Honorific Basics
Politeness and Formality Levels
By コトバ君 ・ Japanese Honorifics ・ ~3 min read
Table of Contents
Politeness
Politeness, interpreted as achieving “smooth communication”, is a key theme throughout this course.
To help understand how polite a word or phrase is we will split Japanese politeness into three levels:
P⁻¹: has no honorifics.
Example: hanasu (talk)
P⁰: has addressee honorifics (horizontal distance).
Example: hanashimasu (talk)
P⁺¹: has both addressee honorifics (horizontal distance) and referent honorifics (vertical distance)
These three levels are purely to help understand how some words and forms are more polite than others. In reality politeness is more nuanced, some P⁻¹ expressions are more polite than others, and the same is true at P⁰ and P⁺¹ levels too.
Formality
Formality, interpreted as using “suitable communication” for the context, appears throughout the course.
To help understand how formal a word or phrase is we will split Japanese formality also into three levels:
F⁻¹: has no honorifics.
Example: hanasu (talk)
F⁰: has addressee honorifics (horizontal distance).
Example: hanashimasu (talk)
F⁺¹: has extended addressee honorifics (horizontal distance)
Example: mōshimasu (talk)
Again, the three levels are meant only to help understand approximately how formal a word of phrase is.
At each each level there is a spectrum of formality, with some F⁻¹ expressions being more formal than others, as is true of F⁰ and F⁺¹.
These three levels refer to language, but it can be helpful to think of common contexts where each level would belong.
At a bar with friends, at a workplace with colleagues, and a graduation ceremony, would be good example of contexts for F⁻¹ , F⁰ , and F⁺¹ language respectively.
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