This paper discusses speaker viewpoints in face-to-face interactions. A new type of viewpoint, interactive viewpoint, is proposed to supplement the descriptive viewpoint identified by McNeill (1992) to capture spontaneous gestures. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of speech, gestures and gaze directions in videotaped spontaneous conversations revealed that (1) actual gesticulations were preceded by the speakers' gaze shift toward the gesture space, (2) speakers' gaze moved away toward listeners before the end of their speech, and (3) listeners supplied back channels in response to the speakers' gaze shift toward them. These results indicate the importance of considering interactive viewpoint in addition to descriptive viewpoint in order to interpret verbal and non-verbal behaviors in face-to-face interactions.

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This study analyzes linguistic issues involved in legal decisions on the genericization of trademarks. In particular, the Austrian Supreme Court decision on the trademark Walkman is examined. The analysis focuses on the following two issues. First, the generic usage of a trademark is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the mark has become generic. If a person is aware of the trademark status of the word, it is usually possible for him/her to distinguish when the word is being used in its trademarked or generic senses. Secondly, the Austrian decision reasons that the listing of the word in a dictionary is evidence of its genericization. However, such reasoning may not be valid in view of the objectives and the lexicographic principles of a dictionary.

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This study examines how a conversational narrative is formed by the participants of the narrative. To date, narrative studies tend to presuppose that the teller (s) tells a story and the recipient (s) understands the story as the typical organization of the participant roles in the interaction. Without limiting the assumption of the participant roles in this organization, this study looks at aspects of collaboration among the participants. For the analysis, I employ the framework proposed by Ochs et al. (1992), who demonstrated in their analysis of American middleclass Caucasian family narratives that narrative activities are what they called "theory-building activities." This involves three properties: 1) an explanatory component, 2) a challengeability component, and 3) a redrafting component. Following Ochs et al. (1992), the present study examines a Japanese peer conversational narrative, and suggests a possible approach toward the interactional aspects of narrative construction.

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Communicative behaviour can often be based on stereotyped expectations about the interlocutor's competence rather than his/her actual competence and therefore may become inappropiate, as defined by the term overaccommodation in communication accommodation theory. Based on field studies conducted on a) foreigners who can obviously be identified as such by their physical features and b) wheel-chair users, this paper identifies a type of overaccommodation behaviour termed here as 3^<rd> person response: a person A addressed by an unknown person B ignores B and responds to an unknown third person C accompanying B, due to nonlanguage factors such as the physical appearance of B. Results confirm both of the observed groups are likely to become the subject of 3^<rd> person response and support the hypothesis that this kind of communication behaviour is largely determined by psychological factors such as a person's past experience with foreigners and the stereotypes he/she may have concerning their language ability, as well as misconceptions about "disability" due to a lack of communication experience with wheel-chair users.

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This paper examines the use of YORU, the auxiliary verb of the minus treatment expression, found in the Kansai dialect. The focus of the analysis is on the expressive nature, particularly the expression process, of YORU as an "act of treatment expression" used by young people in the Kansai region, centering on Osaka Prefecture. Previously, I posited two types of treatment expression: relational and emotional (Nishio, 2003). In the current paper, I argue that YORU can be used as both types of expression. On the one hand, YORU acts as a relational treatment expression of low rank. However, YORU also expresses a minus evaluation and thereby acts as an emotional treatment expression. Although the emotional nature of YORU is likely related to the fact that it is a low-level speech style, I contend that the two are distinct. This point is illustrated by the fact that YORU is used to express "surprise," which is neutral with respect to plus/minus evaluation. The conclusion that the treatment expression system of the Kansai dialect expresses not only human relations but also speakers' emotion presents a new theoretical perspective for the categorization of treatment expression systems.

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This paper analyzes language behavior in service encounters in Korea. The data here consists of conversations carried out between customers and salespeople at various department stores and markets. An analysis of the sentence final forms used by the salespeople produced the following results : (1) In responding to customer queries over the telephone, salespeople at department stores mainly used the polite formal hapsyo style. This result can be interpreted as a set pattern of language behavior in service situations. (2) In face-to-face encounters at department stores, salespeople used the polite formal hapsyo style in set-manual type situations and the polite informal hayyo style in more involved interactions such as negotiation and persuasion. (3) In contrast to department stores, various sentence final forms are freely used by salespeople in the marketplace. Their use of dialectal forms and impolite speech styles can be considered a strategic choice in order to express friendliness toward customers, which consequently creates the casual atmosphere typically found at local markets.

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This paper analyzes the use and frequency of backchannels, in Japanese and English, in terms of their relationship with turn-allocation. The data consists of role-play conversations by native speakers of Japanese and of New Zealander (NZ) English. A higher frequency of backchannels was observed in the Japanese data in comparison to that of New Zealander English. Backchannels in Japanese occurred at two different locations in conversation; Transition Relevance Places (TRP) and non-TRP's. An exchange of backchannels was often observed at TRP throughout the Japanese data, which indicates the tendency in Japanese to postpone taking turns. Apart from these findings, both languages were found to behave similarly in terms of turn-taking and backchannels. Contrary to common assumption, New Zealanders use backchannels just as often as Japanese at the beginning of turns.

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In this paper, I analyze people's responses to praise, focusing particularly on the case for superiors, based on 870 samples from 104 scenarios. The most common response to praise from a superior was avoidance, as opposed to acceptance or denial. I propose that this is related to the fact that hearers often read other intentions behind 'praise'. In my analysis, I divided these hidden intentions according to their ease of acceptance: 1) requests, advice, scolding, etc. which benefit the hearer, 2) change of topic, 3) requests which benefit the speaker, and 4) irony or teasing. I argue that this order in the acceptance frequency of praise is closely linked to the interpretation by hearers of the intention behind the praise and the degree of benefit involved for them. Thus, it is easier for hearers to accept praise when it benefits him or her in some way. In any case, praise which benefits the hearer is useful for good communication.

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