Here, requestives are not specified with relationship as to authority, whereas requirements are.
concerned w ith a speaker-hearer relatio n sh ip , more o riented to w ard a pragm atically d eterm in ed relatio n sh ip th a n the adverbs exam ined in previous c h a p te rs.
7.3. G roup 1-1
T his section tre a ts doozo and dooka, b o th of which roughly correspond to please in E nglish. How ever, these adverbs do not show the same m e a n in g /fu n c tio n , nor is please an ex act equivalent of either one of them .
7 .3 .1 . D oozo
C onsider th e following conversation. (3) (at a dinner table)
P(host):(to his guests)
a. Takusan meshiagatte kudasai. lot eat(HON) IMP POL b. Doozo takusan meshiagatte kudasai.
‘P: a. (Please) eat a lot.’
In exam ple (3), the speaker P politely asks his guest to eat a lot. (3a) is an u tte ran c e polite enough for th is situ a tio n . L The u tte ra n c e w ith doozo is also n a tu ra l in this case, as is seen in (3b).
On th e o th er hand, a conversation like (4) does not allow doozo. Suppose th a t P is sta n d in g near a window.
(4)
P:(to B) Samuidesu n e . a.Mado o shimete kudasai. cold PART window ACC close IMP
b. ??Doozo mado o shimete kudasai.
‘P: It is cold, isn’t it? a. Please close the window.’
^Please in a bracket is given to show the politeness implied in the KUDASAI construction. In
D oozo sounds aw kw ard in the u tte ra n c e (4b), alth ou gh the im p e rativ e sentence is as p olite as in the last exam ple. T his suggests th a t it is not correct to say th a t doozo is sim ply used to add politeness. It is necessary to look into context w here doozo can occur in order to specify its ch aracteristics.
Ohso (1974) stu d ied th e use of doozo in conjunction w ith the m eanin g of o-V -stem K U D A SA I co n stru ctio n , which had been previously tre a te d as an honorific c o u n te rp a rt of (te) ku d a sa i
She claim es th a t o V -s te m ku d a sa i deserves a different tre a tm e n t from (te) ku d a sa i, and explained her claim as follows.
...ra th e r it (o-V -stem k u d a s a i) had different illocutionary force from a real request, which I would like to call an in v itatio n .
T he force of an in v ita tio n is this;
an in v itatio n is different from a real request in th a t it lacks th e p ro p erty th a t th e action called for is for th e sp e ak e r’s own benefit, which is essen tial for a real
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request.
One of her arg u m e n ts for this claim is show n below. (5) a. Atsukatta-ra, mado o akete kudasai.
hot COND window ACC open IMP
b. Atsukatta-ra, mado o o-ake kudasai. hot COND window ACC HON open IMP
‘If you axe hot, please open the window.’
(6 ) a. Atsui kara, mado o akete kudasai.
hot because window ACC open IMP
b.*Atsui kara, mado o o-ake kudasai.
‘As I am hot, please open the window.’
93O is an honorific suffix, which is attached to a verb stem or a noun.
^ I n the detailed lexicographical description of Wierzbicka (1987:50), the property is assigned to ‘asking5, but not to ‘requesting5. Therefore, it may be appropriate to use ‘asking5 instead of ‘request5 for this property, but I do not pursue this further and follow Ohso’s usage.
E ith e r te kudasai or o V -s te m kudasai is ail rig h t in (5). On th e o th er hand, o V -s te m ku d a sa i is not acceptable in (6), where the speaker m akes a request for h is /h e r own benefit ; because it is h e /s h e who feels hot. T h u s, o V -s te m kudasai is lim ited to a co n text w here the sp eak er’s benefit is not included. Ohso calls this in v itatio n .
She argues th a t doozo is also characterised by the force of in v itatio n for the reason th a t th is ad v e rb ap p ears in th e following way.
(7) Atsukattara, doozo mado o akete kudasai. (8) *Atsuikara, doozo mado o akete kudasai.
In (8), doozo sounds u n n a tu ra l, w hereas in (7) doozo is quite acceptable. T his clearly shows th a t doozo is restric te d in th e sam e way as o V -s te m k u d a sa i.
T his is an insightful solu tio n. D oozo occurs w here an action is called for th e benefit of th e listen er ra th e r th a n th e speaker. It involves an illocutionary force of in v itatio n . Based on th is ch aracterisatio n , th e difference in accep tab ility betw een (3) and (4) is explained stra ig h tfo rw ard ly .
D oozo can be also used in. a situ a tio n w here perm ission is given politely, as is seen below.
(9) P: Shinbun o kaxite mo iidesu ka?
newspaper ACC borrow COND good Q