Requests and Culture: Politeness in British English and Japanese

Table of Contents......Page 10
List of Tables......Page 16
List of Figures......Page 18
1.1. Introduction......Page 20
1.2. Contextualising This Study......Page 22
1.4. Conclusion......Page 24
2.1. Introduction......Page 26
2.2. Definitions of Politeness......Page 27
2.3.2. The Conversational-maxim View......Page 29
2.3.3. The Face-saving View......Page 37
2.3.4. The Conversational-contract View......Page 47
2.3.5. The Theoretical Position of This Study......Page 48
2.4.1. Face and Universality......Page 49
2.4.2. Evaluation of Criticisms......Page 54
2.5. Conclusion......Page 61
3.1. Introduction......Page 64
3.2. Requests and Speech Act Theory......Page 65
3.3. Indirectness in Requests......Page 67
3.4. Types of Requests......Page 69
3.5. Payoffs of Different Types of Requests......Page 73
3.6. Structures, Forms and Categories of Requests......Page 75
3.7.1. Relationship of Variables and Requesting Strategies......Page 77
3.7.2. Components of Variables......Page 80
3.7.3. Variables Included in This Study......Page 86
3.8. Responses to Requests......Page 90
3.9. Conclusion......Page 100
4.2.1. Definitions of Culture......Page 102
4.2.2. The Anthropological View......Page 105
4.2.3. Problems Concerning Culture......Page 108
4.3. Collectivism-Individualism......Page 110
4.3.1. Definitions......Page 111
4.3.2. Criticisms......Page 113
4.3.3. Features of Collectivism and Individualism......Page 114
4.3.4. A Brief Summary of Collectivist Cultures and Individualist Cultures......Page 122
4.3.5. Japanese Culture and British Culture: Collectivist or Individualist?......Page 123
4.4. Conclusion......Page 126
5.2. Research Questions......Page 128
5.3.2. Hypotheses of Requesting Strategies......Page 131
5.3.3. Hypotheses of Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 133
5.4. Review of Methods for Data Collection......Page 134
5.4.1. Naturally Occurring Data......Page 137
5.4.2. Elicited Data......Page 138
5.5.1. Method of Data Collection......Page 142
5.5.2. Instruments......Page 152
5.5.3. Subjects......Page 156
5.5.4. Procedures......Page 158
5.5.6. Translation of the Instruments......Page 160
5.6.1. Situational Assessment......Page 164
5.6.3. Correlation between Situational Assessment and Requesting Strategies and Correlation between Situational Assessment and Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 165
5.7. Conclusion......Page 166
6.2. Results of Situational Assessment......Page 168
6.3. Results of Requesting Strategies......Page 170
6.4. Results of Correlation between Situational Assessment and Requesting Strategies......Page 172
6.5. Results of Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 174
6.6. Results of Correlation between Situational Assessment and Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 176
6.7. Conclusion......Page 178
7.1. Introduction......Page 180
7.2. Situational Assessment......Page 182
7.2.2. Social Distance......Page 183
7.2.3. Imposition......Page 184
7.3.1. The Choice of Requesting Strategies......Page 186
7.3.2. The Relationship between the Choice of Requesting Strategies and the Three Variables......Page 197
7.4.1. The Choice of Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 199
7.4.2. The Relationship between the Choice of Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests and the Three Variables......Page 206
7.5. Conclusion......Page 207
8.1. Introduction......Page 210
8.2. Summary of Findings......Page 211
8.2.2. Requesting Strategies......Page 212
8.3. Evaluating This Study......Page 214
8.3.1. Strengths......Page 215
8.3.2. Limitations......Page 217
8.4. Implications of This Study......Page 219
8.5. Suggestions for Further Research......Page 220
8.6. Final Remarks......Page 225
Bibliography......Page 228
1.1. Requesting Strategies......Page 246
1.2. Responding Strategies to Off-record Requests......Page 256
2.1. Pilot Study......Page 264
2.2. Situational Assessment (SA 96)......Page 280
2.3. Main Study......Page 303