First grammatical encoding of Japanese Politeness (17th century)

We analyze the description of the polite language in the early 17th century Japanese grammars, mainly the ‘large’ grammar (1604–1608) by the missionaries João Rodrigues ‘Tçuzu’ [the interpreter], S.J. (1562–1633), and the Japanese grammar (1632) by Diego Collado, O.P. (late 16th century–1638). Over 350 years of the Pragmatics established as a linguistic domain, one of the first Japanese dictionaries (1603–1604) introduced the designation of honorific particles and honored verbs. Rodrigues developed this terminology considerably, having analyzed accurately social and linguistic relationships and ways of Japanese reverence and politeness. He proposed an innovative linguistic terminology, inexistent in former European grammars and dictionaries, of which a part was followed by Collado: honorific and humble or humiliative particles, honored and humble verbs, honorable or honorific and low pronouns. Rodrigues also paid special attention to the women’s specific forms of address, describing their own ‘particles’. To sum up, the earlier 17th century Japanese grammars described pioneeringly what nowadays has been called as the Politeness Principle of Japanese or the honorific language of Japanese, termed as Keigo (respect language) or, academically, Taigū Hyōgen (treatment expressions).


INTRODUCTION
Since the foundational studies on Politeness Theory by Robin Tolmach Lakoff (b. 1942), Geoffrey Neil Leech (1936Leech ( -2014, Penelope Brown (b. 1944), and Stephen Curtis Levinson (b. 1947) 1 , nowadays linguists analyze the relationship between language and the social behavior of speakers and hearers, not only in oral speeches but also in written (formal and informal) texts. The use of certain honorifics and address terms exemplifies, for instance, the social position of the interlocutors, the degree of formality of speech, their intimacy, age, gender, etc., and can be studied, for instance, through the fields of pragmatics, sociology, and sociolinguistics. That is the reason why Leech (2014, p. 13-18), for example, proposed the division of two facets of pragmatics into pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics. Like Brown and Levinson (1978, p. 281;1987, p. 276), we use the term "honorifics" in a comprehensive sense, meaning the "[…] direct grammatical encodings of relative social status between participants, or between participants and persons or things referred to in the communicative event", or, as it was defined by Ide (1982, p. 382), "Honorifics are morphologically well-defined language forms that are used to make speech polite".
The analyses of honorifics are particularly relevant in Asian languages 2 , mainly in recent years studies. Locher (2013, p. 4458-4459), for instance, says: Especially researchers on Asian languages and cultures argued early on that the notion of face captured predominantly Western values (involvement and distance) and was not applicable to their cultures to the same extent. This criticism has resulted in a very active research tradition on politeness in Asian languages, and especially on politeness forms of respect and deference in the form of honorifics.
Concerning explicitly Japanese politeness 3 , Ide (1982, p. 357), for instance, says that: The most interesting but recalcitrant issue in Japanese sociolinguistics is perhaps honorifics. In Japanese, honorifics are a morphologically well-defined system which is used to express politeness. There are various devices to express politeness in language, but honorifics are the core of Japanese polite expressions.
And Leech (2014, p. 108, author's italics) states that: Honorifics are found widely among human languages, but languages such as Japanese […] have particularly rich and complex honorific systems. Honorifics in modern societies concern relations between S [speaker] and O [others], and how these are grammatically encoded taking account of the relative deference or familiarity appropriate to these relations.
On the other hand, it is essential for communicative success in Japanese to focus on the correct use of the forms of address and honorifics. Mogi (2002, p. 14) states that: Japanese people seem to avoid employing pronouns as address forms, employing other nouns instead. Family terms, place names, occupations, company names, shop names are popularly used as forms of address in everyday life. An important factor in choosing an appropriate form of address is the relationship between interlocutors. Thus, address forms can represent a referent's position in their society. The grammatical category of person is not exactly the same as its practical use.
