In-depth studies on “hodo” used in honorific expressions in modern Japanese

Abstract

Based on practical example sentences included in the thesis, in-depth investigations and analysis are conducted about “hodo,” which has been used in honorific expressions of modern Japanese. Although several previous studies have examined the dictionary meaning or forms of “hodo”, they have not focused on usage patterns such as its time of appearance or morphological characteristics. This article primarily aimed to study and analyze the three aspects of “hodo” used in honorific expressions: ① the time of appearance, ② morphological characteristics, and ③ meaning and function of “hodo.” Related to these studies, practical example sentences are investigated and listed in the article.BR In summary, significant results are drawn in all three aspects in the article. First, the time of appearance is newly studied and found. Although “hodo” first appeared in 1906, the research found that it began to be used in 1986 as an expression as of today. Second, the morphological characteristics were investigated as follows: “hodo” can be classified into two cases in taking ① “nohodowo” and ② “nohodo.” The article describes that both cases of “hodo” take honorific forms as an action noun in front of “hodo”. The difference between the two cases is that in the former, most of the predicates were omitted, but in the latter, “onegaimoushiageru” was the most common. Additionally, a predicate in the latter case can be used without implying the meaning of requests. Third, the meanings and functions are found as follows: “hodo” has the meaning of “avoiding assertiveness and softening the expression” and has the function of a postposition.