Use
of Japanese Honorific Expressions by Native Chinese Speakers
Y. Miyaoka & K. Tamaoka |
The
present study investigated the degree of acquisition of honorific
expressions by native Chinese speakers with respect to both aspects
of grammar and knowledge of Japanese personal relations. Thirty-two
native Chinese speakers studying Japanese participated in this study.
Sixty incorrect sentences containing honorific expressions (36 with
exalted and 24 with humble terms) were used as stimulus items, Participants
were required to correct the errors in the sentences. Scores for
proper usage of honorific terms for others were higher than those
for expressions requiring grammatical changes. Furthermore, scores
for proper usage of honorific terms (bath exalted and humble) pertaining
to others were higher than those for proper usage of such terms pertaining
to oneself/family members. The result of the analysis on scores pertaining
to the proper reference to the object of politeness showed that native
Chinese speakers had quite a lot of difficulty editing sentences
requiring humble terms for the object of politeness in the third
person. Key words: the honorific expressions, native Chinese speakers, the second language acquisition |