The distribution and characteristics of Japanese vocatives in business situations
This paper aims to analyse the types of Japanese vocatives used in business situations, and demonstrate the characteristics of their distribution with different politeness levels as shown in films on human relationships in large traditional corporations in and around Tokyo. The discussion builds on the theory of “discernment or social indexing politeness” (Hill et al. 1986; Ide 2006; Ide et al. 1986; Kasper 1990; Geyer 2008), and positions that of “strategic or volitional politeness” (ibid.) with the variables of “power” and “distance” proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). In a society of collectivism under a vertical structure with seniority system, people have their own ba (‘place’) (Nakane 2005) where they are expected to choose socially accepted language and behaviour according to whom they address; namely, seniors or juniors, and uchi (‘in-group’) or soto (‘out-group’) members. The use of vocatives is fixed based primarily upon “power” (age and status) and “distance” (in- or out-group), and is hardly flexible to changes in form in business or private situations. “Power” prevails in addressing in-group members; whereas “distance” determines the choice of vocatives used between out-group people. Within a group, indirect polite forms are used to address superiors, whilst direct familiar forms are chosen when speaking to subordinates, which presents a nonreciprocal use of terms; power downwards and reserve upwards. The intentional individual use of last name+-san (‘Mr./Ms.’) is also argued here as it has dichotomous aspects of politeness; sounding more polite to address a subordinate, and less polite when used with a boss. To out-group members, people tend to choose more of polite forms to each other. These vocative choices reflect the relative position of the Japanese interdependent “self” (Morisaki & Gudykunst 1994; Gudykunst et al. 1996; Spencer-Oatey & Franklin 2009) with “other- and mutual-face” (Ting-Toomey & Oetzel 2002), which follows social norms, striving to meet expectations made by groups it belongs to and identifies itself with.
Keywords: Last names, Vocatives, Nonreciprocal use, -San (‘Mr./Ms.’), Position titles, Discernment, Politeness, Business situations, Japanese films, “Power” & “distance”, Social norms, Seniority system, ba (‘place’), Collectivism, Uchi & soto (‘in-group’ & ‘out-group’)
References (106)
Andersen, P.A., M.L. Hecht, G.D. Hoobler, and M. Smallwood (2002) Nonverbal communication across cultures. In W.B. Gudykunst, and B. Mody (eds.), Handbook of international and intercultural communication, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, pp. 89-106.
Anderson, E. (2000) Beyond homo economicus: New developments in theories of social norms. Philosophy and Public Affairs 29.2: 170-200. 

Aoki, T. (1999, 2009) “Nihon bunka-ron” no henyô: Sengo-nihon no bunka (‘Changing image of “Japanese culture”: Post-war Japanese culture’). Tokyo: Chuokoron-shinsha.
Arakawa, N. (2008) Hito o yobu to iu gengo kôi (‘Language behaviour of addressing a person’). [URL] (April 5, 2011).
Argyle, M. (1994, 1995) The psychology of social class. London: Routledge.
Backnik, J.M. (1982) Deixis and self/other reference in Japanese discourse. Sociolinguistic Working Paper 991: 1-36. Austin, Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Baxter, L.A. (1984) An investigation of compliance-gaining as politeness. Human Communication Research 10.3: 427-456. 

Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad, and E. Finegan (1999) Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Braun, F. (1988) Terms of address: Problems of patterns and usage in various languages and cultures. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. BoP 

Brown, P., and S.C. Levinson (1978, 1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, R., and A. Gilman (1960, 1972) The pronouns of power and solidarity. In T.A. Sebeok (ed.), Style in language. London: Wiley & Sons, pp. 253-276.
Clyne, M., C. Norrby, and J. Warren (2009) Language and human relations: Styles of address in contemporary language. NY: Cambridge University Press. 

