively deploy different types of epistemic behaviour in OMC settings. Data analyses yield three typical types of epistemic behaviour by Chinese pediatricians: strengthening epistemic primacy, mitigating epistemic certainty and showing concerns about parents’ epistemic domain. It is argued that pediatricians conduct epistemic behaviour to win parents’ perceptions of their trustworthiness. The three types of epistemic behaviour are targeted at the three dimensions of trustworthiness – ability, integrity, and benevolence. This study could yield insightful suggestions for online doctors’ strategic choice of discursive practices to promote a trusting doctor–patient relationship and harmonious consulting atmosphere in e-health activities.</p>
Articles
Online medical consultation
trustworthiness
epistemics
discursive practices
pragma-linguistic resource
epistemic behavior
medical consultations
trust building
doctors' discursive behavior
pragmatics
discourse analysis
Xueyu Wang
Rujie Cao
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
271
289
10.1558/eap.22552
-
When two cultures meet
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/22675
<p>The present study investigated the use of strategies by Chinese learners of English and English learners of Chinese in making requests in both Chinese and English. Three factors affecting request strategies were also examined, including social power, social distance and degree of imposition. A total of 12 Chinese-speaking and 12 English-speaking students were recruited to complete Chinese and English versions of an oral discourse completion task (ODCT). Request behaviour was examined in both the subjects’ native and non-native languages. The results show that the learner and native speaker groups performed differently in making Chinese requests but employed comparable strategies in making English requests. Moreover, social distance was found to be more influential than social power and degree of imposition in making Chinese requests. However, the influence of these factors was similar in making English requests. The findings suggest that it was easier for the learners of Chinese to master English requests than for the learners of English to acquire Chinese requests.</p>
Articles
Request
strategy
Chinese
English
Pragmatics
Applied Linguistics
Chun-yin Doris Chen
Li-ying Xiaoniu Chen
Yuanshan Chen
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
245
270
10.1558/eap.22675
-
'Pragmatics: The Basics' Billy Clark
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23589
<p><em>Pragmatics: The Basics</em><br />Billy Clark (2022)<br />Routledge Press</p>
Book Reviews
Book Review
Pragmatics
Billy Clark
Pragmatics
Linguistics
Zhiyin Yu
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
291
296
10.1558/eap.23589
-
A pragmatic taxonomy of violent language in online interaction
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23659
<p>The features of mediated communication, along with those of internet language, enable cyber space to be a home for violent language, the adoption of which generally stems from the sender user’s intense emotions or malicious intentions. In accounting for the diffusion of violent language in online interaction from the perspective of cyberpragmatics and speech act theory, I deduce four major variables of violent language as target, intention, message and effect. Accordingly, the article suggests a pragmatic taxonomy of violent language in online interaction, which consists of six categories ranging from conventional violent language targeted at an individual to unconventional language which is not explicitly targeted. Analysis of the categories testifies that the use of violent language in online interaction is not confined to enemies or adversaries, but extends to people who are close to each other. In such a case, rather than ruin or undermine their relationship, violent language could maintain or even strengthen it. In addition to clarifying how to deal with internet language, the article offers some suggestions for further research.</p>
Articles
violent language
online interaction
speech act theory
convention
Applied Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Wenwen Geng
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
26
52
10.1558/eap.23659
-
“Together, we fight the virus”
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/18116
<p>This exploratory qualitative study was conducted in the summer of 2020 when Hong Kong people probably needed a substantial boost in their confidence in themselves, the government, and the future. Through the lens of metadiscourse, we investigated the way the city’s Chinese newspapers attempted the confidence boost in editorials and opinion columns – the two newspaper genres that are probably the most persuasive because of the inclusion and expression of the journalists’ and newspapers’ stance and ideologies. Drawing upon metadiscourse as the analytical framework, the article analyses the rhetoric of the discourse of 31 editorials and opinion columns extracted from five key Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. The patterns of use of metadiscourse in the two genres have been identified. The roles played by Chinese newspapers that circulated in Hong Kong while the city was undergoing one of the hardest periods in its history are discussed.</p>
