Page 67 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

54 Silence in Intercultural Communication

people interact on the assumption of solidarity and plain sentence-ending forms
are commonly used instead of polite sentence-ending forms. On the other hand,
in out-group (soto) communication, social distance and/or power difference are
assumed and polite sentence-ending forms are used more frequently.
Okamoto (1997) claims that an examination of classroom interaction in a
Japanese primary school suggests that when the polite style is used, the interac-
tion is assumed to be occurring between the public roles of teacher and student
in an out-group interaction, while when the plain style is used, the teacher and
the student(s) are not interacting within the presupposed roles of teacher and
students but rather as individuals in an in-group interaction. In Okamoto’s study,
students’ style shift was also explained in relation to how students negotiate their
relationship with the teacher. For example, when they want to appeal directly and
individually, they use the plain form – the uchi mode of communication – and for
rejecting it, the teacher uses the polite form – the soto mode – to imply an official
power difference.
Similarly, in both Fuji High School and Tokyo High School, only when teach-
ers spoke to a student individually or when they worked on rapport, was the plain
form generally used. Students’ speech, consistent with Okamoto’s results, seemed
to shift from plain to polite style when the role of teacher as instructor is fore-
grounded with the use of the polite style.
Below are two examples of uchi and soto modes of communication in the crea-
tive writing class at Tokyo High School. In this particular session, the students had
been asked to speak, in turn, to the class (total 16 students) about their own final
creative writing project. In the first excerpt, the student did not shift from the po-
lite style and did not engage in a spontaneous expression of her ideas, even when
the teacher, who had good rapport with the group outside class, used the plain style
to create a relaxed atmosphere and to encourage her to participate. This was com-
monly observed when the other students were in the same situation in this class.
(7) [Tokyo High School Class 1 Creative Writing]
(plain forms: underlined; polite forms: italics)
1 Student: Minna tenukitte itterukedo, watashi koso tenuki desu.
‘Everyone says ‘corner-cutting,’ but I am the one who did corner
cutting.’
2 Teacher: Nanda tenuki jiman ja nai.
‘You are all competing for corner-cutting, aren’t you.’
3 ((class laugh))
4 Student: Dooshiyou dooshiyou tte kangaetanndesukedo, choodo nyuushi no
‘I was thinking what should I do what should I do, but the entrance
exam