Introduction

Linguistic politeness is considered “political” behavior because it is an immediate means to avoid conflict, tone down potential aggression, and ensure smooth interaction. When polite expressions are systematized and incorporated into the grammar of a language, they are termed honorifics. (Honorifics are sometimes characterized as fossilized politeness.) Japanese is well-known for its elaborate honorific system, which encodes two orthogonal dimensions. One is addressee honorifics, conveying esteem to the addressee; the other is referent honorifics, when showing esteem to the referent person. By “referent person” is meant the person(s) picked out by an expression such as Alice Thompson in Alice Thompson is studying Japanese (see Figure 20.1). In this sentence, Alice Thompson refers to the person whose name is Alice Thompson. Different expressions can be used to refer to the same person, e.g. Ms. Thompson, Alice, the person I met yesterday, etc.

Two methods are used to show respect to the addressee or to the referent. One linguistically exalts the person, while the other depreciates someone (typically the speaker) with respect to the target (honored) person. The former is referred to as an honorific proper, and the latter variously as humilifics, humble forms, or non-subject honorifics, which will be discussed in Section 20.5.