Articles
metadiscourse
persuasion
newspaper genres
freedom of press
self-censorship
Journalistic discourse
Linguistics
Victor Ho
Vincy Zhang
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-06-16
2021-06-16
161
183
10.1558/eap.18116
-
A new trend in Chinese address and its theoretical implications
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/25847
<p>This study examines the factors that affect people’s impressions of chat commerce in contemporary Chinese e-commerce, where various types of address terms and related expressions are used by online shop assistants. Our survey revealed that interpersonal distance was the strongest factor influencing the favourability of chat styles. Specifically, the distant type was rated the highest, whereas the close and mixed types were rated low, although they are used in practice increasingly frequently. We argue that this overt contradiction can be accounted for in terms of two perspectives: One is the district of residence, which was the second-strongest factor in our survey, and the other is the traditional Chinese “family culture”, in which people are treated both on a generational basis and on a closeness basis simultaneously. Moreover, we also discuss that the rusty pick-up lines, which express sympathetic proximity in content, combined with reverential distance in address form, perform a “bifocal” function.</p>
Articles
Chinese address
sense of distance
bifocal strategy
chat commerce
rusty pick-up lines
address term
interpersonal pragmatics
Tingting Xiao
Masato Takiura
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
383
413
10.1558/eap.25847
-
Chinese terms of address in apology and request
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/25653
<p>The aim of the present study is to explore how Chinese terms of address are conventionally used in the speech acts of apology and request from a contrastive pragmatic angle. The study fills an important knowledge gap, considering that little attention has been paid to the use of address terms in the performance of speech acts. The research presented has the following bipartite structure. First, a multiple-choice Discourse Completion Tests (DCT) was administered to a group of young learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFLLs) and a comparable group of Chinese native speakers (NSs). The DCT results reveal that Chinese NSs use address terms significantly more frequently in realising apologies and requests compared to the Hungarian CFLLs. Following the DCT, an online survey was conducted with Chinese linguacultural insiders on the use of address terms in apologies and requests. The findings from the online survey affirm that Chinese address terms serve pragmatic functions beyond mere attention-getters in the performance of speech acts. These findings not only identify the use of address terms as a prominent pragmatic feature in the speech acts performance in Chinese, but also hold strong implications for CFL education in fostering learners’ pragmatic competence.</p>
Articles
terms of address
Chinese
discourse completion task
apology
request
pragmatic identity
Chinese as a foreign language
pragmatics
Chinese Pragmatics
Puyu Ning
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
257
382
10.1558/eap.25653
-
Exploring disclaimers on Chinese social networking sites from a metapragmatic perspective
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/24631
<p>This study explores the employment of disclaimers as metapragmatic devices in online interpersonal interaction on a Chinese social networking site, Weibo. Previous studies discussed meta-negation disclaimers and meta-prohibition disclaimers. This study establishes a new type of disclaimer: meta-condition disclaimers. It examines the forms and functions of the three types of disclaimers. Prior studies explained disclaimers as either prospective moves or retrospective moves. This study further introduces disclaimers as conjunctive moves, which bridge the speaker’s ongoing communicative behaviour. Also, it investigates the communicative purposes of using disclaimers, revealing that disclaimers are mainly employed by Chinese netizens to convey criticism. Furthermore, this research probes into the underlying cultural factors of employing disclaimers. It uncovers certain values ingrained in Chinese culture, such as <em>ren </em>(kindheartedness), <em>yi </em>(righteousness) and <em>li </em>(politeness). The study contributes to a global understanding of disclaimers and could provide some insights into online rapport management.</p>
Articles
metapragmatics
disclaimers
online social interaction
Chinese culture
rapport management
Chinese Weibo
Metapragmatics
interpersonal pragmatics
Chinese Pragmatics
Chuanqi Li
Danli Li
