Three uses of kata ‘person’ in Japanese

要旨

Abstract The present article analyzes the use of kata ‘person’ in contemporary Japanese. The main data of the study are the speech of students talking to professors in 12 videotaped conversations. An examination of the data reveals three usages of kata, serving exalting, beautifying and ‘buffer’ functions. The exalting usage is the traditional classification of kata (sonkeigo), a type of referent honorific, while the other two are addressee honorifics. These additions reflect the general shift from referent-controlled to addressee-controlled honorification. One possible motivation for using the beautifying and ‘buffer’ types is the ease of showing politeness, instead of converting the predicate into honorific forms. It was also found that students used hito ‘person (NEUTRAL)’ and ko ‘child, kid,’ in addition to kata. The distinction suggests a possible tendency for kata to be used for out-group social superiors, hito for people in general, and ko for in-group social equals and subordinates.

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