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Abstract

Abstract

The present paper describes the language- and culture-specific communicative practices in Japanese facilitated by the grammaticalized honorific system in the study of societal pragmatics (Mey 2001). The description develops existing descriptions by showing how the use of an honorific or a plain form functions in interaction as a societal action which situates the interaction within the societal norms of seniority, acquaintance/affiliation and (in)formality. The analysis in the framework of Austin’s ([1962]1975) effect-based speech act theory is illustrated using several examples which show that there is an interplay between performing an illocutionary-act type and performing a societal action: illocutionary and perlocutionary effects are reinforced when the illocutionary-act type and the societal action are compatible; but mitigated illocutionary and perlocutionary effects result when they are incompatible.

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2025-06-23
2025-07-19
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