Another History of Japanese Thought! Honorific language theory in Japan emerged with the birth of the modern nation-state. Yamada Yoshio and others, against the backdrop of the burgeoning "national state of Japan," constructed a "honorific language theory of respect." A little over a decade later, Tokieda Motoki developed a "honorific language theory of relational recognition," criticizing Yamada, who had inherited the class system and the study of Japanese classical literature. And now, a new horizon of honorific language theory, based on politeness theory, has emerged... Why are there so many theories of honorific language, and what is honorific language in the first place? This book seeks to find answers to these questions. It is an ambitious work that comprehensively reconsiders the history of Japanese honorific language theory as a history of thought and presents a future outlook. Excerpt: The subject of this book is the question, "What is honorific language?" The answer to this question has changed over time. In one sense, this reflects the fact that the nature of honorific language itself has changed with the times. But more than that, the changes in the image of honorific language seem to reflect more strongly that discussions about honorific language were susceptible to the demands of the times. While a theory cannot be constructed without an image of honorific language, in Japanese honorific language research, the framework of the honorific language theory is directly connected to the answer to "What is honorific language?" Therefore, honorific language and honorific language theory must be considered simultaneously. This is the reason for the title, "Japanese Honorific Language Theory." From this perspective, this book attempts to reconsider honorific language research from a history of thought perspective, confirming the framework of honorific language theory up to the present, and sketching how the present and future of honorific language can be envisioned. (From the "Introduction")