Coulmas, F. (1992) Linguistic etiquette in Japanese society. In R. Watts, S. Ide, and K. Ehlich (eds.), Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory and practice. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 299-323.
Culpeper, J. (2011) Impoliteness: Using language to cause offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Fraser, B. (1990) Perspectives on politeness. Journal of Pragmatics 141: 219-236.
BoP
Gendai Nihon-go Kenkyûkai
(‘The Society of Current Japanese’) (ed.) (1999) Josei no kotoba: Shokuba-hen (‘Women’s talk: Offices.’). Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobo.
Gendai Nihon-go Kenkyûkai
(‘The Society of Current Japanese’) (ed.) (2002, 2004) Dansei no kotoba: Shokuba-hen (‘Men’s talk: Offices.’) Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobo.
Geyer, N. (2008) Discourse and politeness. London: Continuum International Publishing Company.
Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. New York: Pantheon Books. BoP
Green, G. (1992) The universality of Gricean accounts of politeness: You gotta have wa. Unpublished manuscript. University of Illinois.
Gudykunst, W.B., Y. Matsumoto, S. Ting-Toomey, T. Nishida, K.S. Kim, and S. Heyman (1996) The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self construals, and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Human Communication Research 221: 510-543. 

Hamaguchi, E. (1982) Kanjin-shugi no shakai Nihon (‘Japan, society of contextualism’). Tokyo: Toyo Keizai Shinposha.
Han, E. (2006) O-mae’tte dare?: Nihon-go no dai-ni-ninshô daimeishi/taishôshi (‘Who is “you”?: Japanese second personal pronouns /nouns’). http:// [URL] (March 25, 2011).
Hill, B., S. Ide, A. Kawasaki, and T. Ogino (1986) Universals of linguistic politeness: Quantitative evidence from Japanese and American English. Journal of Pragmatics 10.3: 347-371.
BoP
Hofstede, G. (1991, 1994) Culture and organisations: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. London: HarperCollins.
Holmes, J. (1990) Apologies in New Zealand English. Language in Society 191: 155-199.
BoP
Holmes, J. (1995) Women, men, and politeness. London: Longman. BoP
House, J. (2003) Misunderstanding in intercultural university encounters. In J. House, G. Kasper, and S. Ross (eds.), Misunderstanding in social life: Discourse approaches to problematic talk.London: Longman, pp. 22-56.
Ide, S. (1982) Japanese sociolinguistics: Politeness and women’s language. Lingua 57.2-4: 357-385. 

Ide, S. (1989) Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua 8.2-3: 223-248. 

Ide, S. (2006) Wakimae no goyôron (‘Pragmatics of discernment’). Tokyo: Taishukan Shoten.
Ide, S., B. Hill, Y. Carnes, T. Ogino, and A. Kawasaki (1992) The concept of politeness: An empirical study of American English and Japanese. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, and K. Ehlich (eds.), Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory, and practice . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 281-297. BoP
Ide, S., M. Hori, A. Kawasaki, S. Ikuta, and H. Haga (1986) Sex differences and politeness in Japanese. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 581: 25-36.
Jackson, K., and M. Tomioka (2004) The changing face of Japanese management. London: Routledge. 

