By examining how the speakers convey their own ideas in TED Talks, this paper will attempt to explicate that the relation between the speaker and audience in the context of public speaking in American English and Japanese. Many studies in contrastive rhetoric and linguistic stylistics have pointed out that essay structure takes on different forms depending on cultures (Kaplan 1966, Leggett 1975, Honna 1989). In spoken language, not much is available on the comparison of the way of public speaking by cultures. Therefore, this study addresses how and why the different structure and linguistic resources are delivered in American English and Japanese in public speaking.
This study deals with 12 speeches of “TED Talks;” a webcast project of the public speaking, in American English and Japanese respectively. This study examines on 1) how the speakers construct episodes, and 2) how they employ words and expressions when they interact with the audience.
Results reveal that, American speakers present episodes by directly connecting with the thesis statement. They lead audience and emphasize certainty by using the rhetorical question which is accompanied by the words “yes” or “no.” On the other hand, Japanese speakers construct episodes toward the thesis statement. They share ideas and emotions by using the sentence-final particle ne which is a marker in showing a co-responding attitude, and the verbalization of inner speech by the non-use of Japanese honorific prefixes; desu/masu style. From the results of the analyses, this study will explicate the background factors which contribute to culturally patterned ways of speaking, specifically focusing on the relation between the speaker and audience in TED Talks.
References
Honna, N. 1989. Nihongo no buntai to eigo no buntai [The stylistics in Japanese and English]. Kooza: Japanese language and Japanese language education 5: 363-385. Meiji shoin.
Kaplan, R. 1966. Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. Language learning 16, 14. 1-20.
Leggett, A. 1975. Notes on the writing of scientific English and Japanese physics. 21, 11. The Physical Society of Japan.