So, it is essential to have first the cultural and sociologic background knowledge in order to use the appropriate keigo, "[…] the honorific language of the Japanese language" (Suzuki, 1973, p. 164 apud Mogi, 2002 or " […] less commonly taigū hyōgen […] (lit. 'treatment expressions') […]" (Haugh;Obana, 2011, p. 149). Mogi (2002, p. 14) also says that "Even Japanese people often find it difficult to find appropriate forms to address strangers". Clarke (2009), for instance, believes that the new generation of Japanese, in spite of considering keigo as a feudal anachronism, still continues using it, adding however new values and functions. For him, the keigo system works today at two levels, the politeness and respect: Every Japanese sentence carries information about both categories. Politeness is directed towards the addressee, while respect is shown to the subject (subject honorifics), or direct or indirect object (object honorifics), of the verb. As the subject of object honorific sentences is invariably the first person, 'I', or someone closely associated with the speaker, traditionally the object honorifics were referred to as 'humble' or 'deferential language'. The older terms are still in general use, but specialists prefer 'object honorifics' as these forms show respect to a socially designated superior and carry no connotations of self denigration on the part of the speaker (Clarke, 2009, p. 60-61).
Nevertheless, as it was recognized by Liu and Allen (2014, p. 662) for example, "[…] none of the existing theories alone can explicate Japanese linguistic politeness, as linguistic politeness is a very complicated issue influenced by multiple factors […]". In effect, in this research our main objective is only to analyze the first linguistic codifications of the polite language in the early 17th century Japanese grammars by European missionaries, mainly the "large" grammar (1604-1608) by João Rodrigues 'Tçuzu' [the interpreter], S.J. , and the Japanese grammar (1632) by Diego Collado, O.P. (late 16th century-1638).

HISTORICAL REMARKS
The first Jesuits arrived in Japan from Portugal in 1549, led by Francisco de Javier ('Xavier' in Portuguese), S.J. (1506-1552). The first printing press with movable types was installed in the Jesuit college at Kazusa in 1590, before being moved to Amakusa at the end of 1591 and to Todos os Santos [All Saints] 4 College, near Nagasaki, in the autumn of 1597, after Amakusa College had been suppressed (Laures, 1940, p. 326). In November 1614, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) started persecuting the Christians in Japan; therefore, the missionaries from the Portuguese Patronage were expelled and the Japanese Province of the Society of Jesus had to leave in exile to the Chinese Vice-Province, settled in Madre de Deus [Mother of God] College, in Macau (Tronu, 2015). This conflict between the Japanese and the Portuguese ended only almost 250 years later, with the signature of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Commerce between Portugal and Japan, signed on August 3, 1860, at Yeddo (former name of Tokyo), by the emissaries of King Pedro V (1837-1861) and the Emperor Kōmei (1831-1867) (Tratado…, 1863).
The first metalinguistic text published in Japan was an abridged version of the Manuel Álvares', S.J. (1526-1583), grammar book named "De institutione grammatica libri tres", printed in the Jesuit college of Amakusa (Álvares, 1594). This grammar is the Japanese translation of Álvares' ars minor (Álvares, 1573), published a year later than the editio princeps of his ars maior (Álvares, 1572). "The Amakusa edition (1594) merits special attention not only for being the first grammatical treatise to mention Japanese verbal paradigms in print, but for being the first adaptation of the Jesuit grammar outside of Europe, having been created in a well defined missionary context" (Assunção;Toyoshima, 2012, p. 26). The main objective of this publication was clearly to teach Latin to the Japanese students, but it has several metalinguistic innovations (Assunção;Toyoshima, 2012, p. 36-38). However, none of these innovations was related to the description of Japanese honorifics and forms of address.
In 1595, the Jesuits settled at Amakusa College published the "Dictionarium latino-lusitanicum ac japonicum" [Latin-Portuguese-Japanese Dictionary] (Jesuits, 1595). It was […] clearly based on the dictionary compiled by Ambrogio Calepino [ca. 1440-1510], but it omits the entries for proper nouns and unusual words and includes all meanings of words along with elegant examples of usage, so that it may serve as a guide for young Japanese people studying the Latin language and for Europeans who wished to study Japanese further (Kishimoto, 2010(Kishimoto, , p. 1020 It is smaller than the European editions, the number of entries is considerably reduced, and its main objective was to teach Latin to Japanese students and Japanese to European missionaries (Kishimoto, 2005(Kishimoto, , p. 215, 2014. There is another printed Japanese dictionary called "Racuyoxu" (Rakuyōshū) [Collection of fallen leaves] (Jesuits, 1598) edited in kanji (Chinese) characters and hiragana syllabary. According to Zwartjes (2011, p. 109), it can be considered as a dictionary of characters and not properly as a dictionary of words: "It is a tool for learning the equivalences between Chinese characters and spoken words rather than for learning the meaning of words". The Rakuyōshū is divided in three books: 1) a list of Sino-Japanese characters and their compounds in terms of their pronunciation, the Rakuyōshū proper (62 folios); 2) a list of their syllabic transcription, the Irohajishū (27 folios); and 3) a list of kanji 'radicals', the Shōgyokuhen (Zwartjes, 2011, p. 109;Bailey, 1960Bailey, -1961Chan, 2002, p. 257-258) 5 .
