Multiple saying of Japanese negation token iya iya iya as a compliment response

This study examines the multiple negation token iya as a compliment response in Japanese conversations. Compliment recipients can choose various methods of responding to compliments, including disagreement as a means of self-praise avoidance. Past studies reported that disagreement responses to compliments tend to be produced with qualifications or accounts. In Japanese, however, disagreements without verbal qualifications are pervasively observed, and those disagreements are frequently done with the multiple saying iya iya iya. Employing Conversation Analysis, this study examines 53 instances of the multiple iya as a compliment response. The aim of this study is twofold: First, it contributes to the research on compliment responses by examining the interactional purposes of responding to compliments with non-qualified disagreement. Second, this study extends existing research on multiple sayings by scrutinizing the use of the multiple saying iya iya iya in compliment sequences. The multiple iya responses are observed in two major sequential environments: 1) in response to compliments given in the third position after an answer turn, and 2) at a possible completion point of an extended telling. In both environments, the multiple iya is deployed to curtail the in-progress compliment sequence, while laughter serves as a vocal qualification to avoid complimentees’ complete disaffiliation with complimenters. These findings suggest that using the multiple iya as a compliment response is a way of managing asymmetries of participants’ epistemicity regarding the content of the compliments. • This study examines the multiple saying iya iya iya in Japanese conversations. • The multiple iya bears its own interactional workings distinct from the single iya. • The multiple iya can be deployed as a disagreement response to compliments. • The multiple iya serves to close compliment sequences. • The multiple iya manages participants' epistemic asymmetries.