Gender differences in spoken Japanese
Encyclopedia
The Japanese language
is unusual among major language
s in the high degree to which the speech of women collectively differs from that of men. Differences in the ways that girls and boys use language have been detected in children as young as three years old (Sannen).
Such differences are sometimes called "gendered language." In Japanese
, speech patterns peculiar to women are sometimes referred to as onna kotoba (女言葉, "women's words") or joseigo (女性語, "women's language"). The use of "gender" here refers to gender role
s, not grammatical gender
. A man using feminine speech might be considered effeminate, but his utterances would not be considered grammatically incorrect. In general, the words and speech patterns considered masculine are also seen as rough, vulgar, or abrupt, while the feminine words and patterns make a sentence more polite, more deferential, or "softer" (countering abruptness). Some linguists consider the rough/soft continuum more accurate than the male/female continuum – for example, Eleanor Harz Jorden in Japanese: The Spoken Language
refers to the styles as blunt/gentle, rather than male/female.
There are no gender differences in written Japanese (except in quoted speech), and almost no differences in polite speech (teineigo), except for occasional use of wa (and except for the fact that women may be more likely to use polite speech in the first place).
See also Japanese pronouns
Feminine speech includes the use of specific personal pronouns (see table, above), omission of the copula da, use of feminine sentence finals such as wa, and the more frequent use of the honorific prefixes o and go.
According to Katsue Akiba Reynolds, ladylike speech is instrumental in keeping Japanese women in traditional roles and reflects Japanese society’s concept of the difference between women and men. For example, there is the potential for conflict for women in the workplace in that, in order to be onnarashii, a woman must speak politely, submissively and humbly, yet in order to command respect as a superior, she must be assertive, self-assured, and direct, even when dealing with male subordinates. Miyako Inoue is also critical of the way gender difference in speech is portrayed in Japan.
In particular, men use particular masculine personal pronouns, use the informal ("da") in place of the copula desu, use masculine sentence finals such as zo, and use honorific prefixes less frequently than women.
), convergence in usage is considered unlikely and may not even be desirable. Instead, trends in actual usage indicate that women are feeling more comfortable using traditional characteristics of female speech (such as wa) while still maintaining an assertive attitude on par with men. In other words, there is a gradual decoupling of language forms and traditional cultural expectations.
Although the characteristics of Japanese male speech have been largely unaffected, there has been an increasing sensitivity regarding certain usages (such as calling mature women -chan) that may be considered offensive.
Regional dialect may often play a role in the expression and perception masculinity or femininity of speech in Japanese.
Another recent phenomenon influencing established femininity in speech is the popularity of おかま Okama, very feminine men as popular 芸能人 Geinoujin (television personalities). While homosexuality and transgenderism is still a fairly taboo subject in Japan, lesbians with male traits, or cross-dressers, are referred to as onabe or tachi.
It is important for non-native learners to spend time with males and females who speak Japanese natively in order to better comprehend the linguistic differentiations.
In addition to the use of pronouns
to refer to oneself and others, the use of titles
such as -san, -chan, and -kun also is strongly influenced by gender-based overtones and is another source of potential problems for the non-native speaker.
The situation is complicated by the fact that in actual usage many of the above gender differences are not as easy to delineate as they have been in the above chart. For example, in many regions of Japan it is common for older men to refer to themselves as boku or older women to refer to themselves as ore.
of video games. Spoken language in a video game is often displayed as text messages on the screen. To avoid awkwardness, games created in Japan use neutral or simple and functional messages when they may be spoken by both male and female characters. When this method is not feasible, different messages for each sex — and sometimes for each character — are created. Because of this, localization from Japanese is constrained only by the translators' ability or by technical difficulties in displaying enough characters on the screen.
However, games created outside Japan, especially in English-speaking countries, generally use the same messages for both sexes. When such non-Japanese games are localized into Japanese, localization efforts have two choices: make neutral messages usable by both sexes, or reduce messages to understandable form and strip all meanings that can not be localized in the limited display area. When the quality of translation is inadequate, a game may display a feminine message despite the character speaking it being male. The reverse is usually more acceptable, at the cost of making the female character seem unrefined or overly aggressive.
