Perceptions of communicative competence: Stancetaking and explicit metapragmatic discourse in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese

Abstract

This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese. Talking about appropriate language use is an inherently metapragmatic activity and therefore a product of metapragmatic stancetaking practices—here conceptualized as social actors’ positioning vis-à-vis potential and limitations of language use. The analysis shows that the interactants take stances toward (1) a general competence to speak Japanese, (2) a competence to translate into Japanese, and (3) competence in an honorific register. L2 users’ communicative competence is subject to interactional negotiation and evaluation. Naturalized links between competence, nationality, and identity are established through comparison, giving rise to intercultural discourse as a site for the (re-)production of native speaker ideologies.