Cover not available

In:Emancipatory Pragmatics: Innovative approaches to pragmatics incorporating the concept of “ba”
Edited by Yoko Fujii, William F. Hanks, Sachiko Ide, Scott Saft and Kishiko Ueno
[Culture and Language Use 24] 2025
► pp. 196–226

Get fulltext
PDF logo with download linkDownload Chapter PDF

The fun of repeating

Using ba theory to explore how Japanese speakers jointly engage in conversational playfulness

 | Rikkyo University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 2 December 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.24.08mac
Abstract
This chapter explores cross-speaker repetition in Japanese conversations. It focuses on how interactants repeat each other’s utterances in a playful and mutually entertaining manner in five different ways, hence creating amusement along with a sense of ease and a bond. Cross-speaker repetition is often viewed negatively from Western perspectives for lacking in originality or uniqueness. To provide a new lens to reinterpret this practice, this study applies ba theory. In ba-oriented languages, interactants embed themselves in ba (space) and a state of non-separation between self and other emerges. By demonstrating how cross-speaker repetition connects utterances and speakers, this chapter reinforces the significance of playful repetition in having positive impacts on the atmosphere and interactants’ relationships in Japanese conversations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies
    • 2.1Cross-speaker repetition in Japanese conversation
    • 2.2Humor in Japanese conversation
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Analysis of playful cross-speaker repetition
    • 4.1Teasing
    • 4.2Reacting to a tease
    • 4.3Savoring echo
    • 4.4Developing humor
    • 4.5Enjoying repetition
  • 5.Why cross-speaker repetition is entertaining and has positive impacts on interactants’ relationships in Japanese: With ba theory
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (44)
References
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boxer, D., & Cortés-Conde, F. (1997). From bonding to biting: Conversational joking and identity display. Journal of Pragmatics, 27, 275–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, P. (1999). Repetition. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9(1–2), 223–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1998). Language play. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, J. M. (2006). Introduction. In J. M. Davis (Ed.), Understanding humor in Japan (pp. 1–14). Wayne State University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duff, P. A. (2014). Repetition in foreign language classroom interaction. In J. K. Hall & L. Stoops Verplaetse (Eds.), Second and foreign language learning through classroom interaction (pp. 109–138). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferrara, K. W. (1994). Therapeutic ways with words. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fujii, Y. (2012). Differences of situating self in the place/ba of interaction between the Japanese and American English speakers. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(5), 636–662. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). “Ko o kitai to suru gengo koodoo” to “ba o kitai to suru gengo koodoo”: Eigo, chuugokugo, nihongo, kankokugo, taigo no hikaku yori [“Agent-based language use and “ba-based language use”: From the discourse perspectives of English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai]. The Japanese Journal of Language in Society, 21(1), 129–145.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fujii, Y., Kim, M., Panpothong, N., Phakdeephasook, S., Mochizuki, Y., & Kurogo, Y. (2025) . Situating self and others in task-based interaction: A cross-linguistic study through ba theory. In Y. Fujii, W. F. Hanks, S. Ide, S. Saft & K. Ueno (Eds.), Emancipatory pragmatics: Innovative approaches to pragmatics (pp. 347–380). In Culture and Language Use Series 24. John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gerhardt, C. (2009). Multimodal and intertextual humor in the media reception situation: The case of watching football on TV. In N. R. Norrick & D. Chiaro (Eds.), Humor in interaction (pp. 79–98). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geyer, N. (2010). Teasing and ambivalent face in Japanese multi-party discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(8), 2120–2130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haga, Y. (1962). Kokugo hyoogen kyooshitsu [Japanese expression classroom]. Tookyoodoo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanks, W. F., Ide, S., Katagiri, Y., Saft, S., Fujii, Y., & Ueno, K. (2019). Communicative interaction in terms of ba theory: Towards an innovative approach to language practice. Journal of Pragmatics, 145, 63–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haugh, M. (2010). Jocular mockery, (dis)affiliation, and face. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(8), 2106–2119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ide, S. (1992). On the notion of wakimae: Toward an integrated framework of linguistic politeness. In Mosaic of language: Essays in honor of Professor Natsuko Okuda (pp. 298–305). Mejiro Linguistic Society (MLS).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Roots of the wakimae aspect of linguistic politeness: Modal expressions and Japanese sense of self. In M. Meeuwis & J. Ostman (Eds.), Pragmaticizing understanding: Studies for Jef Verschueren (pp. 121–138). John Benjamins. [URL].
Ishikawa, M. (1991). Iconicity in discourse: The case of repetition. Text, 11(4), 553–580.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnstone, B. (1987). An introduction. Text, 7(3), 205–214.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Discourse analysis. Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, E. (1974). Conversational competence in children. Journal of Child Lang, 1(1), 163–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, M. (2014). Why self-deprecating? Achieving ‘oneness’ in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 69, 82–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). “Braid structure” conversations: Development of informal triadic conversation in Japanese. The Japanese Journal of Language in Society, 22(2), 15–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Cross-speaker repetition in Japanese: The development of conversation and participant relationship (Unpublished doctoral disseration). Japan Women’s University.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implication for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maynard, S. K. (1991). Pragmatics of discourse modality: A case of da and desu/masu forms in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics, 15, 551–582. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E. (2003). The geography of thought: How Asians and Westerners think differently…and why. Free Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norrick, N. R. (1987). Functions of repetition in conversation. Text, 7(3), 245–264.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Conversational joking: Humor in everyday talk. Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1994). Involvement and joking in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 22, 409–430. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oshima, K. (2013). An examination for styles of Japanese humor: Japan’s funniest story project 2010 to 2011. Intercultural Communication Studies, 22(2), 91–109.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schnurr, S., & Holmes, J. (2009). Using humor to do masculinity at work. In N. R. Norrick & D. Chiaro (Eds.), Humor in interaction (pp. 101–123). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (1995). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Straehle, C. A. (1993). “Samuel?” “Yes, dear?”: Teasing and conversational rapport. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Framing in discourse (pp. 210–230). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strauss, S., & Kawanishi, Y. (1996). Assessment strategies in Japanese, Korean, and American English. Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 5, 149–165. CSLIGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takanashi, H. (2011). Complimentary stylistic resonance in Japanese play framing. Pragmatics, 21(2), 231–264.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takekuro, M. (2006). Conversational jokes in Japanese and English. In J. M. Davis (Ed.), Understanding humor in Japan (pp. 85–98). Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, D. (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ueno, K. (2017a). Speaking as parts of a whole: Discourse interpretation from ba-based thinking (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Graduate School of Japan Women’s University.
(2017b). Nihonjin no kikite koodoo — “Yuugoo teki danwa” o jirei to shite [Listener behavior of Japanese: In the case of “merging discourse”]. Nihongogaku, 36(4), 116–126.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zawiszová, H. (2021). Manzai-like humor sequences: Exploring a particular form of highly collaborative conversational humor in Japanese interactions. The Gakushuin Journal of International Studies, 7, 41–69.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue