Context-Dependent Script Choice in Emails: The Case of Sumimasen

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines how pragmatic factors influence Japanese script choice by focusing on the representation of ‘sumimasen’ – a phrase used to express apology and gratitude. In standard Japanese, this term is written in hiragana, but use of katakana for the term has been observed. Through a quantitative survey targeting 200 undergraduate Japanese-L1 students and investigating their impressions of different representations of sumimasen in Japanese emails, this study examines how context influences reader impressions of sumimasen representations. Here, ‘context’ specifically refers to three pragmatic factors of communication: situation, writer-reader relationship, and purpose. Through examining how alterations to the situation and relationship factors influence survey responses, the study reveals that reader impressions of katakana sumimasen differ depending on the respondent’s preferred politeness strategy. In focusing on this understudied question of how L1 readers respond to orthographic variation in context, the study expands on existing accounts of how katakana creates meaning by recognizing that interpersonal factors can influence the intent and reception of script variation. Additionally, the study finds that the social meaning of a given script variant can be dependent on the word it represents, with terms like sumimasen becoming active and accepted vehicles for meaning negotiation.