Professor Masanori Yamaoka of Faculty of Letters has co-edited the book "Considerate Expressions Around the World" and published it.

"Considerate Expressions Around the World," a book co-edited by Professor Masanori Yamaoka of Faculty of Letters at our university, was published by Hitsuji Shobo on May 3rd of this year.

This book considers considerate expressions, which have become customary linguistic expressions that are an attempt to maintain as good interpersonal relationships as possible in communication, as a universal phenomenon that is not unique to Japanese, and examines considerate expressions in the world's languages from a global perspective.

Professor Yamaoka said, "This book was published as part of the ongoing research project "Construction of a Multilingual Considerate Expression Database and Compilation of a Considerate Expression Dictionary" funded by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B). Taking advantage of the exchanges he has had with researchers knowledgeable about various languages overseas over the years of his research into considerate expressions, he was able to publish this book with the help of experts knowledgeable not only in Japanese, but also in English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Arabic. For example, when making a request to someone, in Japanese, we use a potential question such as "Can you pass me the salt?", but in English, we also use a potential question such as "Can you pass me the salt?", and in Chinese, we use a potential question such as "能不可把盐递给我?", which is a common considerate expression that takes into consideration the burden placed on the other person. I published this book with the hope that through essential consideration of such phenomena, interest in considerate expressions will increase and contribute to the development of linguistic and pragmatic research."

Professor

Masaki Yamaoka

Masaki Yamaoka

Specialized Field

Japanese linguistics, linguistics, pragmatics, philosophical anthropology

Research theme

Japanese communication, Research on considerate expressions, Theory of speech functions