The characteristics of "Kyowa" as a Japanese Conversation style, based on the comparisons of the use of backchanneles by bilingual Japanese and Americans

In this paper, the use of backchannels were investigated in relation to language and culture, based on twenty-four conversations in English and Japanese by twelve American bilingual persons; and twenty-four conversations in Japanese and English by twelve Japanese bilingual persons. The backchannels included in this study are 1) head nods alone; 2) joint responses with head nods and short verbalizations; 3) short verbalizations alone; 4) long back channels; and 5) nonverbal behaviors. The statistical analysis revealed that both Japanese and Americans use more joint responses when they talk in Japanese than in English. By presenting the several cases, the results were discussed in relation to the Japanese characteristics of the conversation style called "Kyowa. 11 The term "Kyowa" was created by Mizutani (1988) in contrast to English conversation style \u27\u27Taiwa (dialogue)" and was defined as the conversational style where sentences are constructed in cooperation by two participants. The frequent use of joint responses in Japanese conversation by American persons could be attributed to her/his acquisition of communication competence for surviving in Japan