Linguistic Emotivity: Centrality of place, the topic–comment dynamic, and an ideology of pathos in Japanese discourse Senko K. Maynard John Benjamins Publishing Company Linguistic Emotivity Pragmatics & Beyond New Series Editor Andreas H. Jucker Justus Liebig University Giessen, English Department Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10, D-35394 Giessen, Germany e-mail: [email protected] Associate Editors JacobL.Mey University ofSouthern Denmark Herman Parret Belgian National Science Foundation, Universities ofLouvain and Antwerp JefVerschueren Belgian National Science Foundation, University ofAntwerp Editorial Board Shoshana Blum-Kulka Catherine Kerbrat-Orecchioni Hebrew University ofJerusalem University ofLyon 2 Jean Caron Claudia de Lemos Université de Poitiers University ofCampinas, Brazil Robyn Carston Marina Sbisà University College London University ofTrieste Bruce Fraser Emanuel Schegloff Boston University University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles Thorstein Fretheim Deborah Schiffrin University ofTrondheim Georgetown University John Heritage Paul O. Takahara University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles Kansai Gaidai University Susan Herring Sandra Thompson University ofTexas at Arlington University ofCalifornia at Santa Barbara Masako K. Hiraga Teun A. Van Dijk St.Paul’s (Rikkyo) University University ofAmsterdam David Holdcroft Richard J. Watts University ofLeeds University ofBerne Sachiko Ide Japan Women’s University Volume 97 Linguistic Emotivity: Centrality ofplace, the topic-comment dynamic, and an ideology of pathos in Japanese discourse by Senko K. Maynard Linguistic Emotivity Centrality ofplace, the topic–comment dynamic, and an ideology of pathos in Japanese discourse Senko K. Maynard Rutgers University John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements ofAmerican 8 National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Linguistic emotivity : centrality ofplace, the topic-comment dynamic, and an ideology of pathos in Japanese discourse / Senko K. Maynard. p. cm. (Pragmatics & Beyond, New Series, issn 0922-842X ; v. 97) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Emotive (Linguistics). 2. Grammar, Comparative and general--Topic and comment. 3. Japanese language--Discourse analysis. 4. Language and culture--Japan. 5. Pathos. I. Maynard, Senko K. II. Series. P325.5.E56 L56 2002 401’.41-dc21 2002021462 isbn 9027251177(Eur.)/1588112020 (US) (Hb; alk. paper) © 2002 – John Benjamins B.V. No part ofthis book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa To Michael Contents Preface and ackowledgments xi Part 1 Preliminaries 1. Introduction 3 1. Introductory remarks 3 2. Types of knowledge and Knowledge of Pathos 10 2. Background 21 1. Studies on language and emotion 21 2. Emotion in the Japanese language 32 3. Emotion and culture 40 4. Critical assessment: Toward a negotiative theory of linguistic emotivity 47 Part 2 Theory 3. The Place of Negotiation theory 53 1. An overview 53 2. Sign 59 3. Function 63 4. Language as bodily experience 64 5. Presentation of selves 66 6. Methodology 70 4. The (re-)turn to place 73 1. Concept of basho ‘place’ in Nishida’s philosophy 73 2. Place in Japanese language studies 76 3. Bamen ‘situated place’ in Tokieda’s theory 78 4. Place and interaction 81 5. The concept of place in the Place of Negotiation theory 82 5. Locating and interpreting emotive meanings 85 1. The location of meaning and topica 85 2. Negotiation of emotive meaning in conversation 88 3. Interpreting textual emotivity 92 viii Contents 4. Interpretation and tacit knowledge 94 5. Between cognition and emotion 96 6. Topic–comment, futaku, and the Rhetoric of Pathos 101 1. The significance of the topic–comment dynamic 101 2. Rhetorical figure of futaku 106 3. Rhetoric of Pathos 111 Part 3 Emotive topics On data for analysis 117 7. Vocatives and topics 123 1. Introduction 123 2. Vocatives 124 3. Topics 137 4. Where vocatives and topics merge 143 5. Reflections 147 8. Emotive nominals 149 1. Introduction 149 2. Exclamative nominals 150 3. Nominals and sentential nominals 155 4. Emotive nominals and text genres 161 5. Reflections 163 9. Quotative topics 165 1. Introduction 165 2. Background 166 3. From quotation to topic presentation 168 4. Quotative topic as an emotive 176 5. Utterance-final tte: Assertiveness and hesitation 182 6. Reflections 189 10. Emotive nan(i) ‘what’ 191 1. Introduction 191 2. Background 194 3. Nan(i) as an anti-sign 196 4. Nan(i) and emotive meaning 203 5. Nan(i) and interactional meaning 207 6. Between interrogativity and exclamativity 