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-12-29
2023-12-29
10.1558/eap.24631
-
Progressivity of initial service encounters
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/24509
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Traditional <em>izakayas </em>(“pubs”) are spaces where people socially consume food and alcohol. Although ubiquitous in Japan, <em>izakayas </em>are slowly disappearing due to changing economic factors. Researchers have begun to document the sociolinguistic activities in these spaces; however, further examination of interactants’ behaviours is needed. Thus, in this study, we sociopragmatically investigated the progressivity of initial service encounters that routinely occur within the drama series <em>Shin’ya Shokud?</em> (“Midnight Diner”) from macro, meso, and micro perspectives. Specifically, we examined how interactants enter the establishment and perform direct requests and how interpersonal talk progresses. Results show that interactants perform service encounters in routine-like ways, using a variety of polite and casual expressions. Overall, the study highlights the formulaic nature of these <em>izakaya </em>performances, which are not typically observable in other contexts. Furthermore, the study supports previous research that shows how transactional and interpersonal talk are imbued in some service encounter contexts.</p>
Articles
izakaya
service encounters
transactional communication
interpersonal talk
sociopragmatics
Progressivity
Initial interactions
service encounters
Sociopragmatics
Japanese Pragmatics
Todd J. Allen
Xiangdong Liu
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-03-06
2024-03-06
10.1558/eap.24509
-
Address terms by Singapore Chinese in a multilingual context
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/25351
<p>Address terms in the Chinese context have been examined by many researchers. This paper examines address terms used by ethnic Chinese people in the multilingual context of Singapore. This study uses a sociopragmatic approach to gain a broader understanding of how the ethnic Chinese population in Singapore chooses between different languages and terms of address in different settings. It seeks to understand the underlying factors that affect one’s decision given the complex linguistic environment. The findings show that there is a diglossia situation in Singapore – a distinction between formal and informal settings (Keshavarz, 2001). In formal settings, only English and Mandarin are used, while southern Chinese dialects are used in informal settings such as with family, friends or in coffee shops. Other factors that affect terms of address include Confucian ethics of showing respect for one’s elders and people of higher positions and status as seen in Gu (1990), and in gaining favour with addressees such as sellers appealing to their customers (Liu, 2009). </p>
Articles
Singapore Chinese
address terms
multilingual
politeness
Confucian ethics
Chinese
Singapore
Multilingual context
Politeness
Confucian ethcis
Cher Leng Lee
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-09-29
2023-09-29
309
332
10.1558/eap.25351
-
On the mechanisms of presuppositions in Chinese media narratives about the Sino-US trade conflict
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/19566
<p>This study investigates whether the taxonomies of presupposition triggers, as proposed by Levinson (1983) for the English language, are applicable in Chinese-language contexts and whether any Chinese linguistic devices can be found to operate as presupposition carriers that do not easily fit Levinson’s categories. Furthermore, to explore how presuppositions function as implicit tools when it comes to shaping frames of interpretation, we analyse their use in Chinese official press narratives about the Sino-US trade conflict from March to December 2018. Findings demonstrate that most of the English-language triggers are also salient in the Chinese language. Moreover, other specific Chinese presupposition-carrying devices are discussed as well. Above all, the analysis illustrates how presuppositions fulfil various roles in the communication exchange. In a sensitive context, such as the present Sino-US trade conflict, backgrounded information in the guise of presuppositions constitutes a potentially powerful tool to influence audience uptake.</p>
Articles
Presupposition
Presupposition trigger
Sino-US trade conflict
Chinese media discourse
Presuppositions
Chinese media discourse
Presupposition triggers
Sino-US trade conflict
Language Pragmatics
Ying Xu
Lutgard Lams
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-06
2023-01-06
79
108
10.1558/eap.19566
-
Don’t call me obasan ‘aunt’
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/24964
