Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Directives in Japanese Workplace Discourse

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Japanese at Work

Part of the book series: Communicating in Professions and Organizations ((PSPOD))

Abstract

Directives, utterances designed to get the recipient to do something, are ubiquitous in workplace discourse as well as in daily conversations, and have previously been studied in conjunction with concepts such as politeness, indirectness, entitlement, and contingency. This study investigates directive sequences observed in faculty meetings at Japanese secondary schools, focusing on three directive formulations: (1) -te kudasai; (2) directives with donatory verbs; and (3) to iu koto de. Rather than considering static social contexts unidirectionally affecting language use, this study adopts a discursive approach to directives and examines participants’ linguistic choices in issuing directives in conjunction with several interrelated factors: whether the requested action is considered routine, whether the directive is previously agreed upon, who issues the directive in what capacity, and so on.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Researchers (e.g., Martin 1975; Rinnert and Kobayashi 1999) consider the expression of the speaker’s desire (e.g., -te hoshii n desu kedo ‘I want you to do…’) and other non-conventionally indirect expressions as part of Japanese request repertoire.

  2. 2.

    Ohashi (2003, 257) translates this expression as “I make a request and I hope things go well” and analyzes its various pragmatic meanings.

  3. 3.

    See Sect. 3.3 for further discussion on –tte koto de.

  4. 4.

    Kudasaru is an other-elevating honorifics form of kureru ‘give’, while itadaku is a self-lowering honorifics form of morau ‘receive’.

References

  • Asmuß, Birte. 2007. What Do People Expect from Public Services? Requests in Public Service Encounters. Journal of Language and Communication Studies 38: 65–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asmuß, Birte, and Sae Oshima. 2012. Negotiation of Entitlement in Proposal Sequences. Discourse Studies 14 (1): 68–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, Maxwell J., and John Heritage, eds. 1984. Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum-Kulka, Shoshana. 1987. Indirectness and Politeness in Requests: Same or Different? Journal of Pragmatics 11: 131–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals of Language Usage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, Herbert H., and Dale H. Schunk. 1980. Polite Responses to Polite Requests. Cognition 8: 111–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, Haruko M. 2011. Are Honorifics Polite? Uses of Referent Honorifics in a Japanese Committee Meeting. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (15): 3655–3642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. forthcoming. Superior’s Directives in the Japanese Workplace: Are They All Strategies? In Advances in Pragmatics Research on Japanese, ed. M.E. Hudson, Y. Matsumoto, and J. Mori. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, Robert T., Karen Tracy, and Frances Spisak. 1986. The Discourse of Requests: Assessment of a Politeness Approach. Human Communication Research 12: 437–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, Cynthia D. 2011. Formal Forms or Verbal Strategies? Politeness Theory and Japanese Business Etiquette Training. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (15): 3643–3654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francik, Ellen P., and Herbert H. Clark. 1985. How to Make Requests That Overcome Obstacles to Compliance. Journal of Memory and Language 24: 560–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gagne, Nana O. 2010. Reexamining the Notion of Negative Face in the Japanese Socio Linguistic Politeness of Request. Language & Communication 30: 123–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geyer, Naomi. 2008. Discourse and Politeness: Ambivalent Face in Japanese. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, Marjorie Harness. 2006. Participation, Affect, and Trajectory in Family Directive/Response Sequences. Text and Talk 26: 515–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinemann, Trine. 2006. ‘Will You or Can’t You?’: Displaying Entitlement in Interrogative Requests. Journal of Pragmatics 38: 1081–1104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, Janet, and Maria Stubbe. 2003. Power and Politeness in the Workplace: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Talk at Work. Harlow: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, Janet, and Jay Woodhams. 2013. Building Interaction: The Role of Talk in Joining a Community of Practice. Discourse & Communication 7 (3): 275–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, Mutsuko E. 2011. Student Honorifics Usage in Conversations with Professors. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (15): 3689–3706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Kimberly. 1992. A Question of Context: Directive Use at a Morris Team Meeting. Language in Society 21: 427–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. 1986. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Tōkyō: The Japan Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Samuel E. 1975. A Reference Grammar of Japanese. New Heaven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, Sara. 2003. Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Niyekawa, Agnes M. 1991. Minimal Essential Politeness: A Guide to the Japanese Honorific Language. Tōkyō: Kodansha International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohashi, Jun. 2003. Japanese Culture Specific Face and Politeness Orientation: A Pragmatic Investigation of Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu. Multilingua 22: 257–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okada, Misato. 2008. When the Coach Is a Woman: The Situated Meaning of So-Called Masculine Directives in a Japanese Boxing Gym. In Japanese Applied Linguistics: Discourse and Social Perspectives, ed. Junko Mori and Amy Snyder Ohta, 160–187. New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto, Shigeko. 2011. The Use and Interpretation of Addressee Honorifics and Plain Forms in Japanese: Diversity, Multiplicity, and Ambiguity. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 3673–3688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rinnert, Carol, and Hiroe Kobayashi. 1999. Requestive Hints in Japanese and English. Journal of Pragmatics 31: 1173–1201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saito, Junko. 2011. Managing Confrontational Situations: Japanese Male Superiors’ Interactional Styles in Directive Discourse in the Workplace. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1689–1706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • [Shibamoto] Smith, Janet S. 1992. Women in Charge: Politeness and Directives in the Speech of Japanese Women. Language in Society 21 (1): 59–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibamoto-Smith, Janet S. 2011. Honorifics, “Politeness,” and Power in Japanese Political Debate. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 3707–3719.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunaoshi, Yukako. 1994. Mild Directives Work Effectively: Japanese Women in Command. In Cultural Performances: Proceedings of the Third Berkeley Women and Language Conference, ed. Mary Bucholtz, A.C. Liang, Laurel A. Sutton, and Caitlin Hines, 679–690. Berkeley: Berkeley Women and Language Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takano, Shoji. 2005. Re-examining Linguistic Power: Strategic Use of Directives by Professional Japanese Women in Position of Authority and Leadership. Journal of Pragmatics 37: 633–666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsutsui, Michio. 2016. To iu koto de ni tsuite no ichikōsatsu (A Thought on to iu koto de). Paper presented at American Association for Japanese Language Teachers Annual Conference at Seattle, WA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vine, Bernadette. 2004. Getting Things Done at Work: The Discourse of Power in Workplace Interaction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. Directives at Work: Exploring the Contextual Complexity of Workplace Directives. Journal of Pragmatics 41: 1395–1405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, Richard J. 2003. Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Naomi Geyer

Authors
  1. Naomi Geyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Haruko Minegishi Cook

  2. University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Janet S. Shibamoto-Smith

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

[

The point where overlap begins

]

The point where overlap ends

=

Latched utterance

(0)

Intervals within and between utterances

(.)

A short untimed pause within an utterance

.

A stopping fall in tone

,

A continuing intonation

?

A rising intonation

-

A halting or an abrupt cutoff of sound

underline

An emphatic stress

CAPS

Spoken louder

:

Lengthened vowel sound (extra colons indicate greater lengthening)

° °

Spoken softly

Hhh

Aspirations

˙hhh

Inhalations

(( ))

Comments on quality of speech and context

> <

Spoken quickly

(segment)

Uncertain transcription

( )

Transcription impossible

  1. Adapted from Atkinson and Heritage (1984)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Geyer, N. (2018). Directives in Japanese Workplace Discourse. In: Cook, H., Shibamoto-Smith, J. (eds) Japanese at Work. Communicating in Professions and Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63549-1_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63549-1_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63548-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63549-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation