A cross-generational study of Japanese interview data on attentiveness

Abstract

This study makes a cross-generational comparison between two different generations (the younger Japanese (YJ) and the older Japanese (OJ)) of Japanese females on the metapragmatic data elicited through interviews. More specifically, a cross-generational comparison is made on how two groups of the participants answered the interview questions on attentiveness and its related concepts, namely, anticipatory inference and empathy. The results show that some cross-generational differences emerged in the way the participants answered the questions in the interview, namely, in giving the examples of anticipatory inference and empathy and stating the reasons why attentiveness was important. OJ used many more turns than YJ. Co-constructions and overlaps were found only in OJ’s interview data. Identity of the interviewer was relational in the interviews with OJ, namely, the interviewer was not only an elicitor, but she was sometimes a participant of the interviews. It could be said that politeness1 was interactionally achieved in OJ’s interview data through co-constructions.