Honorific speech in Japanese
The Japanese language has a system of honorific speech, referred to as, parts of speech one function of which is to show that the speaker wants to convey respect for either the listener or someone mentioned in the utterance. Their use is widely seen in a variety of business or formal social situations. Honorifics in Japanese can also be used to show unfamiliarity, or they can be used to show that the speaker is cultured and sophisticated enough to have mastered the ins and outs of the system. Japanese honorific titles, often simply called honorifics, consist of suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation.
The system is very extensive, having its own special vocabulary and grammatical forms to express various levels of respectful, humble, and polite speech. It closely resembles other honorifics systems found in the East Asian cultural sphere, such as honorifics in Korean.
Introduction
Japanese uses honorific constructions to show or emphasize social rank, social intimacy or similarity in rank. The choice of pronoun used, for example, will express the social relationship between the person speaking and the person being referred to, and Japanese often avoids pronouns entirely in favor of more explicit titles or kinship terms.Honorific speech is often longer, and sometimes much longer, than more direct speech. Some extreme, but not uncommon, examples include the following:
When asking a question: the first is casually between friends, the second is a junior person asking a superior in a formal meeting:
- いていい？
- かせていただけるとしいのですが。
- ごさい。
- ごのおいしげます。
Types of honorifics
Honorifics in Japanese, or, fall under three main categories: polite language, respectful language, and humble language, also translated as modest language. Linguistically the first is an addressee honorific, used for someone being talked to, and the latter two are referent honorifics, used for someone being talked about. Sometimes two more categories are also used, for a total of five categories: "courteous language" and "word beautification", but more often these are included in the above three: teichōgo as a kind of humble language, bikago as a kind of polite language. These two other categories use the same forms as the general categories, but are used in different contexts, and therefore are differentiated by some linguists. Each type of speech has its own vocabulary and verb endings.For example, the standard form of the verb "to do" is. This form is appropriate with family members and close friends. The polite form of, the addressee honorific, is. This form is appropriate in most daily interactions. When showing respect, such as when talking about a customer or a superior, however, the respectful word and its polite form nasaimasu are used, and when referring to one's own actions or the actions of a group member, the humble word itasu and its polite form are used. These respectful and humble words are referent honorifics, and thus can coexist with addressee honorific -masu.
Polite language
Polite language is characterized by the use of the sentence ending desu and the verb ending masu and the use of prefixes such as o and go towards neutral objects. Television presenters invariably use polite language, and it is the form of the language first taught to most non-native learners of Japanese.Polite language can be used to refer to one's own actions or those of other people.
Respectful language
Respectful language is a special form or alternative word used when talking about superiors and customers. It is not used to talk about oneself. For example, when a Japanese hairdresser or dentist requests their client to take a seat, they say "O-kake ni natte kudasai" to mean "Please sit down". However, they would use the verb rather than "O-kake ni naru" to refer to themselves sitting down. The respectful version of language can only be used to refer to others.In general, respectful language is directed at those in positions of power; for example, a superior at work, or a customer. It also implies that the speaker is acting in a professional capacity.
It is characterized by lengthy polite expressions. Common verbs may be replaced by more polite alternative verbs, for example, する, suru by なさる, nasaru, or 話す, hanasu by おっしゃる ossharu when the subject is a person of respect. Some of these transformations are many-to-one: く, iku, る, kuru, and いる, iru all become いらっしゃる, irassharu, and べる, taberu and む, nomu both become しがる, meshiagaru.
Verbs may also be changed to respectful forms. One respectful form is a modification of the verb with a prefix and a polite suffix. For example, む, yomu becomes o-yomi ni naru, with the prefix o- added to the i-form of the verb, and the verb ending ni naru. The verb ending -areru can also be used, such as yomareru.
Nouns also undergo substitution to express respect. The normal Japanese word for person becomes in respectful language. Thus, a customer would normally be expected to be referred to as a kata rather than a hito.
Humble language
In general, humble language is used when describing one's actions or the actions of a person in one's in-group to others such as customers in business. Humble language tends to imply that one's actions are taking place in order to assist the other person.Humble language is similar to respectful language, in substituting verbs with other forms. For example: suru becomes itasu, and morau becomes itadaku. These two verbs are also seen in set phrases such as dō itashimashite and itadakimasu.
