Your politeness is my impoliteness

Abstract

It is often noted that usage of Japanese honorifics has been changing over the years (see, for example, Keigo no Shishin ‘Guidelines on honorifics’, Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyujo 2007), Yet, ‘average’ Japanese adults are expected to use honorifics correctly, observing their rules, or grammar. But do they all share the same understanding of honorific rules, especially given the ongoing change in usage? If they do not, why? What are its consequences? To address these questions, this study examines native speakers’ metapragmatic comments on honorifics expressed in blogs. In particular, it focuses on their understandings of grammatical categories and indexical meanings of honorifics – a topic largely understudied. The analyses show wide diversity in the interpretation of same honorific forms, including contrary interpretations concerning politeness, which is highly related to the divergent understandings of honorific categories, the ambiguity of concepts such as respect and politeness, and language ideologies that mediate honorific forms and their meanings.