JAPAN 326

Appropriate use of Japanese in Context

Students will be able to use theories from pragmatics and sociolinguistics to explain appropriate and inappropriate use of Japanese in a variety of common social contexts including popular media, formal informational presentations, informal interactions, and institutional settings. These explanations will show sensitivity to the importance of both linguistic correctness and cultural appropriateness.

Analyzing Japanese conversations

Students will be able to analyze natural conversations to generate evidence-based descriptions of how meaning is created in context by linguistic elements such as honorifics, sentence-final particles, epistemic markers, and affective markers, how Japanese conversations are interactionally organized, including turn-taking and turn-response, and how Japanese users sequentially structure common social actions such as thanking, apologizing, requesting, and inviting.

Intercultural communication and interaction

Students will be able to identify common areas of miscommunication between Americans and Japanese, and articulate important cultural assumptions and perspectives that contribute to them. Through this, they will develop a more informed awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, including how such diversity supports our common identity as Children of God and Disciples of Christ.