distal style; polite form
Linguistic term for the sentence-ending style using です・ます, as opposed to the plain form (常体). Used in discussions of Japanese grammar and register.
日本語の敬体は、です・ますで終わる文体です。
The distal style in Japanese is a writing style that ends with です or ます.
論文では敬体と常体の使い分けが重要だ。
In academic papers, it is important to distinguish between the distal style and the plain style.
Compound of 敬 (respect) and 体 (style, form). A modern linguistic term coined to describe the polite sentence-ending style in Japanese.