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.
Feminine speech includes the use of specific personal pronouns, 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, to be onnarashii, a woman must speak politely, submissively and humbly, yet 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.
Read more about this topic: Onna Kotoba
Famous quotes containing the words traditional, women 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, Daughter’s Father kisses his little girl goodnight, strokes her hair, hugs her warmly, then goes into the next room where he becomes Son’s Father, who says in a hearty voice, perhaps with a light punch on the boy’s shoulder: “Goodnight, Son, see ya in the morning.””
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“We as women know that there are no disembodied processes; that all history originates in human flesh; that all oppression is inflicted by the body of one against the body of another; that all social change is built on the bone and muscle, and out of the flesh and blood, of human creators.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)
“Are you shouting at me, dead man, squeezing your face
In agonies of speech on speechless panes?
Cry louder, beat the windows, bawl your name!”
—Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971)