HONORIFICS AND HONORIFIC CATEGORIES
Keywords:
Honorifics, styles, language, expressions, English, categoriesAbstract
This research investigates the complex system of honorifics and honorific styles across diverse linguistic and cultural landscapes, emphasizing how language reflects and reinforces societal structures, interpersonal relationships, and worldviews. Honorifics, conventionalized forms of linguistic politeness and social deference, are universally found across languages, yet their form, usage, and underlying ideologies vary significantly. Analyzing pronoun and noun-based honorifics, as well as verbal expressions used to convey politeness, this study uncovers the intricate sociolinguistic mechanisms that govern honorific usage. By tracing the roles of honorifics as indicators of power, respect, irony, and even resistance, this study expands the conventional understanding of politeness strategies and situates honorifics at the intersection of language, culture, and identity. It argues that honorifics are not peripheral elements of grammar but essential expressions of how societies perceive and manage social relationships.
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