In games such as MMORPG
s, in which a player's character
can be customized to have any age, appearance, and sex, this problem is further complicated by the obvious lack of honorifics
and titles
in non-Japanese versions. Such a simple phrase as "I will help you" is a potential localization nightmare if a barbarian male warrior, who might normally use ore, and a cultured female wizard, who might normally use watakushi, are both forced to use watashi as the compromise. If additional translated words are similarly neutral, this male barbarian gains an unexpected refinement while the female wizard loses some of her nobility. Depending on the characters involved, the entire sentence may be grammatically correct, but socially unacceptable.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
is unusual among major language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s in the high degree to which the speech of women collectively differs from that of men. Differences in the ways that girls and boys use language have been detected in children as young as three years old (Sannen).
Such differences are sometimes called "gendered language." In Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, speech patterns peculiar to women are sometimes referred to as onna kotoba (女言葉, "women's words") or joseigo (女性語, "women's language"). The use of "gender" here refers to gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s, not grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
. A man using feminine speech might be considered effeminate, but his utterances would not be considered grammatically incorrect. In general, the words and speech patterns considered masculine are also seen as rough, vulgar, or abrupt, while the feminine words and patterns make a sentence more polite, more deferential, or "softer" (countering abruptness). Some linguists consider the rough/soft continuum more accurate than the male/female continuum – for example, Eleanor Harz Jorden in Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language
Japanese: The Spoken Language is an introductory textbook series for learning Japanese. JSL was written by Eleanor Harz Jorden in collaboration with Mari Noda. Part 1 was published in 1987 by Yale Language Press, Part 2 in 1988, and Part 3 in 1990...
refers to the styles as blunt/gentle, rather than male/female.
There are no gender differences in written Japanese (except in quoted speech), and almost no differences in polite speech (teineigo), except for occasional use of wa (and except for the fact that women may be more likely to use polite speech in the first place).
Major differences in the use of Japanese
| Female speakers | Male speakers |
|---|---|
| Use polite forms more often | Use polite forms less often |
| Use more tag question Tag question A question tag or tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by adding an interrogative fragment . For example, in the sentence "You're John, aren't you?", the statement "You're John" is turned into a question by the tag... s |
Use fewer tag questions |
| Avoid dropping respectful titles | Drop respectful titles more quickly |
| Use intrinsically feminine words | Use intrinsically masculine words |
| Use forms intended to soften speech | Use abrupt, rough-sounding forms more often |
Words for "I" or "me"
| Male or female | ||
|---|---|---|
| 私, わたし | watashi | Polite, currently used by both men and women. In the Edo period, it was used mostly by women. |
| 私, わたくし | watakushi | Polite, used by both men and women; more formal than watashi. |
| 自分, じぶん | jibun | Used by both men and women. However, in the Kansai dialect, jibun refers to "you". |
| うち | uchi | Used by both men and women; especially, when speaking of home and/or family. Also used by young girls. |
| One's Own Name | Used almost exclusively by very young children. Greater frequency of usage connotes femininity. For men, the usage is limited to extremely feminine men and elderly male people. | |
| Female | ||
|---|---|---|
| あたし | atashi | Young girls, women, and men expressing femininity. |
| あたくし | atakushi | Formal form of atashi; used mostly by women in formal situations. |
| あたい | atai | More recently characteristic of the Tokyo "downtown" dialect; distinctly rough. |
| Male | ||
|---|---|---|
| 僕, ぼく | boku | Boys and young men, fairly casual; recently used by some girls. In songs, used by both sexes. |
| 俺, おれ | ore | Informal form for men and boys, women not being feminine/polite; distinctly masculine, sometimes vulgar. |
| 儂, わし | washi | old men |
| 我輩, 吾輩 | wagahai | archaic, somewhat boastful masculine |
| 俺様, おれさま | ore-sama | pompous, vulgar; boys, men, a combination of ore and the honourific title "sama" |
| 我, 吾 | ware | men, may sound old. |
Words for "you"
| Male and Female | ||
|---|---|---|
| 君, きみ | kimi | men to close friends, lovers; superiors (including women) to inferiors. In songs, used by both sexes. |
| 貴方, あなた | anata | standard polite form when used by men, usual form used by women; (when used to address a husband or male partner): equivalent to "dear"; and can be used woman-to-woman, considered cute and very casual. |
| そちら | sochira | informal yet relatively neutral form for 'you', used among peers of similar age usually. Less insulting than anta (see below) |
| あんた | anta | informal contraction of standard anata; potentially insulting |
| Male | ||
|---|---|---|
| 手前 | temae | archaic, extremely hostile in its corrupted form temee (てめえ); men |
| こいつ | koitsu | directive pronoun, as in "this guy"; rather hostile |
| 汝 | nanji, nare | archaic, generally used only in translations of ancient documents to replace "thou" |
| お前, おまえ | omae | direct, abrupt; sometimes hostile; (when used to address a wife or female partner): equivalent to "dear" |
| 貴様 | kisama | formerly an extremely honorific form of address; in modern speech is as insulting as, but more refined than, "temee" |
| Female | ||
|---|---|---|
| あなた | anata | (when used to address a husband or male partner): equivalent to "dear"; and can be used woman-to-woman, considered cute and very casual. |
See also Japanese pronouns
Japanese pronouns
Pronouns are used less frequently in the Japanese language than in many other languages, mainly because there is no grammatical requirement to include the subject in a sentence. So, pronouns can seldomly be translated from English to Japanese on a one-on-one basis.The common, English pronouns, such...
