Here is Sapir-Whorf!

Basically, its a sociolinguistic hypothesis displaying that our actions and thoughts are influenced by language.

This is what our handout [Reading package 1, page 14- has to say about it:

Strong form of Sapir-Whorf: thought is actually conditioned by language. [for example the Japanese use of giving and receiving verbs explicitly lay an 'in group' and 'out group' way of thinking.]

….habitual thought is to a certain extent conditioned by their language… The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is concerned with the possibility that human beings’ views of their environment may be conditioned by their language…

Weak form of Sapir-Whorf: the effect of society on language. [like how the Alaskans have a million words for snow and how language changes through the years due to certain historical instances. For example, how katakana entered the Japanese language and how many katakana words they have to use now as opposed to how many they used in the past.

So basically, language influences thought and society influences language. ^.^

Explain Fictive use of Kinship terms (a bit complicated- Ch. 6 handout pg. 135-on explains it in depth)

Used for calling a nonrelative by a kinship term. Examples include “ojisan” or grandfather , and “onesan” or older sister.

General Principle for use: the speaker addresses the hearer according to what they would call them, based on sex and age, if the hearer were a relative and thus choose kinship terms for both and the hearer and oneself. One example would be a younger person calling an older person “ojiisan” or an older person speaking to a younger person and calling themselves “onesan” or older sister.
Like with normal kinship terms older persons do not address those younger by their junior positions- musuko or son, mei or niece would not be used.

Secondary Use of Fictive kinship terms (more complicated)- use based on perspective. Examples include when a mother refers to her son as Oniisan or Big brother or when a father refers to his father as “ojiisan”. This is considered “empathetic identification”. It is addressing the person from someone’s else’s perspective.
1. an older member may address a younger member, using the kinship form designating the latter’s position from the viewpoint of the youngest member of the family
2.When an older family member speaking with a younger one, mentions a third member who is older than the latter, he does not view this person, linguistically, from his own standpoint, but from the standpoint of the hearer(or the younger member)

When an older person uses the kinship terms they will often take it from the younger person’s perspective. Thus “both the addressed and the person referred to are represented by the terms that show their position in the family as seen by the youngest member.’

Machida Sensei also gave us a handout that explained the term. It has a picture of a family tree and shows how to draw the line between “younger” and “older” members.It is also in the article.

Hope this covers enough since we only need to write 10 sentences or fewer on the short answer.

9. Which person will be polite to whom in the following situations? Answer by referring to Ide’s social rules.

Kind of hard to answer since there is not actually any following situations, so i will give the rules for you to memorize.

1. Be polite to a person of a higher social position
2. Be polite to a person with power
A few examples are: Someone performing a profession,
(a cop arresting your ass, Professor over student)
The person supplying money
(the customer, someone who pays to recieve
a service, stuff like that.)
The person who is asked a favor
3. Be polite to an older person

How to use them:
When comparing 1 and 2, 2 is most likely to win.
Ex: A doctor violating a law will be polite to the arresting officer.

When comparing 1, 2, and 3, social position and power are more important
Ex: A person will be polite to a doctor who is younger than them.

Though reciprocity is observed when rules come into conflict
Ex: A customer will be polite to a sales person, teacher will be
polite to the students parents. Age is also the same way as a
younger doctor will be polite to an older patient.

The Ranking of Rules of Politeness for the Addressee
2, 1, and then 3

The Referent
1, 3, and then 2
Power is not important unless they are there.

The Referent Honorifics Depend On:
1. if the referent is an “in group” of the addressee
2. if the referent is present, within earshot.
3. if the speaker displays his good demeanor
4. if the speaker shows genuine respect for the referent.
5. if the speaker educates his or her children.

The Overriding Rule
Be polite in a formal setting.

