Honorifics

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 12 illustrates the honorific systems of Japanese and Korean. They have elaborate honorific systems that consist of addressee honorifics and reference honorifics, which further divide into subject and nonsubject honorifics. The addressee honorifics are marked on the predicate of a sentence, lack of which clearly indicates that the intention of the speaker is not to show respect linguistically to the hearer, playing roles similar to those of T-form and V-form in European languages. Subject honorifics and nonsubject honorifics are also marked on predicates in accordance with the subject or nonsubject (e.g., object) referent. Although almost identical, the honorific systems in the two languages differ greatly in their use, i.e., the interpersonal relationships of power (e.g. an age factor) and distance play different roles in these languages. This sociolinguistic difference between the two languages seems to reflect the value systems of each society.