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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 1157

Part of Session 114: Linguistic Identity Constructions in the Japanese Workplace (Other abstracts in this session)

Identity Constructions and Politeness in the Japanese Workplace Discourse

Authors: Geyer, Naomi
Submitted by: Geyer, Naomi (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States of America)

This paper investigates ways in which various social and discursive identities are linguistically constructed in the Japanese workplace, and explores how participants’ identity construction is related to facework and politeness.

Research on workplace discourse has investigated how gender and/or leadership identities are constructed in interaction (e.g., Baxter 2008, Holmes 2006, Holmes & Stubbe 2003, Takano 2005).  Most of these studies were concerned with the balance between power and politeness, since superiors tend to display their authority while maintaining good relationships by paying attention to others’ face demands.  For instance, Takano (2005) demonstrates how female professionals construct multiple identities utilizing various linguistic resources associated with negative/positive politeness strategies.

However, social identities displayed in workplace discourse are not limited to gender and leadership identity. In fact, beyond the studies on workplace discourse, research in identity ascription and membership categorization analysis (e.g., Antaki &Widdicombe 1998, Egbert 2004) explores diverse social identities, discursive identities, and membership categorizations negotiated in discourse.

Developments in discursive approaches to politeness in the past decade (e.g., Geyer 2008, Mills 2003, Watts 2003) indicate that politeness can be negotiated by interactants, and that it evolves continually throughout the course of interaction. Such views question a priori associations between linguistic resources and negative/positive politeness strategies. 

In light of these realizations, it is necessary to reexamine the relationship between identity (in its varied formations) and politeness (as a discursively constructed phenomenon).  This paper intends to approach this issue through the examination of Japanese workplace discourse. 

The study examines discourse data from 3 faculty meetings at Japanese secondary schools, exploring the linguistic construction of participant identities and the relationships between identity construction and politeness.  The range of investigated identities includes participants’ identity traits (e.g., gender), site-specific roles (e.g., chair person), as well as action-oriented discursive identities (e.g., speaker who issues a proposal).  Through the analysis, the paper demonstrates that (1) diverse linguistic resources construct multiple identities, (2) participants’ identity and face are closely connected, (3) politeness (or appropriateness) is constructed and negotiated in relation to the identities and faces displayed in a moment-by-moment fashion in the course of interaction.

References:

Antaki, C. & Widdicombe, S., ed. (1998). Identities in Talk. London: Sage.

Baxter, J. (2008). “Is it all tough talking at the top?: A post-structuralist analysis of the construction of gendered speaker identities of British business leaders within interview narratives.” Gender and Language 2(2), 197-222.

Egbert, M. (2004). “Other-initiated Repair and Membership Categorization: Some conversational events that trigger linguistic and regional membership categorization.” Journal of Pragmatics 36: 1467-98.

Geyer, N. (2008). Discourse and Politeness: Ambivalent Face in Japanese. London: Continuum.

Holmes, J. (2006). Gendered Talk at Work: Constructing Gender Identity through Workplace Discourse. Malden: Blackwell.

Mills, S. (2003).  Gender and Politeness.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Takano, S. (2005). “Re-examining linguistic power: Strategic use of directives by professional Japanese women in position of authority and leadership.” Journal of Pragmatics 37, 633-66.

Watts, R. J. (2003). Politeness.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.