A few years later, in 1603, the Jesuits started publishing a collective dictionary of Japanese with translation into Portuguese, the "Vocabulario da lingoa de Iapam com a declaração em Portugues, feito por alguns padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesu" [Vocabulary of the language of Japan, with definitions in Portuguese, produced by some fathers and brothers of the Society of Jesus] (Jesuits, 1603(Jesuits, -1604. It was finished a year later, in 1604, with the publication of a supplement. It is an anonymous dictionary, but the priest João Rodrigues 'Tçuzu' S.J., has been considered one of its contributors 6 , despite the fact that Doi (1900Doi ( -1995Doi ( ) (1932 had shown that it is improbable that Rodrigues could be so. Nevertheless, recently Kishimoto (2014, p. 253) states that "[…] we do not have clear evidence that he was one of the authors of either Dictionarium or Vocabulario; we cannot completely deny the possibility that he could be one of the authors of the Dictionarium […]".

JOÃO RODRIGUES 'TÇUZU', S.J., AND DIEGO COLLADO, O.P.
Father João Rodrigues, S.J. was born in the north of Portugal (parish of Sernancelhe, diocese of Lamego, and district of Viseu), and he dedicated almost all his life to evangelization in Japan. According to Boxer (1950, p. 339), "He entered the service of the celebrated Daimyo or feudal lord of Bungo, Otomo Yoshishige (Sorin) , who had been strongly attracted to Christianity ever since his first meeting with Saint Francisco Xavier […]". During his 37-year stay in Japan, he won the friendship of the rulers Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) (Cooper, 1974, p. 9;Zwartjes, 2011, p. 95), and he was the interpreter of the Italian Jesuit Visitor, Alessandro Valignano, S.J. , during his first stay in Japan (1579-1582) and when he visited the kwambaku Hideyoshi in 1591 ( Barron;Maruyama, 1999, p. 2). Rodrigues earned the nickname 'Tçuzu' (Tçûzzu or Tsuji), which means "the translator" or "the interpreter" (Zwartjes, 2011, p. 94) because of his skills in speaking Japanese and "[…] to distinguish him from his contemporary namesake, Padre João Rodriguez Giram 7 , who had come to Japan in 1586, and who likewise attained a good knowledge of the language […]" (Boxer, 1950, p. 340-341). After 1614, like the other Jesuits from the Japan Province, Rodrigues started living in Madre de Deus [Mother of God] College in Macau, which was the center of his missionary activity during the last 19 years of his life (Zwartjes, 2011, p. 95).
Rodrigues published two Japanese grammars, the "Arte da lingoa de Iapam" [Art (of Grammar) of the Japanese Language] (Nagasaki 1604-1608) (henceforth "large grammar") and an abridged version, the "Arte Breve da Lingoa Iapoa tirada da arte grande da mesma lingoa, pera os que começam a aprender os primeiros principios della" [Short Art (of Grammar) of the Japanese Language taken from the large grammar of the same language, for those who start learning the first principles from her] published in Macau in 1620 (henceforth 'short grammar'). The large grammar "[…] was too long, containing too much material which was not relevant for the practical teaching of the Japanese language" (Zwartjes, 2011, p. 97). The shorter version had already been finished and printed in Macau, and his "[…] main purpose was to publish a more accessible textbook for beginners […]" (Zwartjes, 2011, p. 97). However, Barron and Maruyama (1999, p. 6) believe that "[…] this is not just a compendium of the Arte (Grande) of 1604-08, but a thoroughly refined or elaborated version".
Father Diego Collado, O.P., is the author of the third Japanese grammar -immediately after both Rodrigues' grammars -, the "Ars grammaticae Iaponicae linguae" [Art of grammar of the Japanese Language] and the "Dictionarium sive Thesauri Linguae Iaponicae Compendium" [Dictionary or Compendium of Japanese Language Thesaurus] (Rome 1632) by Propaganda Fide. Diego Collado was born at Miajadas, in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, in the late 16th century 8 . He entered the Dominican Order approximately in 1600, went to Philippines and to Japan in 1611 and 1619, respectively, where he stayed until 1622. In this year he went to Rome and increased the controversy with the Jesuits 9 . He returned to Philippines and he died in 1638, victim of a shipwreck (Takizawa, 1993, p. 4).