Similar to respectful language, verbs can also change their form by adding a prefix and the verb "suru" or "itasu". For example, motsu becomes o mochi shimasu. The use of humble forms may imply doing something for the other person; thus a Japanese person might offer to carry something for someone else by saying o mochi shimasu. This type of humble form also appears in the set phrase o matase shimashita, "I am sorry to have kept you waiting", from mataseru with the addition of o and shimasu. Similarly, o negai shimasu, "please ", from negau, again with the addition of o and shimasu.
Even more politely, the form motasete itadaku literally means "humbly be allowed to carry". This phrase would be used to express the idea that "I will carry it if you please."
A distinction may also be made between humble speech where the intent is to raise up the recipient of an action, and where there is no specific recipient of the action, lowering the speaker instead with respect to the listener, as in the common phrase 電車が参ります at rail stations. In the case, the train itself is not lowered with respect to a specific recipient of the action of arrival; the humble language is merely a courtesy to the passengers hearing the announcement, whom the company is raising up by lowering itself. Some linguists distinguish this from kenjōgo, calling it instead teichōgo "courteous language", and defining it formally as:
This category was first proposed by Hiroshi Miyachi. Teichōgo, as an addressee honorific, is always used with the teineigo form, the politeness sequence being 行く, 行きます, 参ります.
In humble language, name suffixes are dropped when referring to people from inside one's group. Thus, Japanese-speaking company executives would introduce themselves and their team by saying "I am Gushiken, the president, and this is Niwa, the CEO", dropping the honorific that would otherwise be expected when referring to another person.
Similarly to respectful language, nouns can also change. The word, meaning "person", becomes. The humble version is used when referring to oneself or members of one's group, such as one's company; when humble language is split into the dual classification above, this is a kind of teichōgo as a courtesy to the out-group listener.
Respectful verbs
| meaning | dictionary form | polite | respectful | humble |
| see / look / watch | ||||
| meet | ||||
| be '1 | ||||
| be '1 | ||||
| come / go1 | ||||
| know | ||||
| eat / drink | ||||
| receive | 2 2 | |||
| give ' | ||||
| give ' | ||||
| do | ||||
| say | ||||
| put on | ||||
| sleep | ||||
| die | ||||
| ask | ||||
| visit |
Word beautification
Word beautification is the practice of making words more polite or "beautiful". This form of language is employed by the speaker to add refinement to one's manner of speech. Patricia Wetzel has pointed out that many of the Japanese grammarians who write about "beautification" are not talking about a set of specific forms in Japanese, but rather the pragmatic function of much of keigo that helps the person using it sound cultured or sophisticated. One aspect of keigo is adding the prefix o- or go- to a word and used in conjunction with the polite form of verbs. In the following example, o- before cha and senbei and the polite form of the verb are used to this effect. Generally o- is used before native Japanese words and go- is used before Sino-Japanese words, but there are exceptions.In finer classifications, the above example is classified as word beautification—rather than honorific speech—as the speaker is voicing a general opinion regarding tea and rice crackers and is not intentionally deferential towards the listener. In the following example, the speaker is directly referring to the listener and items received by them and is regarded as honorific language:
See the section on honorific prefixes, below, for further discussion.
Usage
Business
Honorifics are considered extremely important in a business setting. Training in honorifics usually does not take place at school or university, but directly at the company.In groups and out groups
When using polite or respectful forms, the point of view of the speaker is shared by the speaker's in-group, so in-group referents do not take honorifics. For example, members of one's own company are referred to with humble forms when speaking with an external person; similarly, family members of the speaker are referred to humbly when speaking to guests. Similarly, the out-group addressee or referent is always mentioned in the polite style.Mastery of politeness and honorifics is important for functioning in Japanese society. Not speaking politely enough can be insulting, and speaking too politely can be distancing or seem sarcastic. Children generally speak using plain informal speech, but they are expected to master politeness and honorifics by the end of their teenage years. Recent trends indicate that the importance of proper politeness is not as high as before, particularly in metropolitan areas. The standards are inconsistently applied towards foreigners, though most textbooks attempt to teach the polite style before considering to teach any of the other styles.
