Similarities and differences between Japanese and Americans on their use and perception of polite speech

This study was designed to examine similarities and differences between Japanese and Americans in their use of politeness in a request. It examined the effects of three politeness-influencing factors (i.e., distance, degree of imposition, and legitimacy of the request) on the speakers' intended level of politeness (ILP), perceived likelihood of gaining compliance (PLGC), and raters' perceived politeness (RPP) of those requests. The effect of gender on these variables was also examined.; All three situational determinants had significant effects on the PLGC scores of both nationality groups. However, only distance and imposition had significant effects on the ILP scores for both groups. Legitimacy of the request did not affect ILP scores save for the Japanese males who intended more politeness in the low than the high legitimacy condition. Americans, in general, intended more politeness than did the Japanese and their directives were also perceived as more polite than the Japanese directives by American raters. Furthermore, female directives were rated as more polite than male directives.; There was also evidence to suggest that the universality of Brown and Levinson's model of politeness should be reconsidered due to substantial differences in the findings for Americans versus Japanese. In particular, the findings suggested that Americans' use of politeness may be motivated by a desire to gain compliance. The results did not suggest that this might be true for the Japanese. This may be due to differences in the perception and/or definition of face by these two nationality groups.