Janney, R.W., and H. Arndt (1992) Intracultural tact versus intercultural tact. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, and K. Ehlich (eds.), Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory and practice. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 21-41. BoP
Kajiwara, M. (2004) Nihon-go ni okeru taishôshi “anata” no shiyô ryôiki ni tsuite (‘On the usage area of the Japanese second personal noun “you”’). Shinshû University International Students Center Journal 51:47-57.
Kanai, H. (2002a) Nihon-go ni okeru ‘Teikijutsu’ ni yoru ni-ninshô shiji: Metonimî no kanten kara (‘The second personal indication by ‘definite description’ in the Japanese language: In view of metonymy’). Rėsumė for oral presentation (the 124 conference). The Linguistic Society of Japan.
Kanai, H. (2002b) Shitsurei to iu kanten kara mita ni-nin-shô shiji no taikei (‘Structure of the second personal indication seen in the view of rudeness’). Waseda University Postgraduate Literature Course Journal 48.3: 83-91.
Kasper, G. (1990) Linguistic politeness: Current research issues. Journal of Pragmatics 14.2: 193-218.
BoP
Kasper, G. (1997) Linguistic etiquette. In F. Coulmas (ed.), The handbook of sociolinguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 374-385.
Kataoka, Y. (1997) Nihon-go no soto e (‘Out of the Japanese Language.’). Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo.
Kimura, S. (1972) Hito to hito to no aida: Seishin-byôrigaku-teki Nihon-ron (‘Between people: Japan from mental pathology’). Tokyo: Kobundo.
Kinsui, S. (1989, 1991)
Daimeishi to ninshô
(‘Pronouns and persons’). In Y. Miyaji (ed.), Kôza Nihon-go to Nihon-go kyôiku, vol.41:Nihon-go no bunpô/buntai (Jô) (‘Japanese language and its education 4: Japanese grammar and style (I)’).Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, pp. 98-116.
Kitayama, T. (2004) A study of politeness in American films: Analysis of requests appearing in business sceness in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Kinki University Department of Language Education Journal 4.1: 65-125.
Kitayama, T. (2010)
Tatemae (‘stated principle’) and Honne (‘real intent’) appearing in terms of address: Analysing their usage in business scenes in American, British and Japanese films. Kinki University Department of Language Education Journal 6.2: 3-24.
Kobayashi, M. (2002, 2004) Shokuba de tsukawareru “koshô” (‘Address forms used in offices’). In Gendai Nihon-go Kenkyûkai (‘The Society of Current Japanese’) (ed.), Dansei no kotoba shokuba-hen (‘Men’s talk: Offices’). Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobo, pp. 99-119.
Koizumi, T. (2001) Nyûmon goyôron kenkyû: Riron to ôyô (‘Introduction to pragmatic researches: Theory and application’). Tokyo: Kenkyusha.
Kokuritsu Koku-go Kenkyûsho (‘National Institute for Japanese Language’) (1982) Kokuritsu Koku-go Kenkyûsho Hôkoku 73: Kigyô no naka no keigo (‘National Institute for Japanese Language Report 73: Honorifics in companies’). Tokyo: Nihon Shobo.
Lakoff, R.T. (1973) The logic of politeness; or minding your p’s and q’s. In C. Corum, T.C. Smith-Stark, and A. Weiser (eds.), Papers from the ninth regional meeting of Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society, pp. 292-305.
Lebra, T.S. (1976) Japanese patterns of behavior. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.
Leech, G. (1983) Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman. BoP
Leech, G. (1999) The distribution and function of vocatives in American and British English conversation. In H. Hasselgård, and S. Oksefjull (eds.), Out of corpora: Studies in honour of Stig Johansson. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 107-118.
Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1980) The use and analysis of uncommon forms of address. Sociolinguisitc Working Paper 81: 1-18.
Levinson, S.C. (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Lin, C. (2006) Nihon-bunka ni okeru “mentsu”: Sono gainen to shinri-teki taijin-tekl igi (‘“Face” in Japanese culture: Its concept and psychological/personal significance’). [URL] (February 15, 2012).
MaConnell-Ginet, S. (2003, 2006) “What’s in a name?”: Social labeling and gender practices. In J. Holmes, and M. Meyerhoff (eds.), The handbook of language and gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 69-97. 

Matsumoto, Y. (1988) Reexamination of the universality of face: Politeness phenomena in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics 121: 403-426.
BoP
Maynard, S.K. (2001) Expressivity in discourse: Vocatives and themes in Japanese. Language Sciences 23.6: 679-705. 

