Overuse of subject honorifics in Korean TV interviews

Abstract

This study examines why Korean crime victims and witnesses in televised interviews use subject honorifics when referring to offenders—individuals who are typically undeserving of deference. We analyzed unscripted interview transcripts from televised programs, a corpus of casual conversations, and online appropriateness ratings. The analyses show that speakers use subject honorifics for offenders significantly more often in televised interviews than in comparable informal conversations. Conversely, in casual settings, subject honorifics are rarely used for non-deference-deserving referents and appear in fewer than half of deference-deserving cases, well below conventional expectations. Eighty native Korean speakers rated the use of subject honorifics for offenders as highly inappropriate compared to their use with conventionally deference-deserving referents. Across all analyses, we found no significant effects of speaker or referent demographics, relationship type, or crime severity. These results suggest a flexible, context-dependent use of subject honorifics in Korean, indicating that they may serve pragmatic functions beyond traditional deference marking. In particular, the formal and public nature of televised interviews appears to trigger strategic over-honorification as a face-saving mechanism, enhancing speaker self-presentation and expressing politeness toward the audience in mediated discourse.