抄録
This paper investigates the influence of social status on the level of politeness in English requests. The subjects were eight American and eight Japanese graduate students in the United States, with results obtained via questionnaires conducted to elicit degrees of (1) social status assigned to various occupations, (2) politeness associated with social status, and (3) politeness in requests as a stereotyped aspect of requesting behavior. The interviews were conducted to compare American perspectives on politeness in requests with those of the Japanese. The results showed that social status alone was not a crucial factor. Japanese and American students alike assigned similar degrees of politeness to certain occupations, and both groups tended to rely on their cultural value systems to express politeness. Therefore, the degree of politeness assigned to social status, and therefore to requesting forms chosen by the Japanese students showed a clearer effect of social status compared to Americans. In addition, the Japanese group differed in the degrees of politeness in some requests, and also chose fewer forms than the Americans.
