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.
Read more about this topic: Onna Kotoba
Famous quotes containing the words traditional, japanese, men and/or speech:
“There are two kinds of fathers in traditional households: the fathers of sons and the fathers of daughters. These two kinds of fathers sometimes co-exist in one and the same man. For instance, Daughters Father kisses his little girl goodnight, strokes her hair, hugs her warmly, then goes into the next room where he becomes Sons Father, who says in a hearty voice, perhaps with a light punch on the boys shoulder: Goodnight, Son, see ya in the morning.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“In fact, the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.... The Japanese people are ... simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art.”
—Oscar Wilde (18541900)
“I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait till that time came?till you and I came over to him?”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear childrens speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie.... Children have been treated ... as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.”
—Beatrix Campbell (b. 1947)