This all can be found in the 3rd Reading Package under “S.Ide Politeness and Women’s Language” starting from page 366 to 377.

cut and pasted from my paper…

Woman and the Japanese Language

This style involves speaking in a soft, gentle voice, avoiding blunt, masculine expressions

The female genderlect contains many lexical items associated with the household domain. For example, women use oisii, while men use umai, for the adjective ‘delicious.’ This female version is considered softer and more polite than their counter masculine forms. Personal pronouns contain three sets for first and second person. Men have more pronoun choices, with women limited to the first person ‘I’ forms of ‘atashi/watashi/watakushi,’ as well as anata for the second person ‘you.’ Males can use the informal first person ‘I,’ ore/boku/washi, as well as the second person ‘you,’ kimi/omae.

There are sentence final particles only females use, such as wa, adding a soft nuance, kashira, indicating doubt, and no causing a tone of uncertainty. These particles used in an attempt to soften their language and “establish an atmosphere of sharedness .” Wa is an “option giver, ” containing a “‘don’t impose’ strategy .” Both men and women may use plain and polite forms in informal settings, but women use polite form more often in formal situations; differences in speech decrease with formality. Women tend to use o/go before nouns, embellishing words known as bikago, and use honorific forms more often. This is an example of beautification honorifics, using honorifics indiscriminately, beautifying their speech.

The female genderlect is characterized by an abundance of these beautification honorifics. Women also tend to have a hyper-corrected use of honorifics, where honorifics are used to show deference by indiscriminate use. This is exemplified when honorifics are used towards one’s in-group in attempt to show formality. Beautification and hyper-corrected use of honorifics is character of female speech when displaying good demeanor to sound polite.

Men are allowed to use both imperative verbs, as well as the nasai suffix, but females are expected to only use the nasai suffix. Again, this is to induce a subtle soft and polite hue to the female speech style. Women often tend to omit case particles more often than men, using more adjectivals when the noun is deleted. Women avoid using expressions of profanity or obscenity. The suffix yagaru and sentence final particles zo and ze, as well as phonological reduction forms such as dekee, containing a derogatory connotation are used only by men. Lacking these vulgar expressions automatically elevates women to a higher demeanor.

3) What aspect of the Japanese society is reflected in terms such as 春雨 (はるさめ), 時雨 (しぐれ), いちまご, and そとまご.

These words show how Japan’s physical and social environments are reflected in the Japanese language.

Physical environment examples:
The amount of words used to describe rain:
春雨 (はるさめ)- spring/light rain
時雨 (しぐれ)- old/autumn rain
梅雨 (つゆ)- rainy season
雨男 (あめおとこ)- ‘man who brings rain’

Variety of words for different kinds of cicadas:
あぶらぜみ- large brown cicada
ひぐらし- higurashi cicada

Social environment is also reflected in language by the use of kinship terms and honorifics:
伯父(おじ)- uncle older than your parents
叔父(おじ)- uncle younger than your parents
いちまご- “Inside grandchildren”, the children of your son
そとまご- “Outside grandchildren”, the children of your daughter

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17) Discuss examples of misunderstandings or miscommunications due to different way of nonverbal communication

Article (in Reading Package III, Brosnahan) compared Japanese people with (I’m assuming) British people

Using the information about aizuchi (reactions and gestures to what has been said), the listener helps the speaker feel comfortable and continue speaking by acknowledging what has been said by nodding or saying certain words, echoing, using eye contact, being sympathetic, etc. Miscommunications occur in the Japanese language when these traditional reactions and gestures are not used.

*Bows/handshakes*
Japanese – Inferior initiates the bow, Head and eyes lowered
English – Superior initiates the handshake, Direct eye contact
(Japanese waiting for inferior to initiate handshake or English waiting for superior to initiate bow can be seen as disrespectful. Also, an English person trying to maintain eye contact during a bow or a Japanese person avoiding it with a handshake can also be rude.)

