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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 16:4 (2025) ► pp.518–547

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Societal pragmatics

Illocutionary and perlocutionary effects reinforced/mitigated by the use of the grammaticalized honorific system in Japanese

ORCiD logo with link | Tokyo University of Science
Published online: 23 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22087.ois
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, Jacob L. 2001. Pragmatics: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). 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, John. L. [1962]1975. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar 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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Japanese honorific system
    • 2.1Background; Analyzing Japanese honorifics
    • 2.2The use of the Japanese honorific system in interaction
      • 2.2.1Addressee honorifics
      • 2.2.2Referent honorifics
  • 3.A model of communicative interaction: Performing illocutionary acts and societal actions
    • 3.1Performing illocutionary acts
    • 3.2Performing societal actions in Japanese
  • 4.Reinforcing/mitigating illocutionary and perlocutionary effects
    • 4.1Examples from private discourse in the drama/manga, A Section Manager, Shima Kosaku
    • 4.2Examples from mediated, public discourse
      • 4.2.1Nikai’s press conference
      • 4.2.2Tokyo Medical Association’s extraordinary press conference
    • 4.3Abe’s speech of delivering a state of emergency
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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