“That's amazing!”: Making self-praise work in Japanese conversation

Abstract

As an act of self-disclosure, the speech act of self-praise may be perceived as problematic or inappropriate due to societal expectations, such as politeness preferences. Despite recent growing interest in self-praise, it remains relatively under-researched, particularly in naturally occurring conversation in languages other than English. An examination of 53 hours of Japanese conversation (both telephone and face-to-face) reveals that despite Japanese societal norms against self-praise, speakers do praise themselves, and that this behavior occurs in interactions within both close relationships (i.e., among friends and family members) and distant ones (i.e., in first meetings). However, its relative infrequency indicates that self-praise is a marked social behavior in Japanese conversation. The data also demonstrate some distinctive patterns in the ways in which self-praise is delivered and received depending on the type of conversation. Interactional patterns that emerge in the data illustrate the integral role that coparticipants (i.e., the recipients of speakers’ self-praise) play in making this risky social act possible and appropriate in conversation.