Abstract
A field survey on honorific expressions was carried out at Nezu area and Nishikata area in Tokyo in 1981. The two areas are located near to each other, but they differ greatly in appearance. According to the informants' consciousness, Nezu area is regarded as the traditional downtown shopping district (“shitamachi”) and Nishikata area as the uptown more residential section (“yamanote”). The field survey showed that people in both areas differ in their educational level, occupation, and income. Consequently, the two areas can be distinguished not by geography but by the social class of the residents, at least in contemporary Tokyo:“shitamachi” can be regarded as lower class residential and “yamanote” as middle class.
A difference in honorific usage was also observed between the two areas. Residents of Nishikata area use more polite forms, whatever the situation, than those of Nezu area. This implies that the function of honorific expressions is not only to show respect to someone else but also to display the speaker's own dignity.
