Contrastive dialectological research on honorific usage in various dialects of Western Japan

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13047
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02070:Japanese linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Momoyama Gakuin University of Education (2023); Konan Women's University (2020-2022)
• Principal Investigator: SAKAI Masashi 桃山学院教育大学, 人間教育学部, 准教授 (20823777)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 方言敬語 / 敬語運用 / 地理的分布 / 対照方言学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It has been pointed out that Western Japanese dialects often use honorific forms.However, the details of the use of honorific language, such as the rate of use of honorific forms, were not disclosed.In this study, we found that there is no geographical continuity in the usage rate of this honorific form north of Kansai (Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama) and east of Kansai (Gifu), as well as in the Sanyo and Shikoku regions west of Kansai. It was revealed that there is geographical continuity between the Sanin regions.

This result suggests that how honorific forms are used is not necessarily the same as how they are disseminated and received, and can be considered one of the significant results of this research.

Free Research Field

方言学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、日本語の地理的変異がどのように形成されていくかといった問いに新たな知見を提供し得るものである。また、これまでどのような言い方をするかといった観点から議論されてきた当該分野に対して、ことばをどのように用いるかといった観点からの議論へと発展させることのできる資料を提示したものと位置づけられる。
特に、人間関係のありようを反映するとされる敬語形式の用い方に関する分析の結果は、日本国内にとどまらない多様な文化的・社会的背景を持つ人々との交流の中で、普段のコミュニケーションの在り方が異なることを理解するための一助となるとも考えられる。