Honorifics and Social Hierarchies
by İclal Azdamur (Türkiye)
A social hierarchy is defined as an organized social group in order to allocate limited resources. This system indicates that those who are higher up the hierarchy are provided with more resources, which creates an air of competition. However, research shows that social hierarchies are not a product of the human mind, almost all group-living species show a tendency to form social hierarchies.
While discussing social hierarchies, the terms power and dominance are used tomeasure status or rank. Dominance is defined as the ability to obtain the limited resources which created the hierarchy in the first place, and can be considered as an indicator for power. Dominance can appear aggressively or sociably in societies, depending on the behaviour used to gain it. It also correlates with prestige, which gives the person with a higher status a chance to have the control over the hierarchy without the oppression dominance brings
Social hierarchies are naturally developed in order to increase chance of survival as a group in group-living species. This stems from different members of society having different talents and weaknesses as well as different needs. In humans specifically, the status of a person doesn’t usually depend on their ability to survive, but rather on things deemed “valuable” by society itself, such as money. Additionally, societal hierarchies were observed to develop after an asymmetrical display of dominance between different sides. After the hierarchy was established, the aggressive and the sociable sides of dominance would even out, which does give the society a higher chance of survival
Honorifics on the other hand, are an expression of respect towards a person of a higher status or social class. Although most common in languages such as Japanese and Korean, western languages such as French and English do also include some form of honorifics. Additionally, some languages even include the opposite form called humilifics, which are used to humble the speaker. Honorifics are evaluated under three different categories: addressee, referent and bystander honorifics. Addressee honorifics express the difference of social status between the speaker and the person spoken to regardless of what is being talked about. Referent honorifics are used to talk about the social status of the person who is also the topic of conversation. The third and lesser common type bystander honorifics are used to express the status of someone who is nearby but not necessarily a part of the conversation.
The development of honorifics and social hierarchies shows how language mirrors shifts in political, social and evolutionary situations. Moreover, honorifics are a way to interpret the social situation of their time. Throughout history and many different languages, honorifics were much more complex and controlled by the state. As an example; in the Edo Period in Japan, not using the proper honorifics for a person of higher status could be punished with the death penalty.
From past times to present, honorifics have generally been getting simpler and simpler. Certain turning points in world history are shown to affect honorifics, such as merchants gaining power and status without being born with a title, World War 1, and most recently - the modernization movement in the corporate world. The simplification of honorifics throughout history may imply that they are looked down upon by society today. Certain groups of people who believe in social equality often refer to anyone with their first names or other words that imply equality. As an example, Türkiye abolished the use of titles and honorifics in 1934 and although they were abolished, some are still used by the people today. Another point of view is a feminist approach to different honorifics being used for married and unmarried women, which has led to women using “Ms.”, which comes from “Mrs.” and “Miss” combined.
In conclusion, honorifics and social hierarchies have evolved similarly with one maintaining the other. Even though they are less strict now, that does not necessarily mean that the evolution of social hierarchies and language are over. In fact, language has the ability to evolve beyond comprehension, so as long as society remains, language and honorifics specifically will remain as well.
