Face, Communication and Social Interaction - Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini
4. Analysing Japanese ‘face-in-interaction’: insights from intercultural business meetings
Face, Communication and Social Interaction - Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini
Yasuhisa Watanabe [+]
University of Melbourne
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Description
In this chapter, we undertake an analysis of how face arises in the interactional flow of an intercultural business meeting involving Analysing Japanese ‘face-in-interaction’ 79 Japanese and non-Japanese members of a Japanese firm based in Australia. While this meeting involved a mixture of English and Japanese, we argue that the overall tenor of the interaction is firmly oriented towards Japanese norms of interaction, which are both constitutive of, and enacted through, interaction in the course of this meeting. It is thus suggested that through this analysis we can gain insight into how face in (Modern Standard) Japanese is interactionally achieved, in the conversation analytic sense of the ‘conjoint, non-summative outcome’ of two or more persons (Arundale, 2006: 196). However, it is also acknowledged that projectings or interpretings of face in interaction are not always interactionally achieved. The term ‘face-in-interaction’ is thus proposed to encompass projectings and interpretings, as well as interactional achievings, of face through interaction. The chapter begins with an overview of our understanding of face building upon previous work, before briefly discussing the methodological background of this study. An analysis of four key incidents involving face from our data is then undertaken, before drawing together some implications of this study for theories of face and facework.