Collado's grammar is an ars minor of Japanese language written in Latin and has just 74 pages 10 . According to the conclusions of Takizawa (1993, p. 261-262), the main sources of Collado were firstly João Rodrigues (in a few aspects but not in all areas) and indirectly Manuel Álvares, S.J. (1526-1583), mainly his Amacusa edition (Álvares, 1594;Assunção;Toyoshima, 2012). Takizawa (1993, p. 261) shows also that the influence of Nebrija is not so clear, despite Collado's preliminary words. Ide (1982, p. 358) says that currently Japanese polite expressions involve two kinds of honorifics, one expressed by means of changing the shape of nominal elements, and the other by predicative elements. The former type is analogous to the polite expressions which occur in the category of address forms. The latter, on the other hand, is a rather more complex system in which not only the sociological nature of the nominal referent, but also the grammatical relation of such an element needs to be taken into consideration. In addition, the status of the adressee plays an important role in this latter system. Already in 1603-1604 the "Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam" had described expressions that revealed interest with Japanese politeness 11 . We found four times the expression "particula de honra" [honorific particle] and two times, "verbo honrado" [honored verb]:

HONORIFICS AND FORMS OF ADDRESS IN 17 TH CENTURY JAPANESE GRAMMARS
Fucu. Vestido: posto que se não usa assi se não com algũa particula de honra, ou composição. [Fucu: Dress: given that it does not use like this if not with some particle of honor, or composition] (Jesuits, 1603(Jesuits, -1604.
Go, id est, guio, id est, Von. He particula de honra. [Go, i.e, guio, i.e, Von: is an honorific particle] (Jesuits, 1603(Jesuits, -1604. Mi, id est, Vo. Particula de honra. [Mi, i.e., Vo: honorific particle] (Jesuits, 1603(Jesuits, -1604 Rodrigues, mainly in the large grammar, developed considerably this terminology and paid special attention to the social relationships amongst Japanese people in oral and written speech, deserving a special reference. He speaks explicitly of the Japanese "cortesia" [politeness] and of the ways of speaking with "honra" [honor]: […] no que esta lingoa se assinala, & he diuersa de quantas temos noticia, he na maneira de respeitos, & cortesias que inclue nos modos de falar quasi uniuersalmente: por que tem verbos acõmodados pera falar de pessoas, & com pessoas baixas, & altas, & tẽ varias particulas que se ajuntão aos verbos, & nomes, respeitando sempre à pessoa cõ quẽ, de quẽ, & de q̃ cousas fala, pera usar das taes particulas, & verbos conforme a calidade de cada hũ; de modo que se não pode aprender sem juntamente se aprender a falar com honra, & cortesia. [in what this language is noted, and it is different from those we know, it is in the way of reverence and politeness, which includes the ways of speaking almost universally; because it has verbs accommodated to speak of people, and with low and high persons, and it has various particles that join to verbs and nouns, always respecting the person with whom, of whom, and of which things speaks, to use such particles, and verbs according to the quality of each one; therefore one can not learn without learning to speak together with honor and politeness] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608 [ix], our translation). Diego Collado had also concerns with Japanese politeness and the correct use of honorifics. He -or his Latin translator -uses the noun "urbanitas" [politeness], and the adjective "urbanus" [polite]. He states, for example, about the imperative of the first conjugation "[…] est honoratior modus loquendi & vrbanior ad imperandum in omni coniugatione, quam per imperatiuum absolutum" (Collado, 1632, p. 21). ["This is a more elegant and polite way of speaking than giving a command with the regular imperative" (Collado, 1975, p. 125)].
Although Rodrigues had following the Latin grammar of other Portuguese Jesuit, Manuel Álvares, S.J. (1526-1583), mainly his ars minor (Álvares, 1573), through the Amakusa edition (Álvares, 1594), "[…] the subject matter of Part III of the Arte is entirely original and can perhaps best be described as rhetoric" (Cooper, 1974, p. 227). Here Rodrigues is completely original, based on the language of Miyako (the former name of Kyoto), the Japanese literature and the earlier Jesuit dictionaries. He describes, for example, how to speak correctly, the most common phonetic errors made by foreigners, literary styles, rules of politeness and how to write formal letters to the king, nobles, lesser noble people, superiors, inferiors, religious (priests and nuns), etc. "The Arte has inevitably come in for a certain amount of criticism on account of its unwieldy length, lack of method, and irrelevant material" (Cooper, 1974, p. 233), but it is an important historical document with relevant linguistic subjects for the study of the beginning 17th century Japanese language and culture. According to Takizawa (1993, p. 1), Rodrigues' grammar is "[…] the first extant Japanese grammar, to which Collado also owes a lot".