<p>This study investigates the use of the kinship term <em>obasan </em>“aunt” as an address term in Japanese by analysing three types of data: metalinguistic discourse in online discussion; the most typical collocates for the term in a large corpus of Japanese websites; and the results of a survey of native speakers. The study demonstrates that address practices towards aunts appear to be changing. The most typically collocated adjectives and adjectival nouns with <em>obasan </em>as a term of reference in the corpus reveal an overwhelmingly negative conceptualisation of the term in contemporary contexts. The survey results show an increasing trend towards addressing aunts with their names and nicknames instead of <em>obasan</em>. The analysis shows an almost pejorative connotation of the fictive use of <em>obasan</em>, and this appears to interfere with its literal use as an address term towards actual kin, hence the decrease in its usage.</p>
Articles
address terms
kinship terms
Japanese
Pragmatics
Japanese language
Sociolinguistics
Corpus Linguistics
Japanese Pragmatics
East Asian Studies
linguistic anthropology
sociolinguistics
language ideology
Yoko Yonezawa
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
78
108
10.1558/eap.24964
-
Creative multimodal and multilingual puns as and through joint actions in Korean media interviews
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23261
<p>This study examines how participants in Korean media talk, specifically talk show interviews, interactively construct puns as and through joint actions. Going beyond puns as humorous wordplay, the study illustrates their interactional and pragmatic functions. A close examination of the sequential positions and interactional contexts of puns in 16 different interviews shows that they recurrently emerge when participants are placed, socially or interactionally, in delicate or difficult situations. Through puns, the participants not only recontextualise the local meaning of a particular target word, but also globally transform the focus and frame of the troublesome ongoing interaction, as well as managing their identities and roles in the interaction. The analysis shows that the participants creatively design puns based on Korean words as well as utilising English words, formulating multilingual puns. The study also demonstrates that puns are often accompanied, triggered or entirely performed by nonlinguistic devices (e.g. body movements, gestures, facial expressions). These multimodal resources play a key role in formulating creative puns, in understanding and responding to puns, and in diverting the trajectory of ongoing interaction.</p>
Articles
pun
multimodal
multilingual
joint action
Korean
Korean media talk
puns
Conversation analysis
interactional linguistics
pragmatics
Mary Shin Kim
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-10-24
2022-10-24
425
458
10.1558/eap.23261
-
Syllabically matched resonance in sound and category
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23404
<p>From a conversation-analytic perspective, this article describes how “creative” formulation of resonance is effectuated through dialogic engagement in Korean conversation. It examines various forms of word play and categorisation work accomplished from dialogically engaging a prior utterance, whose features are reproduced in the subsequent utterance, such that resonance arises in an array of “creative” co-construction of adjoined utterances (e.g. in creating playful word play, empathic uptake or a sonorous repetition indexing allusive stance and heightened affect). Syllabic matching figures saliently in this process, shaping resonant sound sequences whose patterning endows talk with “poetic” qualities, sometimes bearing on the organisation of sequence and topic. The findings indicate that the syllable-matching practice furnishes Korean speakers with the means to accomplish “doing being creative” in organising recognisable actions and an undercurrent of flow of talk, through having the dialogical potential of a prior utterance maximally tested, explored and expanded on in syllabic terms.</p>
Articles
conversation analysis
Korean
dialogic resonance
syllabic matching
poetics of ordinary talk
Creative Language Use in and through Conversational Joint Actions in East Asian Languages
conversation analysis
interactional linguistics
Kyu-hyun Kim
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-10-24
2022-10-24
459
493
10.1558/eap.23404
-
Multimodal amusement resonance as a conversation interactional device
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23416
<p>The incorporation of materials from the previous speaker in subsequent speaker talk has been variably characterised as repetition (Tannen, 1987), format tying (M. Goodwin, 1990), resonance (Du Bois, 2014) and so forth (henceforth “resonance”). Resonance has been shown to be a pervasive feature of everyday talk-in-interaction. This paper, with data from Mandarin Chinese and American English, shows first that resonance can manifest in multiple modalities, namely morphosyntax, prosody and embodied actions, often simultaneously. Second, it will be shown that the next speaker often does this in the service of creating an amusing effect, or conversational humour. It is proposed that multimodal resonance with amusing effects is an uplifting device in conversation that has a unique impact on the way interaction is managed. As such, investigating such a practice can further our understanding of resonance as a pervasive interactional phenomenon and how multimodality is deployed for coherent courses of action.</p>
