This article analyzes how perceptions of communicative competence are discursively constructed in interactions of L1 and L2 users of Japanese. Talking about appropriate language use is an inherently metapragmatic activity and therefore a product of metapragmatic stancetaking practices—here conceptualized as social actors’ positioning vis-à-vis potential and limitations of language use. The analysis shows that the interactants take stances toward (1) a general competence to speak Japanese, (2) a competence to translate into Japanese, and (3) competence in an honorific register. L2 users’ communicative competence is subject to interactional negotiation and evaluation. Naturalized links between competence, nationality, and identity are established through comparison, giving rise to intercultural discourse as a site for the (re-)production of native speaker ideologies.

本文分析了日语母语使用者和二语使用者的互动中如何以话语方式构建交际能力的认知。谈论适当的语言使用是一种本质上的元语用活动，因此是元语用立场实践的产物——这里概念化为社会行动者相对于语言使用的潜力和局限性的定位。分析表明，交互者对以下方面采取立场：(1) 说日语的一般能力，(2) 翻译成日语的能力，以及 (3) 敬语的能力。L2用户的交际能力受到交互协商和评估的影响。能力、国籍和身份之间的自然化联系是通过比较建立的，从而产生了作为母语意识形态（再）生产场所的跨文化话语。