Article published in:
Pragmatics
Vol. 20:3 (2010) ► pp. 289–313

Rapport management in Thai and Japanese social talk during group discussions

According to Hofstede’s (2003) often quoted survey, Japanese and Thai cultures rank high on the collectivist scale and both cultures attach the greatest importance to group harmony. Accordingly, we should see similar characteristics in Japanese and Thai speakers during discussions within their respective social groups. However, this is not the case. This paper examines social talk during the task-oriented interaction of Japanese and Thai speakers. The analysis focuses on how the speakers of Japanese and Thai present themselves and construct rapport in casual group talk. Using the concept of consciousness deployed in ‘idea units’ (Chafe 1980, 1994) and some semantic considerations, I identify three major differences in rapport construction between Japanese and Thai speakers. First, Japanese participants prefer to build common ground through discussion of communal topics and through dealing with the comprehensiveness and the orderliness of the situation, whereas Thai participants incline toward Individual-oriented topics and independent styles of talk. Second, the Japanese show a preference for using softening devices and conventionalized expressions in group discussion while the Thais tend to use intensifiers and spontaneous expressions to indicate involvement and create a friendly and fun atmosphere. Third, the Japanese like to demonstrate the minimization of self and the relevancy between the self and the collective whereas the Thais value the capitalization of the self and the strengthening of personal relationships. Japanese and Thai communicative styles can be viewed as reflection of the different way the two cultures conceptualize the notion of rapport and the self. With regard to the component of rapport management (Spencer-Oatey 2000), the Japanese place more emphasis on the observation of sociality rights, while the Thais incline toward the management of face. This suggests that rapport construction in collectivist cultures may possess totally different characters.
Keywords: Japanese, Communicative styles, Rapport, Thai, Social talk, Group discussion
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 01 September 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20.3.01aok

Full-text

Rapport management in Thai and Japanese social talk during group discussions
References

