今、断[ことわ]りの会話[かいわ]の分析[ぶんせき]をしています。英語[えいご]と日本語[にほんご]の会話[かいわ]がデータです。特[とく]に今の今注目[ちゅうもく]しているのは、断[ことわ]る時のその理由[りゆう]の説明[せつめい]のしかた。いろいろな面白[おもしろ]い発見[はっけん]がありますが、例[たと]えば誘[さそ]いや依頼[いらい]を断[ことわ]るために、日本人はたくさん説明[せつめい]をします。それも時系列的[じけいれつてき]に。時系列[じけいれつ]というのは、昔[むかし]に起[お]きたことから最近[さいきん]起[お]きたことを順番[じゅんばん]に話[はなす]す話[はな]し方[かた]です。ニュージーランド人も時系列的[じけいれつてき]に話[はな]す場合[ばあい]がありますが、多[おお]くは、因果律的[いんがりつてき]に話[ことわ]します。因果律[いんがりつ]というのは、簡単[かんたん]に言うと原因[げんいん]と結果[けっか]をペアにして話[はな]す言[い]い方[かた]。つまり、「XXXX. Because…」という順番[じゅんばん]で話[はな]すのです。
このことについて最近[さいきん]ずっと考[かんが]えていたら、「説明[せつめい]スタイルの日米[にちべい]比較[ひかく]」という面白[おもしろ]い論文[ろんぶん]を見つけました。これは、日本とアメリカの12歳[さい]くらいの小学生[しょうがくせい]に4コマ漫画[まんが]を見せて、それを説明[せつめい]させるという方法[ほうほう]で研究[けんきゅう]をしました。すると、日本の小学生[しょうがくせい]は時系列的[じけいれつてき]に説明[せつめい]するところ、アメリカの小学生[しょうがくせい]は因果律的[いんがりつてき]に説明[せつめい]する人が多[おお]かったそうです。例[たと]えばアメリカ人のこどもは「My opinion on John’s day is that he had a frustrating day from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. It was a very ironic day for him, first he played video games for too long which caused a chain reaction of bad events. He got up late….」と説明[せつめい]しましたが、日本人のこどもは「テレビゲームでよふかしして、朝ねぼうをして、バスをまちがえて、ついた時には他の人がピッチャーになっていた」と説明[せつめい]しました。
同[おな]じ漫画[まんが]を見たのに、説明[せつめい]のしかたがこんなにも違[ちが]うんです。面白[おもしろ]いですね!
引用文献：
渡辺雅子(2001)「説明スタイルの日米比較」『社会学評論』52(2)、pp. 333-347.
I have been looking into conversational data of refusals in Japanese and English. At this very moment, I focus on how people explain their situation to turn down an invitation or a request. There are all sorts of interesting findings from comparison of the data. One of them is that Japanese people tend to explain a lot and also explain their situations chronologically; they mention what happened at the beginning first and then talk through until reaching the event occurred later. Some New Zealanders do so too, but many of them state the result or conclusion first and refer cause or rationale for that next. So they say “something something happened” first and then “because …” follows.
I have been thinking of these findings lately and found an interesting article related to these aspects; it is entitled “Styles of explanation in Japan and the United States: The implications of cultural difference in elementary education.” The author of this article made a comparison between Japanese and American kids’ explanations and revealed the difference on their styles of explanation. She prepared four pictures showing incidents sequentially happened to a boy called John and asked elementary school pupils (around 12 yrs) to describe how John’s day went. Many Japanese pupils explained the incidents chronologically. Some American pupils did so too but many of them referred the causal relation between the incidents. For example, an American described “My opinion on John’s day is that he had a frustrating day from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. It was a very ironic day for him, first he played video games for too long which caused a chain reaction of bad events. He got up late….” while a Japanese pupil said “he played a video game till late, got up late in the following morning, caught a wrong bus, and when he arrived a baseball field, somebody else took a pitcher’s position."
All of the pupils looked exactly same pictures but they described the incidents completely in different order. Fascinating, don’t you think?
Cited from:
Watanabe, M. E. (2001) Styles of explanation in Japan and the United States: The implications of cultural difference in elementary education, Japanese social review, 52(2), pp. 333-347.