In communication, speakers and writers engage in information exchange while also aligning their emotions and viewpoints with their audience. However, despite the diverse means of communication available today, including the rise of social media, there have been few opportunities to comprehensively examine how people express their emotions in each medium, the impact of emotional expression in different forms of communication, and the methods by which it can be acquired. It is not uncommon for misunderstandings and the deterioration of human relationships to occur due to inadequate methods of emotional expression, especially in settings devoid of face-to-face interaction or in public communication platforms.

In this colloquium, from the perspective of interactional linguistics, we will explore the dynamics of emotional expression in various forms of communication, their effects, the cultural and linguistic variations in emotional expression, and the process of acquiring appropriate emotional expression skills. Our overarching goal is to deepen our understanding of contemporary interactions by exploring emotional expression across different language use contexts. This includes a comprehensive examination of face-to-face and non-face-to-face interactions, the dynamic interplay between public and private exchanges, and the nuances that emerge due to language differences. 

The following are the topics covered in each presentation:

What are we laughing about on social media!? Lol

Ryo Takamura (Rissho University)

Ryo Takamura explores a novel form of language found on social media, specifically the use of "wara" or "lol" in Japanese text messages. "Wara" can be considered a type of emoticon, originating from the Kanji meaning 'laughter,' and it is used to express emotions. However, this study demonstrates that this item has undergone semantic bleaching, now functioning as a contextualization cue in digital interactions where facial or vocal information is absent. By analyzing data collected from former undergraduate students using a discursive approach, it was observed that "wara" is typically placed at the end of a sentence, contributing to the adjustment of interpersonal communication.

The results indicate that this item can be employed to acknowledge humor in the preceding statement, inviting laughter and softening the illocutionary force. When examined through the lenses of politeness theory and (inter)subjectivity, the second and third functions are respectively categorized as positive politeness and negative politeness. This study also posits that the first function reflects the writer's subjectivity, while the second and third reflect the writer's intersubjectivity. The data suggests a semantic shift from a subjective to an intersubjective meaning. In other words, the Kanji “wara” originally expressed laughter at a propositional level, but as it came to be used as a contextualization cue, it acquired expressive and interpersonal meanings. Furthermore, the study explores variations of "wara" (e.g., 笑, www, 草, etc.), which represent new forms of language emerging through technology, visualization, and communication.

Exploring dynamics of meaning: A study of stance-taking in social media interaction

Haruka Nishiyama (Keio University)

This presentation investigates how meaning is attributed to specific posts on social media, particularly on X (previously Twitter). In text message communication, textual expressions and their semantic and pragmatic interpretations are especially significant in conveying and expressing one's stance to others. Therefore, this study examines how other users respond to, comprehend, and express sympathy or controversy in response to posts.

Previous studies in conversation analysis and interactional linguistics have explored how hearers adopt and manifest a stance toward the speaker’s statement (cf. Rühlemann, 2007). These studies have primarily focused on the stance-taking function of characteristic language patterns and how specific practices enable participants to take a stance. However, in social media interactions, multiple expressions and methods are utilized to express a stance on a given statement, making them more complex.

To explore diverse forms of stance-taking that extend beyond specific conversational practices, as well as grammatical and syntactic structures in interaction, this study employs the theory of occasioned semantics (Bilmes, 2011). Its primary goal is to investigate the process of stance-taking by considering the semantic connection between a given utterance and the response to it. This theory illustrates the taxonomic relationships of all meanings that emerged in interaction by classifying them into hierarchical and horizontal arrangements.

The result showed differences in meaning construction between replies to sympathetic posts and those to controversial ones. For example, in response to sympathetic posts, X users expressed an understanding of implicit but shared assumptions and listed specific examples to enhance user solidarity, whereas, in replies to contentious posts, they addressed the cause (the poster’s problematic intentions) and consequence (the severity of the problem) invoked by the post’s meaning. Furthermore, this study suggests that this approach is a useful method for analyzing social media interaction.

Public influence on corporate discourse: A systemic functional linguistics analysis of corporate profiles 

Mana Kitazawa (Sugino Fashion College)

This presentation argues for constraints on interpersonal language features that have arisen during an era of open and constant communication, where individuals can interact with others across various platforms and at any given moment. It does so by examining public discourse, with a particular focus on corporate profiles.