Sentence finals
| Feminine | ||
|---|---|---|
| わ | wa | gives a distinctly soft effect; not to be confused with wa in the Kansai dialect |
| わよ | wa yo | informative |
| わね | wa ne | ne is a tag question roughly meaning "don't you agree?" It is sometimes placed at the beginning, rather than the end of sentences and functions to soften |
| の | no | gives a distinctly soft effect; |
| のよ | no yo | informative/assertive |
| のね | no ne | explanatory/tag question |
| かしら | kashira | I wonder |
| Masculine | ||
|---|---|---|
| かい | kai | masculine form of the question marker ka |
| ぞ | zo | emphatic/informative; more positive than "ze" |
| ぜ | ze | emphatic/informative |
| よ | yo | emphatic/informative; also used by women, but women often soften by adding wa |
| かなぁ | kanaa | I wonder |
Traditional characteristics of women's speech
The word onnarashii (女らしい), which is usually translated as "ladylike" or "feminine," refers to the behaviour expected of a typical Japanese woman. As well as behaving in particular ways, being onnarashii means conforming to a particular style of speech, the features of which are, according to Eleanor Jorden, "repeated like a liturgy in writings everywhere." Some of the features of women’s speech include speaking in a higher register, using more polite forms and using polite speech in more situations, and the use of particular "intrinsically feminine" words (Mangajin).Feminine speech includes the use of specific personal pronouns (see table, above), omission of the copula da, use of feminine sentence finals such as wa, and the more frequent use of the honorific prefixes o and go.
According to Katsue Akiba Reynolds, ladylike speech is instrumental in keeping Japanese women in traditional roles and reflects Japanese society’s concept of the difference between women and men. For example, there is the potential for conflict for women in the workplace in that, in order to be onnarashii, a woman must speak politely, submissively and humbly, yet in order to command respect as a superior, she must be assertive, self-assured, and direct, even when dealing with male subordinates. Miyako Inoue is also critical of the way gender difference in speech is portrayed in Japan.
Traditional characteristics of Japanese men's speech
Just as there are modes of speaking and behaviour that are considered intrinsically feminine, there are also those that are considered intrinsically masculine. In speech, being otokorashii (男らしい, "manly" or "masculine") means speaking in a lower register, using fewer polite forms and using them in fewer situations, and using intrinsically masculine words.In particular, men use particular masculine personal pronouns, use the informal ("da") in place of the copula desu, use masculine sentence finals such as zo, and use honorific prefixes less frequently than women.
Gender differences in modern society
As women gain an increasing leadership role in Japanese society, notions of onnarashisa and otokorashisa, that is, what is deemed appropriate behavior for men and women, have evolved over time. Although comparatively more extreme movements call for the elimination of gender differences in the Japanese language (gender-neutral languageGender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language, gender-inclusive language, inclusive language, or gender neutrality is linguistic prescriptivism that aims to eliminate reference to gender in terms that describe people...
), convergence in usage is considered unlikely and may not even be desirable. Instead, trends in actual usage indicate that women are feeling more comfortable using traditional characteristics of female speech (such as wa) while still maintaining an assertive attitude on par with men. In other words, there is a gradual decoupling of language forms and traditional cultural expectations.
