Introduction

Selection between the plain and polite speech styles not only reflects interlocutors’ social relationships but also constructs them. Thus, linguistic interaction style is dynamic vis-à-vis the shifting and evolving of the interlocutors’ relationships. For example, it is commonly observed that interlocutors who are unfamiliar with each other begin their conversation with the polite style, and, as they become familiar, switch to the plain style. Conversely, familiar interlocutors habitually use the plain style, but when the conversational topic becomes grave (e.g. a serious disputes, a death), they may switch to the polite style.

Although speech styles can shift back and forth even during a single span of conversation, such shifts are by no means arbitrarily made. In Japanese, a style shift is normally initiated by the superior interlocutor (Matsumura and Chinami 1998), and when an interlocutor of a lower rank initiates a shift instead, different strategies are required (Neustupný 1982). This chapter introduces several previously proposed analyses of speech style shift, and is followed by my analysis of one of its most prominent functions, viz. simultaneous expression of deference and intimacy towards the addressee.

Affective distance

Ikuta (1983) points out that previously proposed analyses, which claim the polite style to be an indication of politeness or formality, are inadequate because they cannot account for speech style shifts in a conversation in which the social and situational conditions remain constant. Instead, she characterizes the basic function of the polite style metaphorically to be distancing (see Section 21.4): speech styles are selected to express whether the speaker considers the addressee close (plain style) or distant (polite style).