A Critical Analysis of Honorification in Human Relations

Tanima Bagchi ¹ & Rajesh Kumar ^2
1IIM Indore, Indore. 
²IIT Madras, Chennai.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.24
[Article History: Received: 3 July 2023. Revised: 2 September 2023. Accepted: 2 September 2023. Published: 4 September 2023]
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Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of honorification with a focus on the essential correlation between human relations and society. While the structural aspect of honorification, in the form of honorifics, has been discussed extensively the functional aspect of honorification as a research question requires equal consideration. It has often been claimed that obligation is one of the primary motivations behind honorification owing to its ubiquitous influence on social interactions due to differences in status, social distance, and power. However, a closer look will reveal how such social factors are a reflection of not the obligation but the underlying acknowledgement of this obligation leading to the social recognition of honorification and, thus, shifting the perspective from necessity to choice. In other words, this paper explores honorification as a synthesis of society, culture, and human nature.

 Keywords: Honorification, Deference, Prohibition, Volition, Respect.

Citation: Bagchi, Tanima, Rajesh Kumar. 2023. A Critical Analysis of Honorification in Human Relations. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.24