2018 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 129-145
This paper proposes a new orientation of language use called “ba-based language use,” which serves to complement “agent-based language use” that has been considered the standard model of language use. Comparable cross-linguistic video data of the “Mister O Corpus,” including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai discourse was analyzed in terms of the interactional linguistic features displayed by participants. The results show that the English and Chinese speakers interacted as agents whose intentions were rather directly expressed. On the other hand, the Japanese, Korean and Thai speakers interacted by embedding themselves in ba (lit. “field”), through language use that induced partners’ responses, situating themselves as if entraining themselves and resonating with each other. Based on the results obtained in this study, two types of orientation of language use are proposed.
