Dr. Erica Zimmerman Languages and Cultures Department United States Naval Academy

1. Dr. Erica Zimmerman Languages and Cultures Department United States Naval Academy Cultural analysis of conversation: Understanding Japanese culture as revealed through Conversation Analysis

2. Trained in the use of Conversation Analysis techniques for uncovering how language works. • Research focus • Non-native speakers of Japanese • Construction of identity in talk • Past research projects • Identity construction in conversations between Korean learners of Japanese and native speakers of Japanese • Classroom interactions of non-native speakers of Japanese Background

3. Talk is: • Sequentially ordered (methodic, not random) • Two or more interlocutors take turns • Repair occurs (false starts, requests for clarification) • Overlap occurs • Backchanneling occurs • Has a purpose (greetings, request for something, small talk, gossip, tell a story, request information). what is a conversation?

4. The examination of talk-in-interaction (naturally occurring data) • Data • Audio and Video recorded interactions • Production of very detailed transcripts of interactions • Methodology • Systematic micro-analysis of transcripts for patterns • No prior assumptions are made before examining the data. What is conversation Analysis?

5. Political speeches (presidential debates) • Institutional talk (Classrooms, businesses) • Medical profession (doctor-patient, Aphasia patients) • Goodwin (2003): Accomplishment of meaning in Aphasia • Limited vocabulary (three words: yes, no, and) • Use of gestures Practical applications of Ca

6. Segment 1: (Sacks 1992, Spring 1978, p. 757) • A: I have a fourteen year old son. • B: Well that’s alright. • A: I also have a dog. • B: Oh, I’m sorry. How does Conversation Analysis work?

7. Giving a statement followed by an evaluation: • Approval • An apology • Overall context: Landlord and potential tenant What happens in this example?

8. Moerman (1988) was the first to propose Culturally Contexted Conversation Analysis, a hybrid of CA and ethnography that provides a more contextualized analysis of talk-in-interaction Showed how context was sometimes necessary for conducting analysis How is Culturally contexted conversation analysis approached?

9. Examine the interactional practices of the participants and how this relates to the wider context • Examples of this type of study are • Thai: Bilmes (1992, 1995, 1996) • German: Kasper (2004) • Japanese: Mori (2003), Saft (2000), Zimmerman (2004) Culturally contexted conversation analysis approach to Foreign Languages

10. Analysis works line by line to examining the sequential organization of talk (i.e. what the participants are doing) Analysis looks at how the grammatical structure and context reflect cultural values (i.e. how the participants index culture in talk) How is this accomplished?

11. Boss (Japanese participant)/employee (Korean participant) on a break. Korean participant: Highly proficient speaker of Japanese The two participants work at a bar (Nomiya) in the sake division (alcohol division) One segment taken from five recordings made between these two participants. Japanese Data background

12. Boss tells a story about his experience at Korean Funeral. This story tells about the first time he was surprised by Korean culture • He describes the differences • Korean Funeral: Lively, drinking, dancing, like a wedding • Japanese Funeral: quiet, burn incense, • Employee does not challenge characterization. • Employee states their cultures are different. Summary of Japanese segment of Talk

13. Two approaches to examine culture in this example • Content of talk • Talk about culture (differences between Japanese and Korean funerals) • Sequential ordering and structure of talk • Backchanneling and overlap in my data (Ikeda, 2004) • Enacting cultural frames of reference (identity construction) • Boss/employee relationship indexed through use of desu/masu Approaching the data

14. Sound File and transcript for SKH MD5 Track1

19. Explores culture (Korean and Japanese) through conversational activity of storytelling Shows comparisons about culture (negative impressions, unresolved issues (our cultures are different)) Shows relationship boss/employee without stating this relationship with titles What happens through this telling?

20. The way people think is embedded in their language • How they see the world is found in how their language is formulated • Funeral example: manners are viewed differently as seen through the eyes of the boss • Japanese: quiet and solemn • Korean: lively and boisterous. • Construction of boss/employee relationship is found in the grammatical structure of Japanese Why do we need to know the language in order to really understand the culture?

21. Need to examine not just the content (the what) but also the construction or formulation of language (the how) for cultural differences. • How can you begin the process of learning about the language and culture of a people? • Study a language • Actively look for cultural differences in language • Listen and watch for verbal and non-verbal language behaviors different from your own Conclusions

22. Bilmes, J. (1992). Dividing the rice: A microanalysis of the mediator's role in a Northern Thai negotiation. Language and Society, 21, 569-602. Bilmes, J. (1995). Dividing the rice II: Achieving agreement. The 21st Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Discourse in Southeast Asian Languages, 16-32. Bilmes, J. (1996). Problems and resources in analyzing Northern Thai conversation for English language readers. Journal of Pragmatics, 26, 171-188. Goodwin, C. (2002). Conversational Frameworks for the Accomplishment of Meaning in Aphasia. In C. Goodwin (Ed) Conversation and Brain Damage. Oxford University Press. Hutchby , I. & R. Wooffitt. (1998) Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications. Polity Press. Kasper, G. (2004a). Participant orientations in German conversation-for-learning. Modern Language Journal, 88(4), 551-567. Moerman, M. (1988). Talking culture: Ethnography and Conversation Analysis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Mori, J. (2003). The construction of interculturality: A study of initial encounters between Japanese and American students. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36(2), 143-184. Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on Conversation, Vols. 1 & 2. G. Jefferson (Ed.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Saft, S. (2000a). Arguing in the institution: Context, culture, and conversation analysis in a set of Japanese university faculty meetings. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI. Moerman, M. (1988). Talking culture: Ethnography and Conversation Analysis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ten Have, P. (1999). Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide. London; Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Zimmerman, E. (2004). What’s in a name? Revealing social identity. In C. Dijkum, J. Blasius, & C. Durand (Eds.) Recent Developments and Applications in Social Research Methodology: Proceedings of the RC33 Sixth International Conference on Social Science Methodology. Amsterdam: Barbara Budrich Publishers. references

23. Aizuchi or backchanneling in Japanese is a common feature of talk. Let’s look at some types of Aizuchi. Now let’s listen to and look at transcript for these responses! Transcript Analysis