[The honorific particles are four: vo, von, go, and mi. The first two are joined to iomi vocables. The last two are joined to coie, or Chinese vocables. The last is the most honorific and is used when speaking of things divine; e.g., midexi tachi 'disciples of Christ the Lord,' goichinin vocoite cudasarei 'please send one from among the Lords'] (Collado, 1975, p. 182).
Rodrigues analyzes likewise the most common address forms used amongst the Japanese people, in different writing styles, such as in naiden (religious) and gueden (secular) texts. For example, Rodrigues says that the suffix "-sama" was the most common 'particle' for the names: Sama, id est, Yŏna, id est, semelhante, assim como, modo, et cetera. Esta particula antigamente nam tinha grao de honra, mas agora he a mais comum, e vsada de quantas ha, e soomente se pospoem a pessoas, e nam a outras cousas, ut Vyesama, id est, Vyeno Yŏna, id est, O Senhor da Tença. Yacatasama, Tono sama, Padre Sama, et cetera. Podemos dizer que no vso em que agora anda tem sentido, de Senhor, Senhoria, Alteza, Merce, Reuerencia, et cetera, conforme a pessoa a que se pospoem. [Sama, i.e., Yŏna, i.e., identical, as well as manner, etc. This particle formerly did not have a grade of honor. Now it is the most common and the most commonly used, and it is only used for persons and not things, as in Vyesama, Vyeno Yŏna, The Lord of the bership, Yacatasama, Tono sama, Padre Sama, etc. We can say that, in the use that now is common, it means Lord, Lordship, Your Highness, Mercy, Reverence, etc., according to the person to whose name it is joined] (Rodrigues, 1604-1608, p. 159v, our translation).
[When speaking to persons of high rank, if we place the name of their office before sama, it serves as a pronoun; e.g., Padresama gozare 'will the Father come'] (Collado, 1975, p. 119). Mogi (2002, p. 17) says that nowadays the suffix "-sama" is "[…] the most formal one amongst four and is mainly employed in public relation". The other three common suffix address forms are -joshi, -shi and -san (the most common): When it is used in social relation, the term addresses for both gender and a speaker is higher in hierarchy than a referent. -joshi is a term for only females who have high social status and is a well-known person. Yet, nowadays, -joshi is less often used than -shi even though the referent is a female. When -san is used in public, social and personal relationships and the term indicates certain degree of respect. This is the most common term in everyday life (Mogi, 2002, p. 17). Coelho andHida (2010 [1997], p. 175, 1023, 1024) present "-samá" as synonym of "-dóno" and "-san", meaning "Sir", "Excellency" or "Madam". However, "-dóno" and "-san" are less formal.
In early 17th century Japan, according to Rodrigues, the most common address forms or particles of honorific degree were the suffixes "-dono," "-tono," and "-cŏ", and "-quiŏ" (used only between the nobles who lived in the king's palace at Kyoto):

Dono, Tono.
He hũa voz que parece significar como entre nos, senhor, ou fidalgo, e se pospoem aos nomes proprios de pessoas, quando se nomeam, assi nas cartas, como no falar ordinario mormente em presença, ou diante de seus criados, e pessoas de obrigaçam. [Dono, Tono. It is a word that signifies a lord or gentleman, and they postpone it to the first names of the persons when they nominate as in the letters in ordinary speech, especially in the presence of or in front of their servants and duty persons] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608 [Yei, i.e., Chocu. These particles serve only for the king and mean the king himself, i.e., Vŏ, and they are placed before the names of the Coye, as in Yeiran and Vio, the King, Yeican, Guiocan, and Lolucu, the King, Yeirio, Yeixin, and Micocoro, the king's heart] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608. Of particular interest is Rodrigues's specific analysis of the address forms used by women. The last research carried out by Ide (2005, p. 61) notes, for instance, that women still continue using polite expressions and women with a higher status use them more than the female of a lower status: "[…] female executives use more elaborate honorific forms than do women of lower status in the same corporation.