Articles
resonance
amusement
repetition
multimodality
humour
Linguistics
Interactional linguistics
pragmatics
discourse analysis
conversation analysis
Hongyin Tao
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-10-24
2022-10-24
333
363
10.1558/eap.23416
-
Language reproduction and coordinated agency through resonant play
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23676
<p>This article examines how creativity is jointly achieved in playful Japanese conversations, focusing on dialogicality in language form, meaning and the speaker’s agency. The analysis employs “dialogic syntax” and “stancetaking” as the theoretical frameworks of dialogicality and shows that dialogic engagement in talk-in-interaction engenders resonance, creating both similarities and contrasts in parallel structure across utterances. This study points out that such differentiations come from distinctive social actors situated in the indexical field of social life. Injecting stancetaking into dialogic syntax makes it possible to explicitly address the dialogic creation of socially meaningful language reproduction in tandem with constructing the stancetaker’s agency. Moreover, dialogic syntax and stancetaking shed important light on how a playful utterance creates priming effects, prepatterning the subsequent language reproduction in resonance, and prompting stancetakers’ affect to voluntarily contribute something new, engaging with the prior utterances, which develops the play framing activity and enhances shared pleasure.</p>
Articles
agency
affect
creativity
dialogic syntax
resonant play
stancetaking
Language reproduction
Language Pragmatics
Hiroko Takanashi
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-10-24
2022-10-24
395
423
10.1558/eap.23676
-
Celebrification and viewer interaction in microcelebrities’ product promotion videos
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23827
<p style="font-weight: 400;">This study adopts virtual ethnography and discourse analysis to investigate celebrification in product promotion videos created by microcelebrities based in Taiwan. To explore the communicative functions of celebrification practices, in particular how product features motivate novel practices, this study focuses on three interrelated levels of analysis on videos and viewers’ comments collected from the microcelebrities’ YouTube channels. First, it examines how microcelebrities use multimodal resources to describe products and advertise them. It then analyses how microcelebrities present themselves via celebrification practices to project images suitable for product brands. It also examines viewers’ comments in response to microcelebrities’ self-presentation and celebrification strategies. It is argued that celebrification in product promotion videos constitutes a creative means of communication for microcelebrities to craft a self according to product features (Goffman, 1959). By highlighting salient aspects of their characters or personas, microcelebrities demonstrate their competence related to promoting products and social protocol.</p>
Articles
celebrification
interaction
self-presentation
production promotion video
celebrity discourse
Chinese media discourse
creative language
video-mediated communication
sociolinguistics
Chinese Pragmatics
Interactional Linguistics
Discourse Analysis
Chi-hua Hsiao
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-11-29
2022-11-29
307
331
10.1558/eap.23827
-
Creativity in compliment responses in Japanese everyday talk
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/24313
<p>This article explores how participants respond to compliments in Japanese everyday interactions. Even though compliments and responses (C-R) make a well-established format that contains a relatively high degree of fixedness and social and temporal restrictions, examinations of video-recorded Japanese conversation data show that a compliment recipient (Rt) handles a compliment delivered by a compliment giver (Gv) in a range of creative uses of language and the body. Focusing on negative responses that often start with iyaiya “no no”, we show that, in addition to formulaic responses, an Rt may add creative comments and/or perform embodied actions to partially accept the compliment or shift the perspective of the compliment. In short, Japanese speakers’ responses to compliments are much more creative and nuanced than previously assumed.</p>
Articles
compliment
response
rejection
self-praise
modesty
video-recorded everyday conversation
interactional linguistics
interpersonal pragmatics
Ryoko Suzuki
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-11-29
2022-11-29
365
394
10.1558/eap.24313
-
The pragmatics of creative language use in East Asian languages
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/24315
Editorial
creative language