Intrafamilial address
Similar to how titles are used instead of personal pronouns when addressing a person of higher status, roles and kinship terms are used in intrafamilial settings where one can refer to other family members by using their role in relation to the speaker instead of a personal pronoun. For example, older relatives cannot be addressed as anata, kimi or simply by their name alone. Instead, a term denoting their relationship with the speaker or their name suffixed by an appropriate kinship term is used, such as otōsan when speaking to one's father. Those younger than the speaker can generally be addressed by using personal pronouns or their name. Thus, the choice of whether a family member can be addressed by using a personal pronoun, their name or their role is dependent on the position of the speaker within the family.Gender differences
Depending on the situation, women's speech may contain more honorifics than men's. In particular, in informal settings, women are more likely to use polite vocabulary and honorific prefixes, such as gohan o taberu to mean "eat rice", whereas men may use less polite vocabulary such as meshi o kū with exactly the same meaning. This is part of a general pattern of speech differences by sex. However, in many settings, such as in customer service, there will be little or no difference between male and female speech.Grammatical overview
Japanese has grammatical functions to express several different pragmatic registers. Not only politeness but also respectfulness, humility and formality can be expressed.Expressing politeness
There are three levels of politeness, plain or direct, polite or distal, and formal. Formal and polite can be combined. For example, for the sentence "This is a book",The informal style is used among friends, the distal or polite style by inferiors when addressing superiors and among strangers or casual acquaintances, and the formal style generally in writing or prepared speeches. The plain formal and informal styles of verbs are nearly identical, with a few grammatical differences, such as the verb de aru being used as a formal copula, and the preferential usage of verb stems to connect clauses instead of the "te form". Formal language in Japanese also uses different vocabulary and structures from informal language.
In some contexts, where both the imperfective and perfective tenses are acceptable, the perfective is considered more polite. This is only at the completion of an activity; common examples are ありがとうございました arigatō gozaimashita "thank you ", ご馳走様でした go-chisō-sama deshita "it was a feast ", 失礼しました shitsurei shimashita "I have been rude ". For example, when entering someone's office, one conventionally says 失礼します shitsurei shimasu, as the visit is not complete yet, while when exiting one may say either shitsurei shimasu or, more politely, 失礼しました shitsurei shimashita. Many phrases cannot be used in the perfective in this way, as the referent is as yet incomplete. For example, the standard greeting お早うございます ohayō gozaimasu "Good morning" cannot be said as ×お早うございました *ohayō gozaimashita "It was early", as it is used only during the morning.
Expressing respect
Further to this, there is another factor, respect, which is indicated in yet other ways.For each politeness level there are two respectful forms.
- The respect language form shows respect to the subject of the sentence.
- The humble language form gives respect to the object or to the listener by a variety of means, the most common being to humble the speaker.
The o-machi-suru humble forms carry an implication that the waiting or other activity is being done by the speaker for the benefit of the person being addressed. Thus a humble sentence is unlikely to take a third person subject. For example, a sentence like jon ga sensei o o machi suru is unlikely to occur.
Honorific titles
es and prefixes are used when referring to others in a conversation. They reflect not only the level of politeness chosen, but also the relative social rank or the degree of intimacy between people. For example, a person might refer to their classmate or colleague as Asada-san, but to their little son as Hideyo-chan ''. Referring to somebody without using a honorific is a sign of great informality or intimacy.The most common honorifics include:
| Honorific | Approximate equivalent | Used for |
| San | Mr. / Ms. | Adults of equal status, informally and formally |
| Sama | Sir / Ma'am | People of higher status |
| Kun | Boy, bro | People of junior status, boys, or among male friends |
| Chan | Little... | Small children, something or somebody cute, close friends |
| Tan | Widdle... | Babies, moe anthropomorphisms |
| Senpai | – | Senior colleague or classmate |
| Sensei'' | Mr./Dr./Professor/etc. | Authority figures |
Requests
Japanese requests and commands have many set forms depending on who is being addressed by whom. For example, the phrase "I ask your favor", can take various forms. At the bottom of the scale comeswhich might be used between male friends. Its more polite variant
might be used towards less familiar people or to superiors.
Going up in politeness, the phrase
means the same thing, but is used in business settings. It is possible to go further, replacing the polite 2=します with the humble 2=致します, to get
In extremely formal Japanese, such as that used on New Year's greeting cards, this may be replaced with an even more polite expression
When making requests, at the bottom of the politeness scale comes the plain imperative 2=「食べろ」 or 2=「食え」, literally "Eat!", a simple order to be said to an inferior or someone considered to have no choice, such as a prisoner. This form might convey anger. Similarly, the 2=の・ん だ suffix can make an order: 2=「食べるんだ」, or 2=「食うんだ」, "Eat!". To express anger, the suffix 2=やがる also exists: 2=「食いやがれ」, an extremely forceful and angry instruction to eat, expressing contempt for the addressee.
