What Makes the Japanese Inscrutable? A Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

The question of whether Grice's (1967) maxims are universally applicable is examined by looking at quantity implicatures in Japanese. It is hoped that a possible Western bias present in the formulation of some of the pragmatic principles can be investigated by looking at a broader range of linguistic and cultural contexts in this way. I present discussion of three hypotheses related to Japanese communication: (a) understatement is preferred -- maxim of quality, (b) the amount of information required to be specified in conversation is less than for English -- maxim of quantity, and (c) pragmatic forces may call for indirectness of expression -- maxim of manner. The data show that there are different strategies in Japanese for achieving the goals of communication.