Discourse, culture and extraordinary experiences: observations from a comparative, qualitative analysis of Japanese and UK English accounts of paranormal phenomena’

Yasushi Ohashi; Robin Wooffitt; Clare Teresa Jackson; Yumi Nixon

doi:10.1080/10570314.2012.714047

Discourse, culture and extraordinary experiences: observations from a comparative, qualitative analysis of Japanese and UK English accounts of paranormal phenomena’

Yasushi Ohashi, Robin Wooffitt, Clare Teresa Jackson, Yumi Nixon

Department of Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article examines communicative practices in Japanese and UK English accounts of extraordinary experiences. We compare the way in which specific narrative features are handled: description of the actual experience, and the completion of the narrative. We also examine some ways in which the accounts are rhetorically designed to address skeptical alternatives. The perspective is informed by an ethnomethodological focus on communicative competences in description. This comparison identifies differences between Japanese and UK English narratives. This focus on interactional features of the data is contrasted to macro cultural or psychological perspectives on the relationship between national culture and language.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	466-488
Number of pages	23
Journal	Western Journal of Communication
Volume	77
Issue number	4
Early online date	14 Jun 2013
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2012.714047
Publication status	Published - 2013

Access to Document

10.1080/10570314.2012.714047

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10570314.2012.714047

Cite this

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Discourse, culture and extraordinary experiences : observations from a comparative, qualitative analysis of Japanese and UK English accounts of paranormal phenomena’ . / Ohashi, Yasushi; Wooffitt, Robin ; Jackson, Clare Teresa et al.

In: Western Journal of Communication, Vol. 77, No. 4, 2013, p. 466-488.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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