The Japanese Keigo Verbal Marker - Vol. 4 No. 2 - Research paper

Oct 15, 2026

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This research studies Japanese keigo in the office domain through a qualitative case study at XXX Corporation Japan. Keigo is analyzed across sonkeigo, kenjougo, and teineigo using linguistic and nonlinguistic factors. Data consist of natural conversations collected via recording, observation, and interviews. In total, 20 business-field respondents completed questionnaires and five informants participated in interviews. Findings identify lexical, morphological, and syntactical verbal markers, with nonlinguistic influences including position gap and age.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Sociolinguistics and language users

Keigo in Japanese speech levels

Method and Material

Data collection approach

Recording and conversation analysis

Advances in Language and Literary Studies Vol. 4 No. 2; July 2013 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Japanese Keigo Verbal Marker Ely Triasih Rahayu Japanese Language Study Program Jenderal Soedirman University Jl. Dr. Soeparno Purwokerto-53125 Indonesia [E-mail: hikarinihongo@gmail.com](E-mail: hikarinihongo@gmail.com) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p. 104 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p.104](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.2p.104) Received: 03/04/2013 Accepted: 03/06/2013 Abstract This research studies Japanese keigo in the office domain, a case study at XXX Corporation Japan. Keigo consists of sonkeigo, kenjougo, and teineigo. Each of those speech levels is going to be analyzed based on linguistic and nonlinguistic factors. In this qualitative research, the data are in form of natural conversations gained by using several techniques such as recording, observation, and interview. Natural conversations were obtained through the recording process done with a tape recorder at XXX Corporation. There were 20 respondents coming from business fields to fill in the questionnaire and five informants for the interview.This research shows that keigo has lexical, morphological, and syntactical verbal markers. There are some nonlinguistic factors influencing the implementation of keigo in the office domain, especially the position gap and age. Keywords: Keigo, Sonkeigo, Kenjougo, Teineigo,lexical, morphological, syntactical 1. Introduction Sociolinguistics is one of linguistics branches focusing on the relationship between the language and its users in a society. Language is one of social institutions which is similar to other institution such as marriage, inheritance, and many others. It has contributed in giving understanding about language social dimension. Sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society by connecting two separated fields, i.e. the formal structure of language that belongs to linguistics and the social structure of a society that belongs to sociology. (Holmes, 1993; 1; Hudson, 1996:2) . In this case, language is viewed as both social and communicative systems which belong to certain society and culture. Language and its use cannot be observed separately; they are always related to the social activities conducted by the people of a society. If we study a language without studying its users, we will lose the possibility of finding out the social reasons for a certain structure to be used. Based on the explanation, it is clear that sociolinguistics places the language which is closely related to the users in the heterogeneous society. (Wijana:2006; Jendra:2010) . To use a language or to communicate using a language is a verbal interaction involving several elements, such as speaker, hearer or receiver, topic, setting, situation, and so on. In the language use, every speaker will always consider to whom s/he speaks, where s/he speaks, the topic of the speech, and the condition in which s/he speaks. (Suwito, 1985:30) . Japanese native speakers have keigo. Keigo is language variation whose differences are determined by the speaker ’s position (O1) related to the hearer or receiver (O2) (Yukiko, 1998:23, Hiroyuki, 2010:32-47) . The relations are nonlinguistic factors that can affect the language users. O1 as the speaker will mind the O2 as well as O3 (topic of the conversation) asthe hearer or receiver whether s/he has higher level in terms of social-economic factor, age, position, interpersonal relationship, etc. In Japanese, if O1 speaks with O2/O3 whose position is higher, s/he will use sonkeigo (a honorific speech act to respect the hearer or receiver) (Kikuchi, 1998; Hiroshi,2009;Hiroshi,2010) and in addressing him/herself, O1 uses kenjougo (to respect the hearer by lowering one self’s position) (Kikuchi, 1996) . While teineigo is a language that is used when the speakers are having conversation in a forma

FAQs

What speech levels of keigo are analyzed in the study?

The study examines sonkeigo, kenjougo, and teineigo as components of Japanese keigo in an office setting.

How were the data collected for the qualitative research?

Data came from natural conversations gathered through recording, observation, and interviews, including recordings made with a tape recorder at XXX Corporation.

Which nonlinguistic factors influence the implementation of keigo in the office domain?

The research highlights the position gap and age as key nonlinguistic factors affecting how keigo is implemented.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher