Respect in Japanese Settings: An Analysis

Abstract

In the present work it is argued that respect is a key aspect of human interaction and social life in general which plays an important role in affecting every conversation. Japanese language, which at first glance seems particularly inclined to respect due to its linguistic characteristics (mainly the presence of a set of honorific registers called keigo) , constitutes a good subject of analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Starting from a definition of respect and its mechanism of function together with its relation with politeness and identity, two linguistic experiments was designed to acquire a corpus of Japanese conversations in which the relation of respect with language usage is analysed.