「プラス待遇表現のマイナス待遇化」 －発話機能を中心に－

Abstract

This paper examined the ‘negativizing of the expression of positive treatment’ from the TAIGU-communication perspective with a focus on articulation functions. The ‘negativizing of the expression of positive treatment’ refers to an act of indirect articulation where an speaker achieves a contradictory effect by treating the audience negatively by employing an expression that is used to treat the audience positively. Analyses of scenarios showed that the forms and effects of expression differed depending on the intent of the speaker. The indirect articulation, where a negative treatment was presented by using expression of positive treatment, contained four types of expression including ‘sarcasm’, ‘apathy’, ‘teasing’ and ‘criticism’. Depending on the intent, each of these four expressions implied an action within articulation, or negative treatment, by employing expression of positive treatment inappropriate for the level of the audience and the intent of expression. A valid ‘negativizing of the expression of positive treatment’ was driven by the psychological factors and the intent of the speaker. The subject of interest for the ‘negativizing of the expression of positive treatment’ was largely confined to the audience rather than the speaker or a person of subject. The effects of the articulation functions were divided into the expressions having a high possibility of deteriorating the relationship with audience, such as ‘sarcasm’ and ‘criticism’, and the ones having a lower possibility of doing so, such as ‘apathy’ and ‘teasing’. The study also found not only the ‘negativizing of the expression of positive treatment’ but also the ‘positivizing of the expression of negative treatment’, but investigating this will be left to the future studies.