誉めへの返答ストラテジーの日独対照研究 : 誉めの解釈・応答にみる文化的差異

要旨

This paper attempts to analyze the compliment responses of native Japanese and native German speakers as well as German learners of Japanese which were obtained in an open discourse completion test. The responses were classified into 9 strategy types and studied in terms of frequencies of use and their detailed contents. This paper also investigates the characteristics of "multiple strategies, " which can be defined as responses including more than two different strategy types. The analyses revealed that the native German speakers and the German learners of Japanese generally gave longer responses with more diverse strategies than did the native Japanese speakers. The subject groups also showed rather clear preferences for certain strategy types; the native Japanese speakers and the German learners of Japanese often used "questioning" and "downgrading of compliment, " whereas the native German speakers used "returning of compliment" more frequently. These tendencies also applied to the "multiple strategies." Furthermore, the research results and the follow-up questionnaire manifested some cultural differences in the subjects' responses and interpretations of compliments. Both the native German speakers and the German learners of Japanese often accepted a compliment to a family member and used further "upgrading of compliment, " while many native Japanese speakers tried to downgrade such a compliment. Moreover, the research results and the comments provided evidence of the German subjects' disapproval of compliments from a stranger or a non-intimate person as well as their strong preference for honest praise.