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Contemporary Japanese attitudes toward honorifics (keigo)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Patricia J. Wetzel
Patricia J. Wetzel
Affiliation:
Portland State University
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Abstract

This article describes results from a subjective reaction test of Japanese speakers' attitudes toward keigo ‘polite language’. Hypotheses regarding attitudes toward “correct” language were for the most part verified, whereas attitudes toward “incorrect” forms were decidedly mixed. These results provide a first step in ascertaining attitudes toward a set of forms that are said to be in a state of flux in contemporary Japan. Also impinging on interpretation of the data are questions of descriptive terminology and culture. Such issues provide additional insight into the controversy within sociolinguistics over quantitative description and normative explanation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 1994 , pp. 113 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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