Hello!
I experienced my first taifuu (typhoon) yesterday! Many Japanese houses (or at least the most recently built ones) have metal shutters which roll down to cover the window, which I am very thankful for because the wind howled loudly and the rain… I slept like a baby, though. Before the taifuu, we were quite worried because the path of the taifuu was directed towards either Nagoya (where I go to school) or Oosaka. It passed us by, but Kobe was damaged a bit.
Anyway, continuing the subject of Japanese language, I would like to talk about women’s language in Japan. During the Muromachi period of Japan, women in court began saying words for things differently for the sake of distinguishing themselves and their social status. They basically used beautification prefixes and suffixes to make words sound softer, more feminine. At that time, women’s language was by choice, but at the start of the Edo period (1603-1867), officials decided to make women’s language law. Women had to use honorific language to speak with their husbands among other ways of sounding more ladylike.
The following examples are lists of how men and women refer to themselves in Japan.
Men: boku, bokutachi/bokura (plural) ore, washi, ect.
Women: atashi, ashi, atakushi, uchi, uchira (plural), ect. [Basically, removing the "w" sound made the pronunciation softer because the speaker uses less muscles and force to form it.]
Now, of course, women’s language is not by law, but there are still some words that are considered unlady like and should not be used in the presence of older people, strangers, and authoritative figures. For example, referring to oneself as “boku” or “ore” (although the same restriction applies to males when using “ore”).
Also, it is rare to refer to other people as “you” in Japan. You generally ask what the person’s name is and then begin a conversation.
See you later,
Joy
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