SOCIAL FACTOR VARIATIONS OF OWABI HYOUGEN ‘APOLOGY’ IN JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Abstract

This study discusses variations of owabi hyougen ‘apology’ in Japanese Language based on users' social factors. There are two research questions: how are the forms of apology utterances in Japanese Language and what factors are underlying those utterances. This descriptive-qualitative research uses data of utterances containing apology taken from natural conversations of Japanese native speakers through listening, tapping, and recording. The collected data are then analyzed based on forms of utterance and users' social factors. The research results show that the forms of apology in Japanese Language are based on levels of politeness respectively ranging from the lowest to the highest: warui/gomen, sumanai/suimasen, sumimasen/gomenasai, shitsureidesukedo, moushiwake arimasen/moushiwakegozaimasen. The underlying social factors are age, position/status, and closeness.

Key Words: Owabi Hyougen, Honorific Language, Social factor, Utterance, Politeness