THE REALIZATION OF DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS THROUGH INTERROGATIVE FORMS IN JAPANESE BUSINESS DISCOURSE

This article examines the linguopragmatic functions of directive speech acts realized through interrogative forms in Japanese business discourse. In commercial and professional communication, speakers frequently ask an addressee to perform a specific action, provide an answer, wait, call back, supply information, or clarify a deadline. In Japanese, such directive intentions are rarely realized through direct imperative structures; rather, they are conventionally encoded through fixed interrogative request formulas. Based on indirect interrogative constructions used in Japanese corporate interaction, the study identifies their key pragmatic functions: soliciting action, mitigating illocutionary force, maintaining business etiquette, and preserving the addressee’s negative face by leaving a formal possibility of refusal. The analysis demonstrates that interrogative forms in Japanese business discourse function not merely as instruments of information seeking but as highly conventionalized indirect directive devices.

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