[…] The findings show that women of higher status signify their dignity or elegance by using more elaborate, higher honorific forms than those used by lower status women". Clarke (2009, p. 61) adds, otherwise, that the young generation uses fewer forms of address than in the old days, and they are speaking increasingly similar to men, and they overuse the prefix -o 13 : […] this remains true in spite of the protestations of older Japanese that young women these days speak more like men and young males are speaking more like women. The differences between men's and women's language are less apparent in the polite conversational style, though, even here, women tend to use more honorific expressions than men and many overuse the elegant noun prefix o-.
However, at the beginning of the 17th century, João Rodrigues had described already, for instance, that the suffix or the (postponed) particle "-vye" was used only with women's names and meant the 'highest superior': Vye. Esta particula significa superior supremo, et cetera. Como quando dizemos Vye, id est, Vye sama. […] He vsada por particula de honra falando de molheres, e se pospoem aos nomes das pessoas que honra. Vt, Fauavye, A Senhora mãy. Vovye, a senhora da casa, ou mulher do Tono. [Vye: This particle means supreme superior, etc., as when we say Vye, Vye sama […] It is used as an honorific particle for speaking of women, and they postpone it to people names, which they honor, as in Fauavye, Mother Lady, Vovye, the Lady of the House, and Tono's wife] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608 Likewise, the suffix "-goien" was used only between women, showing reverence to their noble family. "-Goien" can be considered as equivalent of the masculine "-sama": Goien, Go. A primeira particula destas duas serue soomente pera molheres, e as honra a modo de, Sama. por respeito das pessoas nobres a quem pertencem as taes molheres.Vt Fauagoien, Foioquegoienm Toquinagoien. Go, serue pera homens, e molheres. [Goien, Go. The first particle of these two is used only for women and to honor them, in the manner of Sama and out of respect for noble people who own such women, as in Fauagoien, Foioquegoienm Toquinagoien] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608 Unfortunately, Rodrigues describes female particles used only by the lower to the higher status women and not by the opposite, as Ide does, and he has not the perspicacity of how spoke the 17th-century young generation, as Clark describes for the contemporary time. In effect, they are discussing different phenomena of women's language, but it is remarkable that a Jesuit missionary at the beginning of the 17th century has a real concern with the women's language and how to use the correct address form or particle, in his designation, when speaking with women.

HONORIFIC PRONOUNS
According to Mogi, Japanese linguists at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912) 14 adopted European grammatical categories and various nouns were categorized as personal pronouns, and nowadays they are essential linguistic elements to indicate the politeness of speech: […] the pronoun system in the Japanese language is not well developed and the system is used in a limited way. Consequently, the system also functions in different ways if it is compared to English. One of possible explanation for this is that at the beginning of the Meiji era, Japanese scholars tried to analyze the grammar of the Japanese language according to European grammatical categories.
[…] Therefore, some nouns were categorized into personal pronouns in the Japanese language but they in fact, show small correlation to their European language counterparts. As a result, there are many PERSONAL PRONOUNs in the Japanese language (Mogi, 2002, p. 15). Japanese people do not like to be the center of the attentions, and they prefer introducing themselves not by the personal pronoun, but by their name, professional title or job, for instance. The Japanese language has, in fact, personal pronouns, but many common nouns were also classified as pronouns, following the grammatical categories of the Western languages. Those 'personal pronouns' are, indeed, synonyms and they are used according to the level of politeness, the gender of the speaker and/or the hearer, their age, the formality of the speech, etc. However, this classification as personal pronoun did not start "at the beginning of the Meiji era", as Mogi stated. In effect, it began, at least, 260 years earlier than the Meiji era, by João Rodrigues, who followed, undoubtedly, the traditional classification of the parts of speech. In effect, Rodrigues describes a complex system of personal pronouns according to the social importance of the speaker. The first person singular ("I" or "me") is necessarily "translated", at least, by 18 different Japanese synonyms. It can be "chinga" or "maru" (only for the king), "vare," "valera," "vatacuxi," and "soregaxi" (for men, with humility), "miga" and "midomo" (for men with some superiority), "midomoga" and "midomoraga" (for men with low social importance), "conofŏ," "conata," and "cochi" (the most frequent "pronoun," for many contexts), "vraga," and "vraraga" (for low people), and "vagami," "midzucara," and "varaua" (for women): Vare, Valera, i.e. Vareraga, Vatacuxi, Soregaxi } "I". These words are courteous and we talk using them to show respect and modesty; they usually are used by men. The first two relate to (religious) practice and to writing, and the second two relate only to (religious) practice. Vatacuxi sometimes means "self," "own", or in "particular," as in Vatacuxino coto, "it is my thing, or mine own, or from me," etc. Mi, i.e., Miga, Midomo; Midomoga, Midomoraga } "I," for men with some superiority, mainly the first two ranks, because the low ranking people also use the other terms among themselves. Conofŏ; Conata; Cochi } "I," common, indifferent to high and low people, and courteous, mainly the first two. Xessu. Xexxa. Xeppu. Guxer. Gurŏ. Gusŏ } "I," for writing, rare for (religious) practice; Gurŏ for old and shaved (men). Gusŏ, for religious and shaved (men). Vraga, Vraraga } "I," used for low ranking people, etc. Vagami, Midzucara, Varava } "I," for women] (Rodrigues, 1604-1608, p. 67v-68r, our translation).