Mead, R. (1998) International management. Oxford: Blackwell.
Morisaki, S., and W. Gudykunst (1994) Face in Japan and the United States. In S. Ting-Toomey (ed.), The Challenge of facework. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 47-93.
Nakane, C. (1967, 2005) Tate shakai no ningen kankei: Tan’itsu shakai no riron (‘Human relationship in vertical society: Theory of homogeneous society’). Tokyo: Kodansha.
Nakane, C. (1970, 1973, 1998) Japanese society. Tokyo: Charles G. Tuttle.
Nakazaki, Y. (2002) Morau-kei komyunikêshon ni okeru “hanashite shukansei” to ninshô hairâkî (‘Speaker subjectivity and personal hierarchy in communication of receiving’). Gengo to Bunka (‘Language and Culture’) 151: 1-20.
NHK (1995) Kotoba terebi: ○△buchô soretomo ○△sân! (‘Language TV: Last name & position title (department manager) or last name with -sân!’). (September 3).
Oda, N. (2010) Eigo no yobikake-go (‘English vocatives’). Osaka: Osaka Kyoiku Tosho.
O’Driscoll, J. (1996) About face: A defence and elaboration of universal dualism. Journal of Pragmatics 25.1: 1-32. 

Oetzel, J.G., S. Ting-Toomey, and M. Chew (1999) Face and facework in conflicts with parents and siblings: A cross-cultural comparison of German, Japanese, Mexican, and U. S. Americans. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago.
Oetzel, S.G., S. Ting-Toomey, T. Matsumoto, Y. Yokochi, X. Pan, J. Takai, and R. Wilcox (2000) Face and facework in conflict: A cross-cultural comparison of China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Acapulco, Mexico.
Okamoto, S. (2000, 2010) Kotoba no shakai-shinrigaku (‘Socio-psychology of language’). Kyoto: Nakanishiya Shuppan.
Ôhama, R., C. Aramaki, and G. So (2001) Nihon-go kyôkasho ni mirareru jidôshi/ tadôshi no shiyô ni tsuite (‘On the first and the second personal nouns in Japanese textbooks’). Chûgoku/Shikoku Kyôiku Gakkai Kyôiku Kenkyû Kiyô (‘The Chugoku-Shikoku Society for the Study of Education’): Annals of Educational Research 47.2: 342-352.
Peng, F.C. (1982) Koshô no shakaigaku (‘Sociology of address forms’). In T. Kunihiro (ed.), Nichi-ei hikaku kôza, vol.5: Bunka to shakai (‘Comparative studies of Japanese and English language 5: Culture and society’). Tokyo: Taishukan Shoten, pp. 61-82.
Quirk, R., S. Greebaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik (eds.) (1985) A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman. BoP
Saito, K. (1999) Ni-ninshô daimeishi to keii hyôgen: Nichi-ei-go taishô kenkyû (‘Politeness and the second person pronoun: A contrastive study of English and Japanese’). Baika Joshi Daigaku Bungakubu Kiyô 33: Hikaku Bunka (‘Baika Literary Bulletin 33: Comparative Culture’): 1-11.
Sawyer, J.F.A. (1994) Names: religious beliefs. In R.E. Asher (ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 2672-2674.
Schneider, D.M., and G.C. Homans (1955) Kinship terminology and the American kinship system. American Anthropologist 57.6: 1194-1208. 

Scollon, R., S.W. Scollon, and R.H. Jones (1995, 2001, 2012) Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Spencer-Oatey, H. (1996) Reconsidering power and distance. Journal of Pragmatics 261: 1-24.
BoP
Spencer-Oatey, H. (ed.) (2000, 2009, 2011) Culturally speaking: Culture, communication and politeness theory. London: Continuum International Publishing Company.
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2005) (Im)politeness, face and perception of rapport: Unpackaging their bases and interrelationships. Journal of Politeness Research 1.1: 95-119. BoP 

