Navigating Language in Parliamentary Practice: Between Courtesy and Conflict in Japan

Tanaka explores the language used in Japanese parliamentary interactions to shed light on the use of language as a tool by politicians to convince, negotiate, persuade, as well as deliver aggression and criticism. By looking at the speech of politicians in the parliament of Japan, Tanaka demonstrates the unbreakable link between language and politics.

Despite the association of Japan as a society in which linguistic politeness is paramount, Tanaka highlights the many examples of impoliteness in parliament and illustrates the idea that Japanese parliamentarians use language strategically to accomplish their political agenda. Analysis of questions and answers in committee meetings demonstrate that regardless of which party they belong to, those in opposition use the most antagonistic strategies. The book also shows the ways in which politicians deliver face-attacks and demonstrates that impoliteness can be delivered without insults or open aggression, using extremely polite language, honorifics, or sarcasm and irony.

Lastly, the book also reveals that face-attacks are sent by members of both the government and opposition. As a book that explores the commonly overlooked phenomenon of impoliteness in Japan in the context of parliamentary interactions, it is a valuable resource for researchers and academics in the field of pragmatics and discourse analysis as well as a viable resource for undergraduate and graduate students.

Lidia Tanaka is currently Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, in the Department of Languages and Linguistics at La Trobe University, where she taught in the Japanese program for more than twenty years.