Negatives are formed by adding suffix na: taberu na "do not eat", gomi o suteru na: "do not throw away rubbish". Similarly, the negative of da, ja nai, can be used: taberu n ja nai.
More polite, but still strict, is the nasai suffix, which attaches to the i-form of the verb. This originates in the polite verb nasaru. Tabenasai thus is an order perhaps given by a parent to a child. This is often colloquially shortened to na, hence tabena. This form has no grammatical negative.
Requests can also be formed by adding to the "te" form of a verb. The plainest form adds kure, an irregular form of the verb kureru, to the te form. For example, tabete kure or kutte kure: "eat it", less forceful than "tabero". Negatives are made by using the negative "te" form: tabenaide kure or kuwanaide kure "don't eat it".
Going up one scale in politeness, the more polite verb kudasai is added. For example, tabete kudasai. With this polite form, the rough kū verb is unlikely to be used. Similarly, tabenaide kudasai: "please don't eat it".
A similar entry on the scale of politeness is made by using the imperative form of a polite verb. For example, meshiagaru, the polite verb for "to eat", when turned into meshiagare, the imperative, becomes the response to the set phrase itadakimasu.
Further, more polite forms are also possible. These involve the "i-form" of the verb rather than the "te form", and an honorific prefix. Beyond simply increased politeness, this form is more formal, and is used when addressing a group, or as a general instruction, rather than directed at a particular person. For example, tsukau, "use", becomes o tsukai kudasai: "please use this". In the case of phrasal verbs the honorific o appears before the entire phrase, not simply the verb, as in, from. Politeness can be carried even further by conjugating kudasaru into its masu form and using the imperative, which becomes "o tsukai kudasaimase." The most polite form of this would probably be along the lines of "o tsukai ni natte itadakimasen deshou ka." "You will probably not bestow the favor of honorably using this?" Language like this, however, is rarely used.
Other ways to increase politeness involve indirection of the request: kore o tsukau you ni o negai shimasu: "I humbly request that you think about using this".
Honorific prefixes
The bikago prefixes and are honorific prefixes which are applied to nouns and in some contexts to verbs. In general, go- precedes Sino-Japanese words, while o- precedes native Japanese words. There are many exceptions, however, where the o- prefix is used for Sino-Japanese words, including,,,,, and many others. There is also one common exception for the go- prefix,, where the main word is clearly not of Chinese origin.These prefixes are used for two purposes: to speak respectfully about a stranger or social superior's family, belongings, or actions ; or to speak in a generally refined or polite way.
Prefix usage
Although these honorific prefixes are often translated into English as "honorable" this translation is unwieldy and cannot convey the true feeling of their use in Japanese. These prefixes are essentially untranslatable, but their use indicates a polite respect for the item named or the person to or about whom one is speaking. A shorter translation is "dear"—for example, translates idiomatically as "your dear child"—and a similar sentiment is expressed in such English expressions as "Would you care for a spot of tea?" or "Would you care for a little tea?".As with honorific word forms and titles, honorific prefixes are used when referring to or speaking with a social superior, or speaking about a superior's actions or possessions, but not usually when referring to oneself or one's own actions or possessions, or those of one's in-group.
For example, when referring to one's own order at a restaurant, one would use chūmon, but when referring to a customer's order, the restaurant staff would use go-chūmon. Similarly, kazoku means "my family", while go-kazoku means "your family".
There are some words which frequently or always take these prefixes, regardless of who is speaking and to whom; these are often ordinary items which may have particular cultural significance, such as tea and rice. The word meshi, the Japanese equivalent of Sino-Japanese go-han, is considered rough and masculine. The honorific o- is also sometimes attached to verb stems of native verbs to refer to a specific item associated with the verb, as in and お握り、握る and.
In rare cases, both a base form and honorific are in use with different readings. A notable example is and ; plain ri-yaku is sometimes used, but go-ri-eki is generally not. The former, an everyday term, uses the usual kan-on reading, while the later, a specialized religious term, uses the older go-on reading.
