Coulmas, F.
(1981). "Poison to your soul": Thanks and apologies contrastively
viewed. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Explorations
in standardized communication situations and patterned speech (pp. 69-91).
The author considers thanks and apologies, and argues that a contrastively
informed analysis can help to reveal typological relationships between
them. He draws on materials from
European languages and from Japanese. He
makes the point that both thanking and apologizing are linked to the notion of
indebtedness, through gratitude and regret respectively. He notes that in Japanese culture, the
concept of gifts and favors focuses on the trouble they have caused the
benefactor rather than the aspects which are pleasing to the recipient. So leaving a dinner in a Japanese home we
might say, O-jama itashimashita 'I
have intruded on you.' The response, Iie, iie, do itashimashite 'No, no,
don't mention it' is a responder for both apologies and thanks. Coulmas notes that sumimasen 'thank you' or 'I'm sorry' tends to be appropriate for a
host of occasions. It is noted that in
Eisenstein,
M. & Bodman, J. (1995). Expressing gratitude in American English. In G.
Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage
pragmatics (pp. 64-81). NY:
The authors point out that expressing gratitude is a complex act,
potentially involving both positive as well as negative feelings on the part of
the giver and receiver. They note that
thanks is a face-threatening act in which the speaker acknowledges a debt to
the hearer – thus threatening the speaker's negative face. Thus the very nature of thanking, which can
engender feelings of warmth and solidarity among interlocutors stands as well
to threaten negative face (a desire to be unimpeded in one's actions). They report on four studies that they
conducted on expressions of gratitude.
In the first they audiotaped or wrote field notes on 50 situations in
which expressions of gratitude occurred.
They then prepared 14 vignettes which they had 56 NSs of American
English write written responses to.
These natives were found to draw from a finite pool of conventionalized
expressions and ideas. In the second
study, the same questionnaire was administered to 67 nonnative speakers in
advanced-level ESL classes. Twenty-five
of them also provided L1 responses, so that they could check on transfer from
the L1. In their report of the findings,
they focused on the seven situations that were problematic. The Japanese respondents were found to have a
low percentage of acceptable responses.
One explanation given was the lack of cultural congruity and the fact that
this written DCT did not allow for nonverbal cues and prosodic features which
could soften the response. In addition,
they might have wanted to apologize instead, since that would be acceptable in
Japanese given the indebtedness implied in an expression of gratitude in
Japanese culture. In a third study, the
questionnaire was administered orally to 10 NSs. They found the results almost identical to
the written DCT results for NSs. In a
fourth study, they set up role plays – 34 by NS pairs, 40 by NNS pairs, and 24
by NS with NNS pairs. They found that
the role plays contained the same words and semantic formulas as in the written
data, confirming that the written data were representative of oral language use
as well. NNS role plays were 50% shorter
than those of natives, most likely because they lacked the words. Also, they lacked the warm and sincere tone
conveyed by NSs. NNSs sometimes lacked
the expression of reciprocity that NSs gave or did not convey it in an
appropriate manner. They conclude that
expressing gratitude involves a complex series of interactions and encodes
cultural values and customs.
Eisenstein,
M. & Bodman, J. W. (1986) 'I very appreciate': Expressions of gratitude by
native and non-native speakers of American English. Applied Linguistics, 7 (2),
167-185.
The researchers looked at 6 DCT situations out of 14, administered first
to 56 NSs and then revised and administered to 67 NNSs from five
countries. The study found native
speakers to show consistent use of expressions of gratitude within specifically
defined contexts, often in the form of speech act sets. For example, the thanks was accompanied by
other functions such as complimenting, reassuring, expressing surprise and
delight, expressing a lack of necessity or obligation. The speech act sets ranged from two to five
functions. Shorter thanking episodes
sometimes reflected greater social distance between the interlocutors. Longer episodes would come under conditions
of social disequilibrium when the perceived need for thanking was great. Advanced nonnative English speakers had
considerable difficulty adequately expressing gratitude in the target
language. They found limitations at the
sociopragmatic level that were severe because they created the potential for
serious misunderstandings. Other
problems arose at the pragmalinguistic level: divergence at the lexical and
syntactic levels and inability to approximate native idioms and routines. They had the most difficulty with a situation
involving a lunch treat. Almost all
native speakers stated in general terms an invitation to reciprocate
("Thank you very much. Next time it's on me.") NNSs rarely said this, though some indicated
in interviews afterwards that they intended to do this but felt it unnecessary
and inappropriate to mention it. When
this was omitted, native speakers felt the responses were incomplete or lacking
the appropriate level of gratitude. The
researchers were struck by the fact that the Japanese respondents had the
lowest percentage of acceptable and native-like/perfect responses. The researchers speculated that they either
could not find the words, were perhaps not comfortable socializing in the
Ide, R. (1998). 'Sorry for your kindness': Japanese
interactional ritual in public discourse. Journal
of Pragmatics, 29, 509-529.
