Shoichi Iwasaki

The Northridge earthquake conversations: The floor structure and the ‘loop’ sequence in Japanese conversation☆

Abstract The ‘loop’ sequence refers to successive exchanges of backchannel signals, and may be understood as a locally managed turn-taking pattern. If we consider conversation as a meaningful communication process, however, this is not a completely satisfactory analysis. In order to understand the function of the loop sequence, the present paper examines the phenomenon in a unit of conversation identified as ‘unit-floor’, and shows that the loop sequence is a pattern which provides participants with an opportunity to negotiate the next floor holder, who will subsequently control and develop the floor. A loop sequence appears when the current floor holder suggests a transfer of floor, or when the current floor supporter returns a floor which has been transferred to him inadvertently, or when participants jointly produce utterances in a rapid succession (open floor). The current study further shows that the loop sequence is a behavioral manifestation and a contextualization cue of ‘mutual dependency’, and it is part of the ‘conceptual floor’ that participants invoke when entering into and sustaining a conversation. The data analyzed for the purpose of this study are four dyads, each approximately 20 minutes long, in which participants recount their experiences of an earthquake. The Japanese data is compared with comparable Thai and American English data in order to explain the cultural significance of the loop sequence.

Indexing ‘entrustment’: An analysis of the Japanese formulaic construction [N da yo N]

Japanese conversations are known to contain a large amount of unexpressed information. When a speaker speaks with elliptical information, he or she assumes that the addressee will understand what is not overtly expressed based on the knowledge that is supposed to be shared textually, personally or culturally. The addressee, on the other hand, must determine what is not being expressed overtly using such shared knowledge. At the heart of this kind of communication is the existence of trust assumed among the interlocutors. Using the term ‘entrustment’, we will examine how one particular Japanese formulaic construction, [Noun (da) yo Noun], ‘It’s Noun, you know, Noun’, indexes mutual trust to manage conversational interaction. We will argue that this meta-pragmatic awareness needs to be recognized beyond surface interactional patterns identified in conversation.