Session :
Arakawa A. : " Micro-ethnography of self-adaptor in narrative communication - PA [x/34]
Arakawa, Ayumu
(Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto)
Micro-ethnography of self-adaptor
in narrative communication
Although researchers have related self-adaptors to internal expression
(Ekman and Friesen, 1969) or thinking (Fujii, 2000), it is generally
accepted that self-adaptors are not related to the social situation
or speech. This paper investigated the effect of the existence of a
listener on the speaker’s self-adaptors, and the relationships between
self-adaptors and the content of speech.
Ten pairs of female students talked with each other about two
animated films under both face-to-face (FtF) and non-FtF conditions.
They were videotaped to measure self-adaptors. Brief self-adaptors
were cut-up using the software “mivurix”, and their characteristics
were examined. Continuous self-adaptors were excluded because of
the diffi culty in judging their beginning and end.
(1) The effect of the existence of a listener on the speaker’s
self-adaptors : The mean number of self-adaptors was 4.84 in the
FtF condition and 3.68 in the non-FtF condition. Adaptors were
more frequent in the FtF condition than in the non-FtF condition
according to Wilcoxon’s rank sum test. This suggests that a selfadaptor
is not a simple expression of internal feelings, but is
affected by the social situation.
(2) The relationships between self-adaptors and speech
content : The analysis using “mivurix” showed that selfadaptors
synchronized with the following types of utterance :
(1) disfl uencies (e.g.., fi lled or unfi lled pauses ; 51/162), (2)
reference to vagueness (e.g., “how do you say” ; 52/162), (3)
sentence connectors (e.g., “and then” ; 51/162), and (4) laughing
(41/162). The examination of the position of sentence adaptors
showed that self-adaptors were less frequent at the beginning of
a sentence than in the middle or at the end. This shows that the
production of self-adaptors is affected by the content of speech.