[There are eight particles that signify 'I, mine, to me, etc.' They are vatacuxi, soregaxi, vare, mi, varera, midomo, midomora, vare. The first four indicate a degree of superiority on the part of those who use them. The others are humbler. Women use three other particles mizzucara, varava, and vagami, which are not used by men. The people in the countryside use two others, vara [vora] and vorara, while priests when speaking of themselves use guso, that is to say 'I, a worthless man of the cloth' and old men when speaking of themselves use guro, 'I, a worthless and despicable old man'. The king (rex) says chin or maru which means 'I, the King'] (Collado, 1975, p. 118-119).
For the second and third person, there is the same obligation to use different (primitive or derivative) pronouns, showing the hierarchical relationships between the hearer and the speaker. It is curious that Rodrigues distinguishes the pronouns that serve only for honorable people, equals and low people, and when the speaker wants to despise his interlocutor: Pera segundas, e terceyras pessoas honradas, e igoaes, e algũas bayxas seruem tambem as particulas de honra, Von, vo, go, mi, guio. Vt, Goxisocu, Vosso filho; Mioxi, mice, Seus pes, suas mãos; Von cuni, Vosso, ou seu reyno, et cetera. […] O Pronome assi deriuatiuo como primitiuo, ou he de si honrado, ou bayxo: honrado he aquelle que soo pertence a pessoas altas, e meãs bayxo aquelle, que sò pertence a infimos, ou de que vsamos por causa de desprezar a outro. [For second and third person used for honorable people, equals, and some low ranking people, the honorific particles von, vio, go, mi, and guio are likewise used, as in Goxisocu, "your son"; Mioxi, mice, "your feet," "your hands"; Von cuni, "your kingdom," etc.
[…] The derivative or the primitive pronoun is itself honorable or low; it is honorable when it is used for high and middle ranked people, and it is low [is] when it refers to the lowest ranking people, for whom we use it because we despise them] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608 Interestingly, Rodrigues did not speak of 'higher' personal pronouns of the second or the third person. Maybe he realized that, like today, […] the fundamental rule in Japanese is that a speaker cannot use a PERSONAL PRONOUN to refer to a person who is older or superior than the speaker. On the other hand, when the referent is younger or inferior than the speaker, a PERSONAL PRONOUN can be used (Mogi, 2002, p. 16).
[There are many particles that form the second person pronoun. They are differentiated to indicate those persons deserving no honor and respect, deserving some, moderate, great, or maximal honor and respect. In speaking to inferiors there are three particles used for 'you'; vare, vonore, and sochi. If me or mega is added as in vareme or varemega, it means we very much despise the person being spoken to. If we speak to people who are on our own level, or just a little inferior, we use one of the three particles sonata, sonofo, or varesama. If we speak to a superior person, or someone on an equal level but with whom we must speak elegantly, we use one of the seven particles conata, qixo, qifo, gofen, qiden, conatasama, and sonatasama. When speaking to persons of high rank, if we place the name of their office before sama, it serves as a pronoun; e.g., Padresama gozare 'will the Father come] (Collado, 1975, p. 119).

