Why are certain Japanese questions more polite than others

Certain Japanese questions are more polite than others due to the complex system of politeness embedded in the Japanese language, which reflects social hierarchy and interpersonal relationships. Politeness in Japanese questions depends on factors such as the choice of verb forms, honorific language (keigo), sentence endings, and how the speaker positions themselves relative to the listener. The use of polite forms like teineigo (standard polite language), sonkeigo (respectful language), and kenjougo (humble language) influences the level of politeness in a question. Additionally, indirectness and polite question markers contribute to greater politeness, aimed at maintaining social harmony and showing respect to the listener’s social status or the formality of the context. The speaker’s choice is a social strategy and rational linguistic decision influenced by cultural norms and relationships between interlocutors. ^{1, 2, 3}

Key Reasons for Politeness Variation in Japanese Questions

• Social Hierarchy and Context: In Japanese society, recognizing status, age, and social roles (tachiba) shapes politeness levels. Speakers use more polite forms when addressing superiors or in formal situations to show respect. ^{2, 4}
• Verb Forms and Keigo: Different verb forms convey various politeness degrees. Using honorific or humble verbs in questions makes them more polite. ^{3, 1}
• Sentence Endings and Question Markers: Polite questions often use softer sentence endings (like -masu form) and polite question markers (-ka, desu ka), which soften the question tone and show deference. ²
• Indirectness: More indirect phrasing (e.g., turning questions into requests or using tentative language) is a hallmark of Japanese politeness, avoiding direct commands or blunt questions. ^{5, 2}
• Maintaining Harmony: Politeness strategies help preserve wa (social harmony), especially in workplaces or formal settings, where direct questions might cause embarrassment or discomfort. ⁵

Thus, the range of politeness in Japanese questions reflects a combination of linguistic, social, and cultural factors aiming to balance respect, humility, and harmony in communication.

References

• Japanese Women Language Politeness in Communication Interview: Sociolinguistic Study

• Japanese Linguistic Politeness as Speakers’ Rational Choice and Social Strategy

• Japanese Keigo: ‘Situational Context Analysis’ and ‘Politeness Strategies’ in Violet Evergarden Anime

• A Study of Linguistic Politeness in Japanese

• Politeness Strategies for Criticizing in the Japanese Workplace: A Pragmatic Study

• Negotiation of power and solidarity in email: The case of students learning Japanese as a foreign language and their facilitators

• How prosodic attitudes can be false friends: Japanese vs. French social affects

• Politeness Stereotypes and Attack Vectors: Gender Stereotypes in Japanese and Korean Language Models

• Analysis of politeness strategies in Japanese and Korean conversations between males: Focusing on speech levels and speech level shifts

• Probing Socio-Pragmatic Skills of L2 Learners of Indonesian on Japanese Politeness

• Contrastive Analysis of Tabe Politeness Speech Acts in Bugis and Sumimasen in Japanese (Pragmatic Study)

• Politeness on Public Signs in Japanese And Indonesian Train Cars - A Study Of Linguistic Landscape

• POLITENESS OF WOMEN’S LANGUAGE (JOSEIGO) BY SHIN TANOKURA IN DRAMA SERIES OF OSHIN

• Japanese Speech Acts and Politeness in Hospitality Services

• Backchannel as a Listener’s Consideration Behavior: Politeness Strategy of Japanese Native Speakers in Interaction

• Controlling Japanese Honorifics in English-to-Japanese Neural Machine Translation

• SELF INTRODUCING AND WORK ETHICS IN JAPANESE COMPANIES

• A corpus-assisted analysis of indexical signs for (im)politeness in Japanese apology-like behaviour

• ANALYSIS OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES OF JAPANESE WOMAN IN GEISHA MOVIE

• The Role of Parental Input in the Early Acquisition of Japanese Politeness Distinctions