... cities and towns; Reh (2004) has scrutinised the linguistic landscape of Lira Municipality, U... more ... cities and towns; Reh (2004) has scrutinised the linguistic landscape of Lira Municipality, Uganda, with special regard to the readership of multilingual signs; Collins and Slembrouck (2004) discuss variable ways of perceiving and construing multilingual shop signs in immigrant ...
This paper analyzes the language of Japanese spam mails. Special focus is on one specific type of... more This paper analyzes the language of Japanese spam mails. Special focus is on one specific type of spam: make-believe dating invitations by women looking for physical relationships with male partners. A corpus of 434 spam mails was compiled between 2009 and 2012. Looking at two of these messages in detail, the paper examines the specific properties of this type of spam. These include linguistic features commonly associated with computer-mediated communication (CMC) and Japanese women's language. Their function is to increase the "authenticity" of the messages. In a second step, I analyze how spam mail writers in their messages deal with the problem of portraying female sexuality and desire, with a special focus on the role of linguistic taboos and transgressions thereof.
This paper looks at communication between staff and residents in a Japanese elderly care facility... more This paper looks at communication between staff and residents in a Japanese elderly care facility. It discusses the role of politeness in this special type of health care setting from a cross-cultural perspective. Starting with a review of previous literature on the topic, some basic characteristics of communication between staff and residents in nursing homes are outlined. The overall conditions that apply in the caring context with regard to linguistic politeness are described on the basis of Brown and Levinson's framework. The main part of the paper presents speech data from a Japanese nursing home, analyzed in direct comparison with data from other cultural contexts. In so doing, an attempt is made to outline some common communicative features in institutional elderly care. The summarizing discussion focuses on the question of whether the special conditions of institutional elderly care may indeed generate very similar types of communication across different cultural settings.
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 20 (1): 69-89, 2010
This paper looks at compliance-gaining interaction in a Japanese elderly care facility from a con... more This paper looks at compliance-gaining interaction in a Japanese elderly care facility from a conversation analytical point of view. Focus is on the various ways compliance is sought for by the caring staff with getting the residents out of bed and starting the daily morning care procedures. Three extracts are discussed in detail. The analysis shows how the residents in all three cases display clear signs of resistance to get up, but finally have to submit to the planned course of actions pursued by the care workers. A closer look at how this is played out in interaction suggests that the residents' compliance is enforced rather than gained.
This book studies communication in institutional eldercare. It is based on audio-recorded interac... more This book studies communication in institutional eldercare. It is based on audio-recorded interactions between residents and staff in a Japanese care facility. The focus is on the morning care routines, which include getting the residents out of bed and ready for the day. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the analysis explores the characteristics of care communication as they become manifest in the interactional small print. Topics include the use of terms of address and formal speech, the basic organisation of openings and closings, the difficulties of talking while working—and, at times, working while talking—and tempo differences between residents and staff as they move along between bed and breakfast. The research findings are contextualised with results from previous studies, tracing significant features and explanation for deviant cases.
... cities and towns; Reh (2004) has scrutinised the linguistic landscape of Lira Municipality, U... more ... cities and towns; Reh (2004) has scrutinised the linguistic landscape of Lira Municipality, Uganda, with special regard to the readership of multilingual signs; Collins and Slembrouck (2004) discuss variable ways of perceiving and construing multilingual shop signs in immigrant ...
This paper analyzes the language of Japanese spam mails. Special focus is on one specific type of... more This paper analyzes the language of Japanese spam mails. Special focus is on one specific type of spam: make-believe dating invitations by women looking for physical relationships with male partners. A corpus of 434 spam mails was compiled between 2009 and 2012. Looking at two of these messages in detail, the paper examines the specific properties of this type of spam. These include linguistic features commonly associated with computer-mediated communication (CMC) and Japanese women's language. Their function is to increase the "authenticity" of the messages. In a second step, I analyze how spam mail writers in their messages deal with the problem of portraying female sexuality and desire, with a special focus on the role of linguistic taboos and transgressions thereof.
This paper looks at communication between staff and residents in a Japanese elderly care facility... more This paper looks at communication between staff and residents in a Japanese elderly care facility. It discusses the role of politeness in this special type of health care setting from a cross-cultural perspective. Starting with a review of previous literature on the topic, some basic characteristics of communication between staff and residents in nursing homes are outlined. The overall conditions that apply in the caring context with regard to linguistic politeness are described on the basis of Brown and Levinson's framework. The main part of the paper presents speech data from a Japanese nursing home, analyzed in direct comparison with data from other cultural contexts. In so doing, an attempt is made to outline some common communicative features in institutional elderly care. The summarizing discussion focuses on the question of whether the special conditions of institutional elderly care may indeed generate very similar types of communication across different cultural settings.
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 20 (1): 69-89, 2010
This paper looks at compliance-gaining interaction in a Japanese elderly care facility from a con... more This paper looks at compliance-gaining interaction in a Japanese elderly care facility from a conversation analytical point of view. Focus is on the various ways compliance is sought for by the caring staff with getting the residents out of bed and starting the daily morning care procedures. Three extracts are discussed in detail. The analysis shows how the residents in all three cases display clear signs of resistance to get up, but finally have to submit to the planned course of actions pursued by the care workers. A closer look at how this is played out in interaction suggests that the residents' compliance is enforced rather than gained.
This book studies communication in institutional eldercare. It is based on audio-recorded interac... more This book studies communication in institutional eldercare. It is based on audio-recorded interactions between residents and staff in a Japanese care facility. The focus is on the morning care routines, which include getting the residents out of bed and ready for the day. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the analysis explores the characteristics of care communication as they become manifest in the interactional small print. Topics include the use of terms of address and formal speech, the basic organisation of openings and closings, the difficulties of talking while working—and, at times, working while talking—and tempo differences between residents and staff as they move along between bed and breakfast. The research findings are contextualised with results from previous studies, tracing significant features and explanation for deviant cases.
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Papers by Peter Backhaus
Books by Peter Backhaus