References

Bales, Robert F.
(1976) Interaction process analysis: A method for the study of small groups. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Barnlund, Dean C.
(1975) Public and private self in Japan and the United States. Tokyo: Simul Press.Google Scholar
Benedict, Ruth
(1943) Thai culture and behavior: An unpublished war-time study dated September, 1943. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Brosnahan, Leger
(1990) Japanese and English gesture: Constructive nonverbal communication. Tokyo: Taishūkan.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson
(1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chafe, Wallace
(1980) The deployment of consciousness. In W. Chafe (ed.), The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of narrative production.Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 9-50.  BoPGoogle Scholar
(1994) Discourse, consciousness, and time. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Cheng, Winnie
(2003) Intercultural conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eggins, Suzanne, and Diana Slade
(1997) Analysing casual conversation. London: Cassell.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Embree, John F.
(1950) Thailand, a loosely structured social system. American Anthropologist 52: 181-93. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving
(1972) Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J.
(1982) Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  BoP CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, Michael A.
(1985) An Introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Hasada, Rie
(2006) Cultural scripts: Glimpses into the Japanese emotion world. In C. Goddard (ed.), Ethnopragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context.Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 171-198. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, Geert
(1991) Culture and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
(2003) Geert Hofstede™ cultural dimensions. 19 Nov 2009 http://​www​.geert​-hofstede​.com/.
Honda, Atsuko
(2002) Conflict management in Japanese public affairs talk shows. Journal of Pragmatics 34: 573-608. Crossref  BoPGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Henry, and Suchada Tangtongtavy
(1997) Working with the Thais. Bangkok: White Lotus.Google Scholar
Ide, Sachiko
(2006) Wakimae no goyōron. Tokyo: Taishūkan.Google Scholar
Iwasaki, Shoichi, and Preeya Ingkaphirom Horie
(1998) The ‘Northridge Earthquake’ conversations: Conversational patterns in Japanese and Thai and their cultural significance. Discourse and Society 9.4: 501-529. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Komin, Suntaree
(1998) The world view through Thai value systems. In A. Pongsapich (ed.), Traditional and changing Thai world view. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, pp. 207-228.Google Scholar
Kumagai, Tomoko
(2004) The role of repetition in complaint conversations. In P. Szatrowski (ed.), Hidden and open conflict in Japanese conversational interaction. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers, pp. 199-220.Google Scholar
Lebra, Takie Sugiyama
(1976) Japanese patterns of behavior. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Lekawatana, Pongsri
(1974) A contrastive study of English and Thai. Monterey, CA: Defense Language Institute.Google Scholar
Malinowski, Bronislaw
(2006 [1926]) On phatic communion. In A. Jaworski and N. Coupland (eds.), The discourse reader, second edition. New York: Routledge, pp. 296-298.Google Scholar
Markus, Hazel R., and Shinobu Kitayama
(1991) Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review 98.2: 224-253. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Maynard, Senko K.
(1989) Japanese conversation: Self-contextualization through structure and interactional management. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Mizutani, Nobuko
(1993) Kyōwa kara danwa e. Nihongo gaku 12.4: 4–10.Google Scholar
Morita, Emi
(2005) Negotiation of contingent talk: The Japanese interactional particles ne and sa. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Crossref  BoPGoogle Scholar
Mulder, Neil
(1996) Inside Thai society. Amsterdam: The Pepin Press.Google Scholar
Ochiai, Rumiko
(2008) Gōi keisei kaiwa de hyōshutsu suru serufu to ba no riron-kakunin. Proceedings of the 21st Japanese association of sociolinguistic sciences, March 22-23. Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan, pp. 76-79.
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula
(2000) Telephone conversations in Greek and German: Attending to the relationship aspect of communication. In H. Spencer-Oatey (eds.), Culturally speaking: Managing rapport through talk across cultures. London: Continuum, pp. 121-142.Google Scholar
Pelto, Pertti J.
(1968) The difference between “tight” and “loose” societies. Transaction 5: 37-40.Google Scholar
Phillips, Herbert P.
(1965) Thai peasant personality. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Sampson, Edward E.
(1988) The debate on individualism. American Psychologist 43: 15-22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Scollon, Ron, and Suzanne Wong Scollon
(2001) Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Shimizu, Hiroshi
(2003) Ba no Hassō. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, Helen
(2000) Rapport management: A framework for analysis. In H. Spencer-Oatey (ed.), Culturally speaking: Managing rapport through talk across cultures. New York: Continuum, pp. 11-45.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Straehle, Carolyn A.
(1993) “Samuel?” “Yes, dear?”: Teasing and conversational rapport. In D. Tannen (ed.), Framing in discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 210-230.Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah
(1984) Conversational style: Analyzing talk among friends. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Triandis Harry C.
(1995) Individualism & collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Young, Linda W.L.
(1994) Crosstalk and culture in Sino-American communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ubonsakul, Margaret
(2009) Significance of ‘face’ and politeness in social interaction as revealed through Thai ‘face’ idioms. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini and M. Haugh (eds.), Face, Communication and Social Interaction. London: Equinox, pp. 289-305.Google Scholar
Uyeno, Tazuko
(1971) A study of Japanese modality - A performative analysis of sentence particles. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Michigan.
Wichiarajote, Weerayuth
(1973) The theory of affiliative society.Bangkok: College of Education, Prasanmitr, pp.118-119. cited in Steven Piker (1975) The psychological study of Theravada societies. Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Witthayasakphan, Somphong
(2009) kaan chái phaasǎa sadɛɛŋ khwaam runrɛɛŋ nai phâat huǎ kaaw aachayaakam nai nǎŋsɯ̌ɯphim raai wan. http://​www​.human​.cmu​.ac​.th​/~thai​/sompong​/res​_kalaya1​.doc (accessed 19 November 2009)
Wuwongse, Warintorn, and Weerawan Washiradirok
(2001) Comparison of Thai and Japanese viewpoints towards each other. Warasarn Silapasart 1.1: 194-215.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Akkawanitcha, Chuanchuen & Paul G. Patterson
2017. A contingency model of “Face” loss in service encounters: an Eastern cultural context. Journal of Service Theory and Practice 27:6 ► pp. 1122 ff. Crossref logo
Intachakra, Songthama
2012. Politeness motivated by the ‘heart’ and ‘binary rationality’ in Thai culture. Journal of Pragmatics 44:5 ► pp. 619 ff. Crossref logo
Mapson, Rachel
2020.  In Politeness in Professional Contexts [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 311], ► pp. 151 ff. Crossref logo
Omotunde, Samuel Adebayo & Olumide Ogunrotimi
2021. Rapport management strategies among the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria. International Journal of Language and Culture Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 09 september 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.