The study examines the social
and metapragmatic functions of sumimasen (lit., 'there is no end' or
'it is not enough'), a conventional
expression of apology in Japanese that is also used to express the feeling of
thanks. Using Goffman’s (1971) notion of
‘remedial’ and ‘supportive’ interchanges as the conceptual framework, the paper
first describes seven pragmatic functions of sumimasen based on 51 instances of sumimasen recorded through ethnographic participant/non-participant
observations of discourse in an ophthalmology clinic in Tokyo. The professionals were two female doctors, a female
nurse, and a female receptionist.
Fifty-eight patients participated, males and females of many ages. The
seven functions were: 1) a sincere apology, 2) quasi-thanks and apology, 3) a
request marker, 4) an attention-getter, 5) a leave-taking devise, 6) an
affirmative and confirmational response, and 7) a reciprocal exchange of
acknowledgment (as a ritualized formulas to facilitate public face-to-face
communication). These seven functions
are presented not as mutually exclusive but rather as overlapping concepts,
ranging from remedial, remedial and supportive, to supportive in
discourse. The author also cites
Kumagai, Kumatoridani, Coulmas, and others to account for the concept of
indebtedness that emerges from the shift of point of view from the speaker (the
benefactor) to the listener (the provider of the benefit) (‘debt-sensitive’
society). The paper also demonstrates
the exchange of sumimasen as a
metapragmatic ritual activity, an anticipated and habitual behavior in public
discourse in Japanese society. The
author also reframes the multiple functions of sumimasen in accordance with the folk notion of aisatsu, which constitutes the ground
rules of appropriate and smooth Japanese public interaction. The author notes that historically arigato 'thank you' was a form of
excuse, derived from ari 'exist, have' plus gatashi 'difficult,' literally meaning, 'it is hard to
accept/have.' Shitsurei shimasu 'I
intrude' is a similar expression when leaving or entering one's space in
public.
Kim, Y. (1994). Nihonjin jyakunensouno ‘kansya’ to ‘wabi’no aisatsuno hyougenno anketo cyousa to sono kousatsu [A study of the expressions of gratitude and apology in Japanese young generation: In comparison with those in older generation]. Kokugogaku Kenkyuu [The Japanese Language Review] 33, 23-33.
This
study used a questionnaire to survey 20 native speakers of Japanese in their
20’s to 30’s (younger generation) in comparison with another 20 in their 50’s
to 60’s (older generation) regarding their use of apologizing and thanking
expressions. The frequency of the
expressions and intensifiers (adverbials such as doumo, taihen, hontouni, makotoni) were analyzed in terms of: the
semantic categories (apology, or thanks, although sometimes combined),
magnitude of thanks and apology, and status of the interlocutors. Among the younger speakers, the prototypical expressions
of thanks were variants of arigatou,
whereas typical apology expressions (variants of gomen, sumanai, and moushiwake
nai) were sometimes used for thanks as well. The larger the magnitude of thanks/apology
was and the older the hearer was than the speaker, the more intensifiers were
likely to be used and apologetic expressions were preferred (rather than pure
expressions of thanks like variants of arigatou).
Kimura, K.
(1994). The multiple functions of sumimasen.
Issues in Applied Linguistics, 5 (2), 279-302.
The article describes the functions of sumimasen,
expressing both apology and thanks in everyday Japanese conversation. A database consisting of 10 hours of daily
conversation was used, yielding a total of 44 tokens of sumimasen (41 uttered by
women, 3 by men). The database had been collected in 1984 and
consisted of audiotaped conversation between a housewife in
Kumatoridani, T. (1999). Alternation and co-occurrence
in Japanese thanks. Journal of
Pragmatics, 31, 623-642.
This
article deals with how thanks and apologies are not as distinctly different as
might be thought. The author compares the usage and functions of two Japanese apologizing and
thanking expressions, sumimasen and arigatou, based on: 1) 140 collected
interchanges including naturally occurring gratitude and apology exchanges; 2)
findings from the questionnaire give to 189 native speakers of Japanese; and 3)
the intuitions of the author as a native speaker. Thanks in Japanese can be conveyed by
apologizing: Shouyu o totte moraemasen ka. 'Please pass me the soy sauce.' Hai douzo. 'Here you go.' Doumo
sumimasen. '(lit.) I'm very sorry.'
Although sumimasen can replace the gratitude expression arigatou, the two are not completely interchangeable. The author first accounts for the
applicability of alternation, and discusses the more formal and thus polite
nature of sumimasen as an expression
of gratitude. The
apology form is in empathy to the hearer (such as when this person is of higher
status). The use of sumimasen as a
gratitude expression occurs as a result of a shift in the focus (‘empathy
operation’) from the speaker’s to the hearer’s perspective. This shift is considered a conventionalized
strategic device to repair the politeness imbalance between the interlocutors. However, the use of sumimasen tends to be appropriate only in expressing acceptance of
the offer combined with gratitude and not refusal, whereas arigatou can be used for both acceptance and refusal of the
offer. Use of sumimasen is also inappropriate in response to ‘affective’ speech
acts such as congratulations, condolences, compliments, and encouragement. Finally, the author explains the sequential
preference in using the two expressions in a single event (sumimasen first, and then arigatou). While sumimasen
functions to repair imbalance locally, arigatou
has a dual function, both to repair imbalance and to close a conversation.