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Chinese language
interactional linguistics
Hongyin Tao
Ryoko Suzuki
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-11-29
2022-11-29
297
305
10.1558/eap.24315
-
'Second Language Pragmatics' Wei Ren
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23895
<p><em>Second Language Pragmatics</em> <br />Wei Ren (2022)<br />Cambridge University Press</p>
Book Reviews
Book Review
Second Language Pragmatics
Wei Ren
Book Review
Pragmactics
Lina Ma
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-05-17
2023-05-17
297
299
10.1558/eap.23895
-
Politeness of Chinese-Javanese cross-ethnic communication in the Javanese Cultural Area, Indonesia
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/22415
<p>The ethnic Chinese and Javanese have lived together in the Javanese Cultural Area for hundreds of years, and use the same languages in daily life, but their tendency to apply different politeness systems can cause problems. This article investigates the politeness of Chinese–Javanese cross-ethnic communication in the Javanese Cultural Area, Indonesia. Data were collected using Discourse Completion Task and analysed using the theory of Scollon & Scollon (2001). The results show that the factors that cause differences in the application of politeness systems in the ethnic Chinese and Javanese are the realisation of strategies and the contexts of strategy use. Cross-ethnic communication that occurs in the contexts (=P–D) and (=P+D) is generally normal because both ethnicities apply the same politeness system. However, in the contexts (–P+D), (+P+D), (–P–D) and (+P–D), the two ethnic groups tend to apply different politeness systems. This is prone to cause politeness friction in cross-ethnic communication.</p>
Articles
politeness systems
cross-ethnic communication
ethnic Chinese
ethnic Javanese
Javanese Cultural Area
Dogs
Linguistics
Edy Jauhari
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
109
132
10.1558/eap.22415
-
Building interpersonal closeness in complaint responses in customer service
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23882
<p>Positioned in interpersonal pragmatics, this article examines the role of building interpersonal closeness in complaint responses in telephone interactions. Based on four extracts drawn from the data of about two hours of 15 recordings of telephone interactions between customers and the customer service agents of one Chinese airline, it reveals that the agents mainly employ six types of strategies as ways of building interpersonal closeness: alignment, compliment, affiliation, solidarity, self-disclosure and empathy. The use of these strategies, very often in combination, is intended to create and/or enhance interpersonal closeness in behavioural, affective and cognitive dimensions to facilitate complaint settlement. The findings shed light on the improvement of customer service in a more and more digitalised world. </p>
Articles
interpersonal pragmatics
interpersonal closeness
complaint responses
phone interactions
customer service
Applied Linguistics
pragmatics
Ping Liu
Huiying Liu
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
53
77
10.1558/eap.23882
-
Managing rapport through persuasion
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/EAP/article/view/23804
<p>This study analyses COVID-19 persuasive communication in the context of Chinese Weibo. Although COVID-19 has been investigated by linguistics scholars, little attention has been paid to how communication can help persuade and comfort people during the pandemic. Considering the exponentially augmented impact of digital platforms and their obvious public utility in the handling of future pandemics, it is worth studying the social media persuasive communication about COVID-19. Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, is an immensely popular platform where celebrity “influencers” shape views of the pandemic. From perspectives of relational acts and rapport management, this analysis of Chinese celebrity Weibo posts identifies persuasion at the lexical, syntactic and discursive levels to elucidate how celebrities reassure the public and manage relationships with their audience during the pandemic. The findings reveal that the celebrities use interactional metadiscourse lexicons, syntactic rhetorical devices and discursive framing strategies to maximise persuasion. This study broadens data sets of COVID-19 communications pertaining to the Chinese social media context, offers novel insights into rationales and frameworks of persuasion, and sheds light on the research of rapport management in celebrity discourse. Ultimately, it suggests that creating positive social media communication is an important goal during the pandemic.</p>
Articles
COVID-19
persuasion
social media
relational acts
rapport management
Chinese media discourse
discourse analysis
pragmatics
celebrity discourse
Linguistics
Zhipu Yang
Copyright (c) 2024 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2024-02-15
2024-02-15
1
25
10.1558/eap.23804