The Frequent Use of Subsidiary Verbs in Customer Service Situations and Politeness Sensitivity of University Students

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  • 補助動詞の多用と大学生の待遇意識―接客場面に注目して―
  • ホジョ ドウシ ノ タヨウ ト ダイガクセイ ノ タイグウ イシキ : セッキャク バメン ニ チュウモク シテ

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Abstract

<p>Recently we often hear subsidiary verbs being used in expressions to explain procedures to customers, such as “zairyo wo kitte ikimasho” (let’s cut the ingredients) and “nikonde agemasho” (let’s stew it).This tendency can be recognized as a change in politeness sensitivity. In this study, university students were asked 1) to choose the phrase they preferred in given customer service situations, and 2) to write their impression of the phrase. For the first question, honorific phrases were preferred over non-honorific phrases and longer phrases over short ones. For the second question, honorific phrases were considered to be polite whereas expressions containing subsidiary verbs were thought to be friendly, cheerful, and kind. These impressions seemed to be related to the essential meanings of the subsidiary verbs and because they are often used in shortened forms. Moreover, from the social distance point of view, responses to the second question showed that using subsidiary verbs creates appropriate horizontal distance between participants. Therefore, the frequent use of subsidiary verbs, like positive politeness strategies, can be considered an expression of considerateness through empathy and solidarity (sympathy-oriented expression). This is consistent with the direction of change in politeness sensitivity.</p>

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