The Japanese benefactive -te ageru construction in family and adult interactions

Abstract

This study investigates the Japanese benefactive -te ageru construction in three corpora of naturally occurring interactions: (1) the caregiver–child interaction at home, (2) workplace interactions among adult workers, and (3) various types of everyday conversations. Comparison of adult–adult and family interactions revealed a significant difference in the usage of the benefactive -te ageru construction. In adult-child interactions, the -te ageru construction is generally used in a directive or commissive. In contrast, such uses are rarely observed in adult–adult interactions. Importantly, it is also observed that the same individual may use the construction rather differently according to the speech setting. Qualitative analysis revealed that in family interactions, the construction works as a resource for language socialization, whereas in adult–adult interactions, the construction can function to mark interpersonal consideration. Systematic differences in the same speaker's usage patterns may suggest not only that they are sensitive to social norms, but also, from the point of view of multiple grammars as advocated in this special issue, that they store related grammatical constructions differently for different social situations and execute them appropriately.