Japanese/Korean Linguistics

This conversation-analytic study presents an empirical analysis of the use of a Japanese interjection, hora. It focuses exclusively on the use of an X-hora-Y format and attempts to reveal how participants use this format to achieve an interactional goal. The analysis demonstrates that the X-hora-Y format is used when the speaker has exclusive access to an initial action (=X), and the subsequent use of hora then serves as a signal to initiate an action (=Y) that re-presents or reformulates the previous action in a shareable way. This format is thus used as an international practice to redress the epistemic imbalance between the speaker and the hearer and to establish a shared understanding. In his seminal paper, Heritage (2012) exemplified how the epistemic imbalance between the speaker and the hearer motivates a sequence of interactions. Even within the X-hora-Y format, a similar motivation is at work.