Abstract

Every culture has its own repertoire of characteristic discourse patterns. In a discourse, authenticity, which is related to socio-pragmatic strategies, is also culturally influenced. As is often noted, Japanese discourse patterns deviate from the Western norm in that the source of the influential view is intentionally blurred so that it is not easily traceable to its asserters. When the decision process is criticized, people concerned can say, “the mood had the last say in our discussion.” This discourse pattern is referred to as atmospheric dominance. The purpose of this research is to identify sources of the phenomenon through philological research, citing data from the Seventeen-Article Constitution (compiled in 604), Manyousyu (the 8th century anthology of poetry), Kojiki (the oldest chronicle, compiled around the 8th century), and Nihon Shoki (the second oldest chronicle, completed approximately 8th century). Our main point is that the concepts of Wa (harmony) and kotodama (language spirits) pertain to and constitute atmospheric dominance, which are defined with semantic metalanguage. This research clarifies how these two concepts are intertwined and work behind atmospheric dominance by citing documentaries, monologues, and newspaper articles, including the delay of publication of the meltdown incident in 2011.

Highlights

  • Every culture has its own repertoire of characteristic discourse patterns

  • Its antonyms are as follows: (2) a. not genuine, not based on facts, unreal b. inaccurate, unreliable, The process of consensus- forming in a group, can be characterized by four conditions: (i) the decision process and the compromising process before reaching a conclusion are clearly recognizable to each participant, (ii) the authenticity of a statement increases as the amount of supporting data accumulates, (iii) the source of an influential view is traceable to its asserter, and (iv) each participant recognizes his or her own role in consensus- forming

  • Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) President Naomi Hirose apologized for his company’s cover-up of using the word “core melt down.”. He said that it was revealed that Mr Shimizu TEPCO president at that time instructed on 14 March 2011 not to describe the reactor damage using the word “meltdown.” Officials at that time were aware that 25-55% of the fuel had been damaged, and the threshold for which the term ‘meltdown’ became an appropriate (5%) had been greatly exceeded. told the media: “I would say it was a coverup

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Summary

Introduction ― Authenticity-Blurring in Consensus-Forming

The objective of this section is twofold: first, to clarify the importance of authenticity in serious discourse and the Japanese deviation from this norm; second, relating to this deviation, to identify some cultural sources pertaining to this particular pattern prevailing in Japanese discourse

Authenticity in Serious Discourse and Its Antonyms
Identification of Sources of the Authenticity-Blurring Mechanism
Documentary of Battleship Yamato
Findings
Conclusion

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