What are common Japanese politeness strategies in arguments

Common Japanese politeness strategies in arguments and criticism prioritize harmony, indirectness, and use of honorific language (Keigo). Key strategies include:

• Indirect criticism: Japanese speakers tend to use indirect criticism strategies such as asking/presupposing, making corrections, requests for change, and indicating standards. This indirectness helps to avoid threatening the interlocutor’s face and maintain social harmony.
• Keigo (honorific language): Politeness is linguistically encoded with sonkeigo (respectful language), kenjougo (humble language), and teineigo (polite language). These forms modify verbs and expressions to elevate, demean, or show respect to conversational partners.
• Avoidance of direct negative evaluation or contradiction: Compared to some other cultures, Japanese speakers typically avoid blunt negative evaluation or expressions of contradiction in favor of more subtle, less face-threatening ways.
• Use of softening phrases and hedging: Speakers often use softer expressions or question forms (e.g. asking/presupposing) to critique or argue without imposing strongly.
• Consideration of social hierarchy and relationship: Choice of politeness strategy varies with social status, age, and closeness between interlocutors to properly show respect and maintain harmony.

In summary, Japanese politeness strategies in arguments favor indirectness, careful use of honorific forms, and minimizing face-threatening acts to preserve social harmony and respect. ^{1, 2}

References

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