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This book examines the linguistic and interactional mechanisms through which people bond or feel bonded with one another by analyzing situated discourse in Japanese contexts. The term \"bonding\" points to the sense of co-presence, belonging, and alignment with others as well as with the space of interaction. We analyze bonding as established, not only through the usage of language as a foregrounded code, but also through multi-layered contexts shared on the interactional, corporeal, and socio-cultural levels. The volume comprises twelve chapters examining the processes of bonding (and un-bonding) using situated discourse taken from rich ethnographic data including police suspect interrogations, Skype-mediated family conversations, theatrical rehearsals, storytelling, business email correspondence and advertisements. While the book focuses on processes of bonding in Japanese discourse, the concept of bonding can be applied universally in analyzing the co-creation of semiotic, pragmatic, and communal space in situated discourse.

This dissertation concerns \"small talk,\" which I define as the communicative genre of everyday talk exchanged among strangers and semi-strangers in the public spheres of American society. The main goal of this research is to provide an account of what goes on when small talk takes place and what it means for the people and the community to experience small talk with strangers in public places. The research is based on the observation and micro- analysis of naturally occurring data, video-recorded at service encounter contexts in Austin, Texas. Theoretically and methodologically, I work within the perspective of the ethnography of speaking, incorporating the theories and frameworks of conversation analysis, pragmatics, social interaction, and sociolinguistics. In examining the data, I analyze the linguistic resources and organizational forms taken in the transactional interactions and small talk interactions in the course of service encounters. I also examine the elements of humor and play involved in small talk. On a macro level, I locate small talk within the broader communicative patterns of American society and describe the process by which public and private spheres alternately emerge in small talk. I also describe the processes through which the sense of \"self\" and \"community\" are constituted, negotiated, and performed through ordinary, everyday talk in the public sphere. Ultimately, this study describes how discourse on an everyday face-to-face level both reflects and constructs the social and cultural realities of an aspect of American life.

Objective: Oral frailty is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, yet practical tools for early identification remain limited. The Oral Frailty 5-item Checklist (OF-5), recently standardized in Japan, does not account for severe tooth loss, which is a known risk factor for brain atrophy. We developed a revised version of the OF-5 that includes the criterion of having nine or fewer teeth. This study aimed to validate the revised OF-5 as a screening tool for detecting early brain structural changes related to dementia risk in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Methods: We analyzed 732 cognitively unimpaired participants from a population-based Japanese cohort (baseline 2016–2018). Oral frailty was assessed using both the original OF-5 and the revised OF-5. Brain volumes were measured by MRI and processed with FreeSurfer. Associations between oral frailty status and regional brain volumes were tested using multivariable-adjusted models, with further adjustment for nutrient intake and food consumption. Results: The revised OF-5, which adds severe tooth loss (≥9 teeth) as a criterion, showed greater sensitivity in detecting dementia-related brain changes than the original version. With the original OF-5, oral frailty was associated only with reduced fusiform gyrus volume (1.088% vs. 1.109% of estimated total intracranial volume [eTIV]; p < 0.05). In contrast, the revised OF-5 detected broader changes: orally frail participants showed significantly higher white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume (0.366% vs. 0.302% of eTIV; p < 0.05) and smaller volumes in the medial temporal lobe (1.824% vs. 1.856%), pars triangularis (0.401% vs. 0.412%), and fusiform gyrus (1.080% vs. 1.111%)—all p < 0.05 (FWE-corrected). These associations persisted after adjusting for nutrient intake and food consumption. Conclusions: The revised OF-5 improves identification of pre-symptomatic brain changes in cognitively healthy older adults, independent of nutrition. It may serve as a simple and practical tool for early screening of dementia risk in clinical and community settings.