Miyake, K. (1994). "Wabi" igaide tsukawareru
wabi hyogen: Sono tayoukatno jittaito uchi, soto, yosono kankei [Formulaic
apologies in non-apologetic situations: A data analysis and its relation with
the concept of uchi-soto-yoso]. Nihongo Kyouiku [Journal of Japanese
Language Teaching], 82, 134-146.
This is a questionnaire study
reporting the occasions in which apologies like sumimasen are likely to be used (as well as non-apologetic
occasions in which apologies are used) and the effects of social variables on
such occasions. English and Japanese
questionnaires were given to 101 British and 122 Japanese participants
respectively. The questionnaire presented
36 situations that elicited expressions of gratitude and/or apologies. Closeness and status of the interlocutors,
and severity of the offense/indebtedness (benefits and losses) were manipulated
in those situations. The participants
first wrote down the responses they were likely to give (most like in speaking,
although this is not specified in the article) and indicated on a 5-point scale
what their feelings would be (strong gratitude/slight gratitude/neutral feeling
neither gratitude nor apology/slight apology/strong apology/others). The paper reports only the idiomatic
expressions found in the data, excluding additional expressions. Major findings: 1) the language forms for
apology expressions (e.g., sumimasen) in Japanese are used not just to express
apology but also gratitude; the Japanese form for apology can co-occur with the
form for thanking (arigatou) where
both are intended as part of an apology (thanking apologetically), and as a way
of phatic communication (like greetings); 2) Japanese speakers tend to feel
apologetic in more situations than British English speakers; 3) Japanese
speakers tend to feel the more apologetic when their feeling of indebtedness is
greater. However, apologies are often
employed when the hearer is relatively older in age and in a soto ‘outside’ relationship (e.g., an
academic advisor), as opposed to uchi ‘inside’
and yoso ‘somewhere else.’
Moriyama, T. (1999). Oreito owabi: Kankei syufukuno
sisutemu toshite [Gratutude and apologies: A system of repair]. Kokubungaku: Kaishakuto kyouzaino kenkyu
[Department of Education: Interpretation and Material development], 44 (6),
78-82.
This article is an essay on
gratitude and apology expressions in Japanese as a repair strategy in
interpersonal communication. The motive
for both gratitude and apologies is caused by a psychological imbalance (or a
sense of indebtedness) between the speaker and the hearer. Expressions of gratitude and apologies both
attempt to adjust that imbalance. An
expression of gratitude repairs the sense of imbalance accompanied by a certain
benefit on the part of the speaker offered by the hearer. Apologies also repair the offense caused by
the speaker. Section 1: conceptual
understanding of gratitude and apologies.
Section 2: analysis of various expressions of gratitude and
apologies. Section 3: sumimasen as an expression of
gratitude. Section 4: responses to
expressions of gratitude and apologies.
Section 5: phatic greeting expressions including gokuro sama, otsukare sama,
omedetou.
Nakata, T. (1989). Hatsuwa kouitoshiteno chinshato
kansha: Nichiei hikaku [Apology and Thanks in Japanese and English]. Nihongo Kyouiku [Journal of Japanese
Language Teaching], 68, 191-203.
This study compares English
and Japanese apologies and thanks collected in movie and TV drama scenarios
(400 apologies and 400 thanks in English and Japanese each). Major differences between the two languages:
1) Japanese were more likely to thank for voluntary assistance offered by the hearer;
2) Japanese more often apologized to someone close to themselves than did
English speakers; 3) Japanese thanking expressions included versatile
expressions like sumimasen that can
be used both for apologies and thanks.
Ogawa, H. (1995). Kansha to wabino
teishiki hyougen: Bogowashano shiyou jitttaino cyousa karano bunseki [A study
of Japanese formulaic thanks and apologies: A data analysis of the use by
Japanese native speakers]. Nihongo
Kyouiku [Journal of Japanese Language Teaching], 85, 38-52.
This paper investigates
formulaic expressions of gratitude, which includes not only the variants of arigatou but also those that can also
convey apology (such as sumimasen). Utilizing a questionnaire containing 19
thanking and 9 apologizing situations, this study surveyed native speakers in
their 20’s to 80’s to reveal their usage of formulaic expressions of thanks and
apology. The informants were 221 females
and 51 males of similar educational backgrounds who spoke the standard variety
of Japanese. The variables manipulated
in the survey were high/low status, in-group/out-group, and
closeness/distance. The findings suggest
that the use of sumimasen is not
suitable for all thanking situations.
Whereas in this study the younger generation of speakers used sumimasen to express slight thanks or apology
to someone older and/or in out-group (soto
such as strangers), the older generation used it to friends or those younger
than themselves. Younger speakers used
more formal apology expressions (such as moushiwake
arimasen) with someone older (and higher in status) for a major infraction,
since sumimasen was used to express
relatively slight thanks and minor apology.