Metapragmatic Contextualization Cues in Thai and Japanese

Abstract

The present study investigates contextualization cues that indicate metapragmatic awareness in Thai and Japanese. Metapragmatic awareness is one of the language phenomenons that occur in many societies. It can be described as speakers’ ability to be aware of the language use, observe listeners’ language use; namely, whether such language

use is proper or not, and point out the force behind expressions. A number of metapragmatic awareness studies revealed that there were lots of ways to express the awareness. They could be either explicit explanation about the language use or implicit expressions of which their metapragmatic meanings depend on contexts. This study explored the latter expressions by comparing the contextualization cues used in Thai and Japanese. The data were collected from Thai and Japanese group discussions. The results showed that the contextualization cues functioned as metapragmatic awareness in Thai were laughter and repetition whereas those found in Japanese were laughter, repetition, turn completion, and lowering speaking sound.