Although many studies argue the influence of the audience on the speaker, such as Bell (1984) who suggested audience design, there are still few studies that analyze how the anonymous general public influences speakers’ expressions. This study investigates the corporate profiles of about twenty companies from the late 1990s to 2021, a period marked by the significant expansion of audiences due to internet advancements. It identifies how the changing audience landscape has influenced corporate messaging. Grounded in systemic functional linguistics, this study aims to show how companies convey their acts or services and strive to engage with the public through their corporate profiles. The latter is related to the interpersonal function of language, and the research aims to elucidate how companies demonstrate emotional attitudes to gain acceptance from the general public during each period. This presentation illustrates that companies convey their stance indirectly by carefully selecting their words to align with prevailing sentiments, obscuring their presence as actors, and primarily exhibiting affirmative stances towards their objectives, as opposed to specific actions. For example, in Best Buy’s 2021 corporate profile, “At Best Buy, our purpose is to enrich lives through technology,” the company is described as a place with a preposition “at,” not as a direct actor of providing services to customers. Additionally, the focus is on their desire to have a positive influence on people, as seen in “enrich lives through technology,” rather than their actions. This presentation also highlights that these features result from the public nature of corporate discourse.

Beyond sounds: Emotional onomatopoeias in cross-linguisic analysis

Chihiro Kusaba (Keio University)

This study aims to investigate the universality and differences in emotional expressions across multiple languages through experiments using onomatopoeia and manga. Onomatopoeia is a linguistic expression that imitates sensory experiences, including sounds, movements, sensations, and emotions. It has been extensively studied in diverse linguistic fields such as phonetics, phonology, semantics, syntax, and morphology. Researchers from these fields have proposed various definitions to capture this phenomenon in a universally accepted manner. For instance, a general definition accepted cross-lingually may be “marked words that depict sensory imagery” (Dingemanse, 2012) or similarly, “atypical sound patterns that depict sensory imagery” ( Kubozono, 2019).

Despite the fact that numerous studies have been conducted in this field, several challenges persist. The four most-discussed topics are as follows: 1) Difficulty in identifying language universal characteristics, as well as the term itself, 2) variations in the number of onomatopoeias across languages have led to multiple studies being conducted individually, resulting in the slow pace of advancement of typological research, 3) an overwhelming emphasis on forms over meanings, and 4) limited research on subordinate concepts of the hierarchical structure of onomatopoeias. This study seeks to address these limitations by examining subordinate-level onomatopoeias of hierarchical structure, particularly those expressing emotions. Data was collected through a survey conducted using manga as a medium. Survey participants were from a diverse array of countries, shedding light on a deeper understanding of the universal characteristics of onomatopoeia across multiple languages.

Picture books, emotions, and culture: A comparative study of American and Japanese parent-child interactions

Moeko Waga Ozaki (Keio University)

While extensive research has explored the positive impacts of book reading on literacy development, there is a scarcity of research focused on parents’ verbalization of emotions during picture book readings. Comparative studies regarding language and cultural differences in this context are also lacking. To address this research gap, this study recorded video footage of American and Japanese parents reading the wordless picture book "Found." (Newman & Day, 2018) to children aged 2 months to 7 years. Subsequently, the study employed mixed-method analysis to examine how parents expressed the emotions of the characters in the book.

The qualitative analysis was conducted from the perspective of Emotion Socialization, a subdomain of Language Socialization. Emotion Socialization focuses on the acquisition of children's emotional expression and social interactions, through parental responses to children’s emotions, parents’ emotional expression, and dialogues about emotions (Eisenberg et al., 1998). This study specifically focused on (3). The results revealed that American parents utilized a broader emotional vocabulary compared to their Japanese counterparts and placed a stronger emphasis on narrating and discussing the emotional highs and lows experienced by the story's characters. Conversely, Japanese parents made limited references to emotions and provided fewer detailed explanations of emotional changes.

These findings challenge preconceived assumptions that suggest American parents are more information-oriented, while Japanese parents prioritize interpersonal relationships. The results imply that how parents from various cultural backgrounds emotionally engage their children during the reading experience can be significantly influenced by the nature of the book's content and style.