Japanese Language Etiquettes and Their Link to Identity

The purpose of this paper is to describe linguistic theories that explain Japanese linguistic etiquettes, in particular, the well-known politeness theory. This theory views Japanese honorifics and politeness as constructions of interlocutors to enhance the flow of information and increase the chance of achieving their conversational goal. It also shows how much culture, society, and individual identity are connected to one another through language. Some of the linguistic aspects of Japanese’ Performative and constructed identities will be elaborated as well. Language use, etiquettes and social identities in Japan as well as different divisions of its polite language will be investigated. The approach used is linguistics, which describes the structure of Japanese language etiquettes which are the inseparable parts of their socio-cultural identities. This research work represents the pragmatic value(s) of Japanese polite and honorific language systems, showing how the socio-cultural identity of language users play a special role within register systems.

Keywords:

Japanese , language , identity , etiquettes , politeness