~Conversing with Kanako~
Exploring linguistics with the storm goddess and the energetic teenager
Kanako was sitting in the garden behind Hitomi's House of Sashimi, elegantly sipping a pint of pale beer. She looked up when she heard dapper shoes on the gravel and smiled. "Ah, Miss Usami! How lovely to see you."
"Hi, Kanako!" Sumireko trotted over to the table, a glass of ramune and a melonpan in hand. She sat down and deposited her snacks. "It's windy today."
[Opening greetings such as these represent an easy, standardised way of easing into a conversation; a ritual of sorts. It is plain to see that Kanako uses a formal register while Sumireko uses casual speech ('hi'). She pays no attention to their relative stations in society, where a goddess may be said to "outrank" a human, and treats her as a peer.]
"Yes, plenty of wind." Kanako leaned forwards. "Tell me, is it true that you're looking for part-time work?"
[Some brief discussion of an inconsequential topic- the weather, in this case- is known as phatic communication, and is an important part of the opening greetings. Kanako sets a topic for the conversation immediately afterwards.]
"Found some, actually! I'm an appraiser for Rinnosuke now," Sumireko said proudly. "I tell him what his Outside World things are for and whether they might be worth anything."
[The correct grammatical structure would be 'I found some, actually!', but Sumireko leaves out the 'I' at the start. This is known as elision or elipsis.]
"Ah, I see," said Kanako. "And does that pay well?"
"Sort of. He pays me in old goods. Goods that can't sell for much here in Gensokyo, maybe, but could fetch a bit more in the Outside World," explained Sumireko.
[Although it may seem basic, turn-taking is a vital aspect of a conversation. The question-and-response arrangement, where Kanako asks a question and Sumireko responds to it, is known as an adjacency pair.]
Kanako smiled knowingly. "Well, good for you! And do you make a lot of money that way, my little opportunity? I- I mean opportunist?"
[Here, Kanako says a word in error and then corrects it to what she meant to say. This is a common practice; people can easily say the wrong thing, since there are no scripts or rehearsals in real life. Correcting your own speech this way is known as repairing. The initial erroneous utterance is referred to as a false start.]
"Er," Sumireko cleared her throat, "sometimes! I have to be careful, though. Don't want my parents to think I'm moving goods for the Yakuza, do I?"
['Er' is what linguists call a voiced pause, a non-fluency feature where Sumireko takes a moment to consider her response. These are seen as friendlier than just staying silent. The 'do I?' at the end is a tag question, which can be a friendlier-sounding end to a statement or an opening for response.]
"And we wouldn't want that, of course." Kanako took a deep breath. "Right. What's the state of Shinto in the Outside World, Sumireko? I know faith in the gods has been declining recently; it was what forced Suwako and myself to move here."
['Right' is a discourse marker, a word which indicates a break or a switch in the topic.]
Sumireko blinked. "Er, well..."
[Here, Sumireko uses a hedge; vague language which normally softens a point. Kanako comes in again before she gets the chance to say more.]
"I'm sure there are still some faithful in the Outside World," Kanako went on. "And while it wouldn't be much, I don't like missing out on their faith. Suwako and I are looking into a way to collect prayers and transport them to another location. Once we have that under control, all we'll need is a woman on the outside to deliver our faith." She smiled ever-so-slightly dangerously. "What do you say, Miss Usami?"
[Kanako has been holding the conversational floor for the last couple of paragraphs. This fancy-sounding concept just means she's been the main speaker. At the end, she hands the floor to Sumireko by inviting her to speak.]
Sumireko's eyes widened. "Your... woman on the outside? Well, I could... Maybe." She cleared her throat and made herself sound confident. "What would I have to do? IF I agreed?"
[Sumireko repeats part of what Kanako said as a way of covering while she thinks of her response. She uses what's known as modal language, 'maybe' and 'could', a common strategy to defuse a potential conflict or avoid comitting to anything. She then asserts herself more firmly, reminding Kanako indirectly that she hasn't yet agreed to work for her.]
"Nothing dangerous! All you'd need to do is bring us the faith every week, once it's built up. Given how often you visit Gensokyo, it should be easy," Kanako explained. "You'll have to take it along when you go to sleep, as you did with that fish last year."
[Discourse with a specific purpose, to get things done or talk about the process, is known as transactional language.]
Sumireko gulped down her ramune. "I think I left the oven on," she declared, moving quite rapidly out of her chair. "I'll talk to you later! 'Bye!"
[Sumireko uses stock conversation ending phrases. Usually these mark a polite cessation of wordification, but here they are used to run away with grace.]
Kanako sighed. "Don't be a stranger!" she yelled, helping herself to Sumireko's melonpan. "Mmm, very sweet. I'd be quite satisfied if she just brought me one of these every week."