Gentlemanly gender? Japanese men's use of clause-final politeness in casual conversations

Much of the Japanese language and gender literature discusses the differential use of polite language by women and men. The exchange of non-reciprocal clause-final speech levels is typically taken as a sign that interlocutors are of unequal social status. Cook (1998) has shown how Japanese speakers manipulate the use of clause-final politeness in order to index particular stances in specific moments of ongoing verbal interaction. Using naturally occurring all-male informal conversations, this paper examines the use of clause-final politeness as marked by the presence or absence of the verb ending ∼masu [+politeness] by Japanese men in the Kansai (Western) region. The data provide a deeper understanding into how men exploit linguistic structures such as politeness, at the everyday local level, to create, maintain, and manage particular identities and/or stances.