Taking an indexical approach, this book examines how learners of Japanese as a foreign language (henceforth JFL learners) and their host family members express their identities through uses of the so-called ‘addressee honorific’ masu form (verbal ending) during dinnertime conversation. I define ‘indexicality’ as the function of language that points to an aspect of the social dimension in the immediate situation at hand. As the same linguistic form can be used in varied situations, an indexical approach takes the view that a linguistic form evokes multiple indexical (or social) meanings. This book explores multiple social meanings of the masu form in Japanese.

This book differs from previous research on learners’ acquisition of the honorifics in important ways. First, the focus of the book is not on the statistical analysis of learners’ development of sociopragmatic competence (e.g. Rose & Ng Kwai-fun, 2001; Takahashi, 2001; Tateyama, 2001), but rather on ways in which the learners and their host family members use linguistic resources to construct their social identities in the daily routine of dinnertime talk. The pragmatic development of foreign language learners is intricately interwoven with their social identity in the target community (Kasper, 2001). In order to understand how foreign language learners acquire appropriate use of the masu form in interaction with host family members, ‘it is critical to observe learners in social engagements and include the co-participants’ situated actions in the analysis’ (Kasper & Rose, 2002: 301). Secondly, this book questions the conventional and widely accepted meaning of the masu form as a marker of politeness or formality. It demonstrates that the masu form is not limited to politeness or formality but has multiple social meanings, and that these meanings are also fluid and context-dependent (cf. Cook, 1998). To approach the topic of how JFL learners are socialized to use the masu form, it is essential to analyze use of the form in interaction.