HONORIFIC AND HUMBLE VERBS
Rodrigues also presents some honorific and humble verbs, according to their specific meaning without the addition of any suffix or particle: De alguns verbos honrados de sua natureza sem particula, e de outros humildes. Tem esta lingoa alguns verbos que de sua natureza encluem em si certo grao de honra sem particula honoratiua, os quais seruem soomente pera segundas, e terceiras pessoas honradas.
Outros verbos ha que tem certo grao de cortesia, e humildade dos quais usam inferiores respeito de superiores, estes honram a pessoa com quem, ou dis-se de quem se fala por elles, e humilham a pessoa sobre quem cayem os tais verbos, ou que delles usa. [Of some honorific verbs, their nature without particle and other humble verbs. This language has some verbs that, by their nature, include in themselves a certain degree of honor without an honorific particle. They serve only for the second and third person forms for honorable persons. There are other verbs that have a certain degree of politeness and humility with which inferiors demonstrate respect to their superiors. These (verbs) honor the person with whom one talks, and humbles the person who uses them] (Rodrigues, 1604(Rodrigues, -1608, our translation).
[Therefore when speaking one must be careful about what one says, or in front of whom one speaks, so as to give each person the honor he deserves] (Collado, 1975, p. 125).
[The root of any verb of whatever conjugation can be taken from its conjugation and changed to another conjugation by adding one of the particles of honor (honor). The resulting form will belong to the conjugation determined by the final letter of the particle. These particles are : maraxi, uru, ari, u, saxerare, uru, xerare, uru, nasare, uru, saxemaxi, u, tamai, ó, rare and re] (Collado, 1975, p. 145). Takizawa (1993, p. 175) concludes that " […] it is obvious that Collado regards an auxiliary verb with its own conjugations as a particle. (This is also true of Rodriguez). The form used before these 'particles' is the root in Collado's analysis".

CONCLUSION
The first metalinguistic text published in Japan was the abridged version of the Latin grammar book (Amakusa 1594) of Manuel Álvares S.J. Despite presenting several linguistic innovations compared with the editio princeps of its ars minor (Lisbon 1573), none is related to the description of Japanese honorifics and forms of address. In the following years, the Jesuits published three collective dictionaries: a Latin-Portuguese-Japanese dictionary (Jesuits, 1595), a Chinese-Japanese dictionary (Jesuits, 1598) and a Portuguese-Japanese dictionary (Jesuits, 1603(Jesuits, -1604. In both first, we did not find any particular expression related to the honorifics or forms of address. The last one has, for the first time, expressions such as 'particula de honra' [honorific particle] and 'verbo honrado' [honored verb], although, there are only a few. However, the truly pioneering works are three published Japanese grammars, the large grammar (Nagasaki 1604-1608) and its abridged version (Macau 1620) by João Rodrigues Tçuzu, S.J., and by Diego Collado, O.P. (Rome 1632).
The João Rodrigues's large grammar is a great source for the study of almost all aspects of Japanese language and culture during the end of the 16th century and the early 17th century, being considered the greatest grammatical study of Japanese made during the Christian Century. During the 17th century there was only one other Japanese grammar, the "Ars Grammaticae Iaponicae Linguae" (Rome 1632), written by Diego Collado, O.P., and printed by the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, which follows closely Rodrigues' grammars.
Summing up, Rodrigues was one of the most original grammarians and deserves to be classified as the Father of the Japanese linguistics studies, as Boxer (1950) did, and one of the five best Jesuit grammarians from whole colonial period, as Zwartjes (2011) stated. He presented many linguistic innovations and created a new metalanguage derived from his knowledge of Japanese society, mainly from Kyoto, and classical Japanese literature, paying special attention to how social relationships between the interlocutors worked in oral and written speech. He described many honorific and humble particles, pronouns, verbs and other forms of address, ways of reverence or courtesy, and politeness titles, not only in oral language but also in different writing styles, among men and also between women, such as, for instance, the 'particle' (suffix) "-goien", which was the equivalent of the men's 'particle' (suffix) "-sama". In spite of having some considerable differences, Collado showed also concerns with the pragmatic working of Japanese 'urbanitas' [politeness] and many honorific particles.
Besides other important linguistic contributions, Rodrigues and Collado described what nowadays has been called as pragmatics or, in Geoffrey Leech designation, pragmalinguistics of Japanese. Rodrigues was indeed the first to analyze deeply how the Politeness Principle of Japanese worked and what is designated currently by Keigo, the honorific language of Japanese, or, in academic terms, Taigū Hyōgen, the treatment expressions.