Changes in Japanese Honorifics: Comparison with Dialectal Variants

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25884082
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Japanese linguistics
• Research Institution: Kansai University
• Principal Investigator: MORI Yuta 関西大学, 文学部, 准教授 (90709073)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 敬語 / 発話行為 / 命令表現 / 申し出表現 / 連用形命令 / 否定疑問形 / くれる

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I investigated changes in honorific expressions in standard Japanese, and compared them to dialects. I dealt with the use of such expressions in speech acts where speakers are required to be polite. The results are as follows.
Among dialectical expressions, ren-yo imperatives have recently come to be used in Hiroshima dialects, but there are no falling accent forms, and thus they form a different system to that in Osaka dialects. There is also a difference in the use of negative-question-imperatives, which emerged in the Meiji period and are used frequently in Kansai dialects but not in Tokyo dialects. Among offering expressions, "kureru" can be used in Kagoshima dialects when offering something to a superior, whereas in modern standard Japanese, it cannot be used when offering something. In other dialects, "kureru" can be used when offering something to inferiors but not to superiors.

Free Research Field

日本語学