Structure of centre of attention in a multi-party conversation in Japanese

Applying Włodarczyk A. & Włodarczyk H.’s Meta-Informative Centering Theory, the paper describes how a multi-party conversation in Japanese is formed among participants as they keep adding new pieces of information. It is shown here that the CA structure in the multi-party conversation in this case is identical to the expanded speech structure of the MIC Theory, as a result of analyzing discourse examples collected from the actual meeting conducted in Japanese in a framework of topics and comments as well as central and peripheral attentions. Keywords: Meta-Informative Centering Theory; Multi-Party Conversation; Science Café held in Hiroshima; Centre and Peripheral Attention; Shared Centre of Attention

• Affiliations: 1: Tokyo Institute of Technology