“Principles and Various Phases of Japanese Language Considerate Expressions,” authored and edited by Soka University Professor Masaki Yamaoka of the Faculty of Letters has been published on November 18th (Monday) of this year from the “Kuroshio Publications.”

This is a research book on considerate expressions, which is becoming one of the main themes in modern Japanese language studies. The book is organized and presented in 3 parts. In part 1, considerate expressions are considered as a group of expressions in which the function of politeness has been conventionalized, and the standard ways of thinking can be a guideline for future research on considerate expressions, including definitions and categorizations of considerate expressions. Part 2 includes discussions by various researchers on specific individual considerate expressions. Part 3 includes an essay on comparative research on considerate expressions in various languages such as Japanese, English, and Chinese, which makes this book very ambitious.

Professor Yamaoka, who served as editor and author, shared: “Although research on considerate expressions has not been long, at just 20 years, we were able to gather energetic researchers, who have been engaged in this field from the beginning, and publish a research book with state-of-the-art research results on considerate expressions at this point. This book is also significant as an interim report for research topics that were adopted by Grants-in-Aid for scientific research expenses (basic research B), so I am grateful to everyone involved.”

“Principles and Various Phases of Japanese Language Considerate Expressions”

Faculty information
Masaki Yamaoka
Field of specialty: Japanese language studies
Research theme: Conducting various research on various rules and conditions that bridge between the structure and functions of languages