The magic of politeness : addressee politeness in Japanese and in European Tu/Vos languages

Solomkina, Natalia (author)

This research in cross-cultural pragmatics investigates politeness towards the second person in Japanese and several European languages with the Tu/Vos (T/V) distinction. The study draws parallels between Japanese politeness strategies and the power-solidarity model and compares the usage of polite forms (mainly desu/-masu) based on multilingual texts in Japanese and European languages with T/V distinctions. A comparison is also drawn between the use of polite forms in the original Japanese text and in a text translated into Japanese, focusing on differences associated with speakers’ gender. Particular attention was given to the use of hortative and presumptive forms, which, as noted by some scholars, tend to be realized in addressee politeness even without evident rank or distance prerequisites.

• Language: English
• Keywords: cross-cultural pragmatics, politeness theory, Japanese politeness, parallel texts, corpus study
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 41-68
• Numbering: Vol. 16, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190480
• ISSN on article: 2232-3317
• DOI: 10.4312/ala.16.1.41-68
• Publication date in RUL: 04.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta linguistica asiatica
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-3317
• COBISS.SI-ID: 255902464

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Čar vljudnosti : vljudnost v japonščini in v evropskih Tu/Vos jezikih

Abstract

Raziskava s področja medkulturne pragmatike obravnava vljudnost pri naslavljanju druge osebe v japonščini in v več evropskih jezikih z razlikovanjem Tu/Vos (T/V). Študija vzpostavlja vzporednice med japonskimi strategijami vljudnosti in modelom moč–solidarnost ter na podlagi večjezičnih besedil v japonščini in evropskih jezikih z razlikovanjem T–V primerja rabo vljudnostnih oblik (predvsem desu/-masu). Poleg tega primerjava zajema rabo vljudnostnih oblik v izvirnem japonskem besedilu in v besedilu, prevedenem v japonščino, pri čemer se osredotoča na razlike, povezane s spolom govorcev. Posebna pozornost je namenjena rabi spodbudnih in domnevnih oblik, ki se, kot ugotavljajo nekateri raziskovalci, pogosto uresničujejo kot vljudnost do naslovnika tudi brez očitnih predpostavk hierarhičnega razmerja ali družbene distance.

• Keywords: medkulturna pragmatika, teorija vljudnosti, japonska vljudnost, vzporedna besedila, korpusna študija

Projects

• Funder: Japan Foundation
• Funding programme: Japanese Studies Fellowship