Spencer-Oatey, H., and P. Franklin (2009) Intercultural interaction: A multidisciplinary approach to intercultural communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Slugoski, B.R. (1985) Grice’s theory of conversation as a social psychological model. Ph.D. dissertation. Oxford.
Slugoski, B.R., and W. Turnbull (1988) Cruel to be kind and kind to be cruel: Sarcasm, banter, and social relations. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 71: 101-121.
BoP
Suzuki, T. (1973, 2010) Kotoba to bunka (‘Language and culture’). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Suzuki, T. (1982) Jishôshi to taishôshi no hikaku (‘Comparison between the first and the second personal nouns’). In T. Kunihiro (ed.), Nichi-ei hikaku kôza, vol.51: Bunka to shakai (‘Comparative studies of Japanese and English language 5: Culture and society’). Tokyo: Taishukan Shoten, pp. 17-60.
Takiura, M. (2005) Nihon no keigoron: Poraitonesu riron kara no saikentô (‘Japanese honorifics: Review of politeness theory’). Tokyo: Taishukan Shoten.
Takiura, M. (2007) Koshô no poraitonesu: ‘Hito o yobu koto’ no goyôron (‘Politeness of address forms: Pragmatics on ‘addressing people’). Gekkan Nihongo (‘Japanese Language Monthly’) 36.12: 32-39.
Takubo, Y. (1997, 2007) Shiten to gengo-kôdô (‘Viewpoint and language behaviour’). Tokyo: Kuroshio Shuppan.
Tannen, D. (1986) That’s not what I meant. New York: Ballantine Books.
Tao, L. (2002) Nihon-go, Chûgoku-go, Eigo ni okeru teinei hyôgen no hikaku kenkyû (‘A comparative study on politeness in Japanese, Chinese and English’). [URL] (February 15, 2012).
Tao, L. (2008) Chûgoku-go to Eigo ni okeru ‘mentsu’/‘face’ gainen no hikaku (‘A comparative study on the perception of “face” in Chinese and English’). Gengo Bunka Ronsô (‘Kanazawa University Language and Culture’) 121: 49-75.
Thomas, J. (1995) Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. London: Longman. BoP
Ting-Toomey, S., and J.G. Oetzel (2002) Cross-cultural face concerns and conflict styles. In W.B. Gudykunst, and B. Mody (eds.), Handbook of international and intercultural communication, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, pp. 143-163.
Tsukimoto, H. (2008) Nihon-jin no nô ni shugo wa iranai (‘No subjects needed for Japanese brain’). Tokyo: Kodansha.
Yamagishi, K. (1995) Nichi-ei gengo bunka ronkô (‘Studies on Japanese and English language and culture’). Tokyo: Kobian Shobo.
Yoneda, M. (1990) Aru shakai soshiki no naka no koshô: Fûfu no yobikata to shokuba de no yobikake ni tsuite (‘Address forms in a social structure: On vocatives between married couples and those among business people’). Nihon-go-gaku (‘Study of Japanese Language’) 9.9: 19-24.
Yui, M. (2007) Nihon-go oyobi eigo ni okeru taishôshi no kinô: Poraitonesu to no kanrensei (‘Functions of the second personal nouns in Japanese and English: In relation to politeness’). Surugadai Daigaku Ronshû (‘Surugadai University Review’) 331: 19-30.
Wales, K. (2001) A Dictionary of stylistics. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Watanabe, T. (1998) Koshô to iu ronten (‘Discussion on address forms’). Nihon-go-gaku (‘Study of Japanese Language’) 17.9: 4-11.
Wetzel, P.J. (1985) In-group/out-group deixis: Situational variation in the verbs of giving and receiving in Japanese. In J.P. Forgas (ed.), Language and social situations. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 141-157. 

Wierzbicka, A. (2003) Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 

Wikipedia. [URL] (April 17, 2012).
Zwicky, A.M. (1974) “Hey, whatsyourname!” Chicago Linguistic Society 101: 787-801.
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Ishino, Mika & Yusuke Okada
2018.
Constructing students’ deontic status by use of alternative recognitionals for student reference.
Classroom Discourse 9:2
► pp. 95 ff.

Moody, Stephen J.
2018.
Terms of Address and Identity in American-Japanese Workplace Interaction. In
Japanese at Work,
► pp. 205 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.