Speech levels and social and psychological distances : Analysis of refusals

研究論文
Articles
The aim of this study is to verify quantitatively how speech levels are used according to power and closeness towards listener, and index social distance and psychological distance. We analyzed refusal data collected by oral discourse completion test from 62 Japanese language native speakers, employing two main speech levels and their respective sub-speech levels for analysis. Results showed social distance is primarily indicated by use of (Sub-) formal or (Sub-) informal levels, whereas psychological distance is mainly expressed by language items categorized by sub-levels. Traditionally, social and psychological distance have been discussed together, but by employing sub-speech levels, their respective indicators can be distinguished.