Politeness / Respectfulness / Humility / Formality


The wikipedia article "[Honorific speech in
Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese#Respectful_verbs)"
states that

> Japanese has grammatical functions to express several different emotions.
> Not only _politeness_ but also _respectfulness_ , _humility_ and _formality_
> can be expressed.

After learning about the humble/honorific etc. forms, I am trying to wrap my
head around these concepts. After checking some textbooks and websites, I came
up with the following distinction, could someone please check, whether it is
ok?

  * **Politeness** : this is expressed by using the です・ます forms instead of the plain form
  * **Respectfulness** : one can express respect to someone else's actions by using the honorific form (尊敬語{そんけいご})
  * **Humility** : one can humbly speak about one's own actions using the humble form (謙譲語{けんじょうご})
  * **Formality** : in formal writing, one uses the literary style by replacing だ → である and です → であります after nouns and na-adjectives. There is no difference for verbs and I-adjectives. 

As far as I understand, one can combine most of these aspects, e.g.

* * *

not polite, not respectful, not humble, not formal: だ

not polite, not respectful, not humble, formal: である

not polite, not respectful, humble, formal: でござる

polite, not respectful, humble, formal: でございます

* * *

but respectfulness and humility are mutually exclusive.




First of all, I appreciate that this is a difficult subject, not least because
when trying to research it, in English, the terms "honorifics"
"respectfulness" "formality" "politeness" etc. often get used differently by
different people. I'll try to stick to your terminology, but apologies if I
slip up!

* * *

Your understanding is correct: you can't combine "respectful" and "humble"
forms grammatically, as they make reference to another's or one's own (/one's
in-group's) actions, respectively. They are thus at opposite ends of the same
"honorific" spectrum of {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語}, in that in
being either respectful or humble, you are creating a difference in 'level'
between you and the other party. In being respectful, you _directly_ exalt the
other party; in being humble, you _indirectly_ exalt the other party, through
deprecating yourself.

The important thing to remember is the {polite です・ます OR non-polite だ・る} choice
primarily depends on your relationship to the **listener** (ignoring the idea
of switching between polite and non-polite within a conversation... see
[Question about switching formality in a
conversation](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/63215/question-
about-switching-formality-in-a-conversation/63236#63236) for more detail...).

On the other hand, the {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語} choice is
about the relationship between **actors** in the sentence. Of course, they are
often the same, but not always (e.g. speaking to your friend about a teacher,
you might choose to index your 'respect' for the teacher by using 尊敬語 or 謙譲語,
but you presumably would speak in non-polite speech to your friend).

**Grammatically** speaking, you therefore have two spectra:

  * {polite です・ます OR non-polite だ・る}

  * {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語}.

The {formal OR informal} choice, as broccoli forest notes, is the "odd one
out", in the sense it is not determined by grammar, but stylistic decisions
appropriate for the medium/context in which you are communicating, including
word choice. I see it as the difference between すごく and 大変, このあいだ and 先日,
どうですか and いかがですか, いいです and 結構です (when refusing something), etc.

The interesting case, I think, is choosing to use an _irregular_ keigo verb,
which would impart e.g. formality as well as respect, say 食べる vs. 召し上がる. So
that begs the question: is 召し上がる more formal than other acceptable _regular_
keigo forms 食べられる or お食べになる? I would say the answer is: yes.

Incidentally, I also understand that the usage of お食べになる is increasing amongst
younger people, which is possibly a reflection of those younger people
be(com)ing "less formal" than their older counterparts; or, perhaps they want
make a statement that they aren't inclined to guard or protect formal
language.

In any case, formality is a much more fuzzy concept than politeness and
respectfulness, given formality is not strictly determined by grammar.




First of all, I appreciate that this is a difficult subject, not least because
when trying to research it, in English, the terms "honorifics"
"respectfulness" "formality" "politeness" etc. often get used differently by
different people. I'll try to stick to your terminology, but apologies if I
slip up!

* * *

Your understanding is correct: you can't combine "respectful" and "humble"
forms grammatically, as they make reference to another's or one's own (/one's
in-group's) actions, respectively. They are thus at opposite ends of the same
"honorific" spectrum of {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語}, in that in
being either respectful or humble, you are creating a difference in 'level'
between you and the other party. In being respectful, you _directly_ exalt the
other party; in being humble, you _indirectly_ exalt the other party, through
deprecating yourself.

The important thing to remember is the {polite です・ます OR non-polite だ・る} choice
primarily depends on your relationship to the **listener** (ignoring the idea
of switching between polite and non-polite within a conversation... see
[Question about switching formality in a
conversation](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/63215/question-
about-switching-formality-in-a-conversation/63236#63236) for more detail...).

On the other hand, the {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語} choice is
about the relationship between **actors** in the sentence. Of course, they are
often the same, but not always (e.g. speaking to your friend about a teacher,
you might choose to index your 'respect' for the teacher by using 尊敬語 or 謙譲語,
but you presumably would speak in non-polite speech to your friend).

**Grammatically** speaking, you therefore have two spectra:

  * {polite です・ます OR non-polite だ・る}

  * {respectful 尊敬語 OR neutral OR humble 謙譲語}.

The {formal OR informal} choice, as broccoli forest notes, is the "odd one
out", in the sense it is not determined by grammar, but stylistic decisions
appropriate for the medium/context in which you are communicating, including
word choice. I see it as the difference between すごく and 大変, このあいだ and 先日,
どうですか and いかがですか, いいです and 結構です (when refusing something), etc.

The interesting case, I think, is choosing to use an _irregular_ keigo verb,
which would impart e.g. formality as well as respect, say 食べる vs. 召し上がる. So
that begs the question: is 召し上がる more formal than other acceptable _regular_
keigo forms 食べられる or お食べになる? I would say the answer is: yes.

Incidentally, I also understand that the usage of お食べになる is increasing amongst
younger people, which is possibly a reflection of those younger people
be(com)ing "less formal" than their older counterparts; or, perhaps they want
make a statement that they aren't inclined to guard or protect formal
language.

In any case, formality is a much more fuzzy concept than politeness and
respectfulness, given formality is not strictly determined by grammar.