Honorific prefixes can be used for other items, possibly for a comic or sarcastic effect. Overuse of honorific prefixes may be taken as pretentious or simpering, and, as with other polite speech, they are more used by women than men.
In tea ceremony, common ingredients and equipment always take the honorific o- or go-, including water, hot water, and tea bowls. However, these terms are often heard in daily life as well.
Foreign loanwords seldom take honorifics, but when they do o- seems to be preferable to go-. Examples are o-bīru, which can sometimes be heard at restaurants, o-kādo, which is often heard at supermarkets and department stores, and o-sōsu. Other words take go-, such as go-akusesu, common on websites.
Verbs
For verbs, a respectful request—or rather a polite command—addressed to a group may be formed by using 御〜, followed by the masu-stem, followed by. For Chinese verbs, the prefix is generally pronounced go-, while for native Japanese verbs the prefix is pronounced o-. This is generally written in kana. The most commonly heard use is , which is used pervasively in recorded announcement in Japan, but other verbs are also used frequently, such as .The respectful prefix can also be used in honorific verbs, when speaking about a superior, in which case it is formed by o-, followed by the masu-stem, followed by , as in.
Female names
O- was also commonly used as an [|honorific prefix] to female given names in pre-war Japan, particularly in combination with dropping common suffixes such as . For example, would be referred to as, would become, would become, and so on. This was a less polite honorific than -san. For example, a female servant named Kikuko would be referred to as O-kiku rather than Kikuko-san. This usage has disappeared in current Japanese, and has been replaced by using the diminutive suffix -chan instead, as in Aki-chan for Akiko.Rare forms
There is also a rarer prefix mi-, which is mostly used in words related to gods and the emperor, such as and. However, in this context it is often replaced by, and then a further 御 may be added, as in. Sometimes the reading is ambiguous—for example, may be pronounced either mi-tama-ya or o-tama-ya. When pronounced as mi-, the prefix is usually written in kanji, but in some case it is written in hiragana, with a notable example being often being written as み仏, partly to avoid confusion with the incorrect reading *go-butsu.The honorific prefix generally does not fall in the middle. In compounds, where the honorific would fall in the middle, the honorific is almost always dropped. For example,, but, not. There are exceptions, however, such as ; note that is also used. Other notable exceptions include the words,, and.
Rarely, 御 is used instead as an honorific suffix, notably in and.
The character 御 has other readings, notably on and gyo, as seen in 'your company' and 'imperial garden', but these are not productive.
Another prefix, pronounced and potentially confused with 御〜 when written in hiragana, is, which also has affectionate connotations, but is a separate term and not productive. It was previously used for endearment for women's names, and today is most notable in, which are frequently written as お多福／お亀, which may be mistaken for hiragana forms of ×御多福／×御亀. The character 阿 is more frequently pronounced a, and used especially in words and names from Sanskrit, such as the a in the syllable "aum", hence unfamiliar in this use, creating the potential for confusion.
In one case, a triple honorific prefix may used, namely in the word o-mi-o-tsuke, a polite term for miso soup, which is ordinarily referred to as. This may be spelt in kanji in multiple ways, including, but also as , and the 御御御〜 spelling may be considered ateji, punning on 御 and 味 both having the reading mi.
English analogs
While English has different registers, its levels of formality and politeness are not as formalized or as clearly defined as in Japanese. However, they can be instructive in gaining a feel for Japanese speech. English imperatives range from very blunt, to very indirect and elaborate.Similarly, changes in word use can make language more flowery or respectful—rather than "Do you know?", one might say "Are you familiar with?" or "Are you acquainted with?", which convey some of the feel of 知る shiru versus ご存知だ go-zonji da. In English, words of Germanic origin are generally plainer, those from French are generally more flowery, and those from Latin are more formal and technical ; similarly in Japanese, words of Japanese origin are plainer, while words of Chinese origin are more formal. These are not hard-and-fast rules, but they give a feel for the gradations.
Humble language is less common in modern English, but is found in some contexts, such as guests saying "I am honored to be here," and in various valedictions such as "Sincerely", which were formerly more formal and humble, with such forms as "I am, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant," and the like.
Some scholars argue that while honorific usage is necessarily affected by culturally specific values systems, the linguistic principles regulating its usage are not necessarily distinct from those of other languages, including languages with fewer formalized honorifics, such as English.