Although the characteristics of Japanese male speech have been largely unaffected, there has been an increasing sensitivity regarding certain usages (such as calling mature women -chan) that may be considered offensive.
Regional dialect may often play a role in the expression and perception masculinity or femininity of speech in Japanese.
Another recent phenomenon influencing established femininity in speech is the popularity of おかま Okama, very feminine men as popular 芸能人 Geinoujin (television personalities). While homosexuality and transgenderism is still a fairly taboo subject in Japan, lesbians with male traits, or cross-dressers, are referred to as onabe or tachi.
Problems for Japanese learners
Perhaps due to having a female teacher, or perhaps because of other association with Japanese women, such as learning the language from a girlfriend or female partner, non-native male learners may inadvertently pick up "women's Japanese", which may sound awkward or cause embarrassment. Of course, the reverse situation is also true. This may also be because Japanese women generally use polite speech more frequently than men, even in fairly casual situations. Compounded with the fact that most courses and textbooks spend a great deal of time enforcing polite speech, non-native males may tend to sound feminine in casual situations.It is important for non-native learners to spend time with males and females who speak Japanese natively in order to better comprehend the linguistic differentiations.
In addition to the use of pronouns
Japanese pronouns
Pronouns are used less frequently in the Japanese language than in many other languages, mainly because there is no grammatical requirement to include the subject in a sentence. So, pronouns can seldomly be translated from English to Japanese on a one-on-one basis.The common, English pronouns, such...
to refer to oneself and others, the use of titles
Japanese titles
The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people, for example -san, as in Daniel-san. These honorifics are gender-neutral , though some are more used for men or women and can be attached to first names as well as...
such as -san, -chan, and -kun also is strongly influenced by gender-based overtones and is another source of potential problems for the non-native speaker.
The situation is complicated by the fact that in actual usage many of the above gender differences are not as easy to delineate as they have been in the above chart. For example, in many regions of Japan it is common for older men to refer to themselves as boku or older women to refer to themselves as ore.
Problems with localization of video games
These gender differences in spoken language cause unique problems in the localizationInternationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
of video games. Spoken language in a video game is often displayed as text messages on the screen. To avoid awkwardness, games created in Japan use neutral or simple and functional messages when they may be spoken by both male and female characters. When this method is not feasible, different messages for each sex — and sometimes for each character — are created. Because of this, localization from Japanese is constrained only by the translators' ability or by technical difficulties in displaying enough characters on the screen.
However, games created outside Japan, especially in English-speaking countries, generally use the same messages for both sexes. When such non-Japanese games are localized into Japanese, localization efforts have two choices: make neutral messages usable by both sexes, or reduce messages to understandable form and strip all meanings that can not be localized in the limited display area. When the quality of translation is inadequate, a game may display a feminine message despite the character speaking it being male. The reverse is usually more acceptable, at the cost of making the female character seem unrefined or overly aggressive.
In games such as MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
s, in which a player's character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
can be customized to have any age, appearance, and sex, this problem is further complicated by the obvious lack of honorifics
Japanese honorifics
The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech which show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank.The system of honorifics...
and titles
Japanese titles
The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people, for example -san, as in Daniel-san. These honorifics are gender-neutral , though some are more used for men or women and can be attached to first names as well as...
in non-Japanese versions. Such a simple phrase as "I will help you" is a potential localization nightmare if a barbarian male warrior, who might normally use ore, and a cultured female wizard, who might normally use watakushi, are both forced to use watashi as the compromise. If additional translated words are similarly neutral, this male barbarian gains an unexpected refinement while the female wizard loses some of her nobility. Depending on the characters involved, the entire sentence may be grammatically correct, but socially unacceptable.
See also
- Japanese pronounsJapanese pronounsPronouns are used less frequently in the Japanese language than in many other languages, mainly because there is no grammatical requirement to include the subject in a sentence. So, pronouns can seldomly be translated from English to Japanese on a one-on-one basis.The common, English pronouns, such...
- Gender-neutral pronoun: Japanese
- Nyōbō kotobaNyobo kotobawas a cant that was originally used by Japanese court ladies during the Muromachi era, and subsequently spread and came to be thought of as a general women's language...
- 女性語, 男性語