Honorifics In Japan

Politeness and respect are the two of the most fundamental elements that occupy the core of the Japanese society, and this has been reflected into its language with the use of honorifics. Being able to use honorifics appropriately almost certainly determines your place in society and your future, due to the fact that Japanese society is heavily structured around hierarchy. As the use of honorifics indexes to one’s backgrounds, it can therefore, be argued that the concept of honorifics highlights the “nature of Japanese society and culture” (Shigeko Okamoto 797). This essay will therefore examine the relationship between indexicality of honorifics and how it is used to criteria to judge others, through looking at two different aspects of honorifics.

In addition, it has a strong connotation with wakimae, which can mean discernment in English (Junko Saito 3172). The concept of wakimae derives from the notion that in certain situations, a person must use honorifics in order to maintain a social distance (Junko Saito 3172). For example, a new employee in a company must use the correct form of honorifics to his or her boss or anyone who is older or has power/influence than him/her. This is a typical example of wakimae, where the young employee must take into account of his surroundings; the fact that he is young and newly hired by the company and therefore has less power. Thus, it compels speakers to use honorifics, so that they will not speak in an improper manner (Barbara Pizziconi 63). If that employee fails to use honorifics appropriately, he or she will face social consequences, such as being excluded from the promotion list or getting excluded in the internal society in the company. This is a form of judgment, because the act of exclusion from promotion implies that one is not worthy enough to be promoted. The element of “worth” is deriving from one’s use of honorifics. Furthermore, that person may well be indexed to a low social class, or as uneducated. This is a clear indication of how people “judge” people based on the use honorifics, by directly and indexing them with their backgrounds such as social class and education.

Masao Watanabe did a social experiment, and converted a qualitative data (use of honorifics) to a qualitative data. According to Watanabe, the higher the value (score), appropriate forms of honorifics are used frequently. The very left column shows gender, age, education and social class. The middle column shows the frequency and appropriateness of the use of honorifics, converted into a