Cognitive load in processing honorific expressions: A psycholinguistic study of Japanese and Indonesian speakers

Isnaeni Khurniya Falakhiya; Djodjok Soepardjo; Didik Nurhadi

doi:10.29038/eejpl.2026.13.1.fal

Authors

Isnaeni Khurniya Falakhiya * State University of Surabaya, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9881-759X
Djodjok Soepardjo State University of Surabaya, Indonesia
Didik Nurhadi State University of Surabaya, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29038/eejpl.2026.13.1.fal

Keywords:

psycholinguistics, honorifics, cognitive load, Japanese , Indonesian

Abstract

This study examines the cognitive processing of honorifics within the speech communities of Japanese and Indonesian. Within the fields of psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics, it addresses the intersection of cognitive and social factors by exploring the cognitive impact of social hierarchy in language. Several processing experiments were conducted to investigate the presence or absence of honorifics in sentence construction. The descriptive statistics indicate that Japanese speakers use honorifics more frequently, whereas Indonesian speakers experience greater cognitive difficulty when social hierarchization is present in a sentence. These results demonstrate that social hierarchy in language plays a significant role in, and often merges with, the processing and cognitive load associated with the social and cognitive functions of language. This study advocates for the integration of social meaning into language instruction and cognitive research, thereby contributing to psycholinguistics by broadening its scope to include social meaning. In summary, the study quantitatively demonstrates, while integrating second language pedagogy with psycholinguistics, that the social meaning of language use is a key sociopragmatic factor that increases cognitive processing demands during real-time language use, as it guides learners through language structures and sentence formation.

CRediT Statement

Isnaeni Khurniya Falakhiya: Validation, Resources, Writing – Reviewing & Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration; Djodjok Soepardjo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Data Curation; Writing – Original Draft, Project Administration; Didik Nurhadi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal Analysis Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft.

Disclosure Statement

The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.

Generative AI Statement

During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used AI-based tools, including DeepL, Grammarly, and ChatGPT, in order to assist with translation and to check and improve the quality of the English language. After using these tools, the author(s) carefully reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the publication.

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Author Biography

Isnaeni Khurniya Falakhiya *, State University of Surabaya, Indonesia

* Corresponding author, Email: [email protected]

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