210 7. Reflections 212 Contents ix Part 4 Emotive comments 11. Da and ja-nai as commentary strategies 217 1. Introduction 217 2. Background 218 3. Stativity and situationality 221 4. Informational da and emotive da 226 5. Emotive da and the telling-it-as-is attitude 228 6. Emotive ja-nai and the telling-it-against-is attitude 239 7. Reflections 245 12. Interrogatives as emotive comments 247 1. Introduction 247 2. Background 248 3. Emotive interrogatives 251 4. Emotivity of commentary questions 258 5. Stray interrogative clauses 269 6. Reflections 274 13. Commenting through stylistic shifts 277 1. Introduction 277 2. Da versus Desu/Masu 278 3. Interactional particles 292 4. Reflections 304 Part 5 Pathos in Japanese discourse 14. Analyzing expressions of pathos in Oda Nobunaga 307 1. The drama 307 2. In the cognitive place 308 3. In the emotive place 318 4. In the interactional place 326 5. Visual images and pathos in mass culture 333 15. Rhetoric of Pathos in Mini-Jihyoo newspaper articles 337 1. Introduction 337 2. Background 338 3. The topic–comment dynamic and text organization 341 4. Commentary sentences 344 5. The topic–comment sequencing in headline and text 346 6. Opening with topic and closing with conclusive comment 347 7. Sequencing of commentary sentences within danraku 352 8. Reflections: Textual pathos 354 x Contents 16. Playing with pathos 357 1. Introduction: Emotivity and aspects of self 357 2. Gendered selves and interactional selves in Long Vacation 358 3. Stylistic choice and Minami’s gendered selves 360 4. Stylistic shifts and Sena’s interactional selves 372 5. Presentation of Minami’s playful self 379 6. Vocatives and person references 386 7. Playing with pathos: A friend, a lover, or someone between 388 Part 6 Reflections 17. Linguistic emotivity and the culture of pathos 393 1. The topic–comment dynamic and the centrality of place 393 2. Linguistic emotivity and realization of the feeling self 395 3. Concept of place and Japanese discourse studies 398 4. Significance of place/space in Japanese culture 403 18. Language, linguistic theory, and ideology 409 1. Japanese language studies and linguistic ideologies 409 2. Ideology of pathos and theoretical possibilities 411 3. Beyond the boundaries of place 414 Appendix: Information on select data 419 Notes 423 References 435 Data references 460 Author index 465 Subject index 469 Preface and acknowledgments What does language communicate? What does it express? Or, what do humans do with language? Why do we, by using a system such as language, discover and locate ourselves in relation to others within cultures and societies? Why do we identify ourselves by living and experiencing the language, and how do we think and feel in it? To answer these related questions, I have studied the Japanese language primarily from the perspectives of discourse and conversation analyses. In the process I have strived to consistently analyze real-life Japanese language, part and parcel of contemporary Japanese culture, a dynamic flow that is continu- ously being produced, consumed, and interpreted. What has become increasingly clear through these studies is the significance of meaning associated with emotion. Issues surrounding language and emotion have often been discussed under the heading of the ‘‘expressive’’ function. Within this broad functional notion, I concentrate on the emotion-related meanings expressed in language, that is, ‘‘linguistic emotivity.’’ Linguistic emotivity refers to human emotions and attitudes specifically expressed by linguistic strategies of emotives. These include the speaker’s attitude toward the speech act, toward the content of what is conveyed, feelings toward partners, emotions associated with interaction, as well as the general mood, feelings, and sentiment the speaker and the partner experience and share in communication. Academically, emotion has been treated sometimes seriously, but often in convenient neglect. And as is widely recognized, the formal linguistics that has dominated linguistics in the latter half of the 20th century has consistently pushed aside and marginalized the emotional aspect of communication. At the same time, the tenet of the postmodern has, for quite some time, questioned the fundamental legitimacy of the rational thinking subject of cogito, and the subject has come to be understood as a speaking, talking, narrating, and feeling self. Given the above, this book opens up a new way of understanding language, i.e., language as sources of the ‘‘feeling self.’’ In this work, I introduce linguistics that focuses on expressivity and explores emotive