*Crossing arms*
Japanese – Closed, superiority
English – Informal, relaxed, neutral (although sometimes closed and self-protective)

*Heads*
Japanese- Nods used to beckon a person to come, Head jerks are rude, superior, insulting
English- Nodding or head jerking as a pointing gesture, (Head toss) to beckon a person to come, seen as informal

*Bashful gestures*
Japanese – Scratch back of head, Cover mouth with back or hand or palm
English – Shake bowed head in a figure 8 shape, Thought to be awkward and immature by Japanese

*Thumb(s) up*
Japanese – Boyfriend, man, boy, husband, father
English – Good, OK, up

*‘OK’ sign with fingers*
Japanese – Money, zero, understood, OK, right
English - Zero, good, understood, perfect, right, OK

*Index and middle finger up*
Japanese – Victory, 2, peace
English – Fuck you (disguised middle finger), two

*Snapping fingers*
Japanese – Taboo
English – (“Do it) quickly”, “I just remembered”, “Damn!”, regret

*Pinky up*
Japanese – Refinement, cleanliness, meticulousness, delicate
English – Pretentiousness, false refinement

*Harnessing emotion*
Japanese – Think it is adult, subtle, educated
English – Think it shows insensitivity, inscrutability, impassivity, dullness, obtuseness

*Unbridled emotion*
Japanese – Think it is naive, simple, vulgar, childish, underbred
English – Think it is normal, expressive

(Japanese children do not skip or whistle to show happiness because it is undignified. For the same reason, Japanese sports teams do not cheer or jump and are very stoic in defeat and victory, because celebration of a good thing is done in private.)
(With positive emotions in social situations, however, the Japanese can sometimes be considered ‘too happy’ by the English. The Japanese seem to smile or giggle continuously (which is often interpreted by English as anxiety), and think that the English are not having a good time at the function because they are not constantly expressing their content. )

*Reaction to praise*
Japanese – Seem sad, deny it, look disbelieving (Seen by English as too humble, insincere, hypocritical)
English – Smile, accept it, say thank you (Seen by Japanese as too immodest, proud, boastful)

My answer to #3 might be a little unclear, so here’s some more explanation if you need it:

Physical environment examples:
There are a lot of different kinds of rain in Japan (rain in spring, rain in the fall, etc), and therefore there are multiple words for rain in the Japanese language (as opposed to English, where we just say ‘rain’ and then add some more words to create a phrase that specifies what kind of rain it is). There are also different kinds of cicadas, so there are multiple words for multiple kinds of cicadas.

Social environment examples:
The uncle examples aren’t as clear, since 叔 doesn’t have a meaning by itself (as far as I know, anyway). But 伯 by itself means count, countess, and other royalty terms. The use of this kanji before the 父 can indirectly imply that the older brother of one of your parents was ‘royalty’, simply because of his age. This indicates the depth of the age hierarchy in Japanese society, since it has spilled over into the language used for kinship terms. Same deal with the grandchildren examples, but it instead shows the importance of male over female in Japanese society; the children of the son are insiders, while the children of your daughter are outsiders.

伯父(おじ)- uncle older than your parents
叔父(おじ)- uncle younger than your parents
うちまご- “Inside grandchildren”, the children of your son
そとまご- “Outside grandchildren”, the children of your daughter

Hopefully that clears it up!

2. What are possible influences from language to society?

★Honorific system
Using honorifics reinforces the social distance between the two groups. Similarly, students who start college in the same year tend to speak very casually to each other, which reaffirm feelings of camaraderie and solidarity. Also, a feeling of uneasiness in social settings is often caused by not knowing where one stands.

★Kinship terms
When a mother speaks to her child, she refers to herself as “mother” instead of “I” as English speakers do. Calling herself such reinforces the fact that she’s part of the family and her closeness to the child. Also, a child calling his older siblings by their title but calling his younger siblings by their name reinforces his awareness of the age gap between them.

★Sexism in the Japanese language
From a study of how society refers to men and women in 1993: in newspaper columns introducing prominent people, when the profession of the woman interviewed was referred to, it was often marked “female,” such as “female Diet Member,” “female manager,” etc. Similarly, there is a distinct term for female doctors but not one for male doctors. Societal view of females are still somewhat old-fashioned.

Men’s dominance over women in social positions, a legacy of feudalism, is still maintained as a basic social norm. Women are therefore expected to be more polite than men.

★Yes/no system
The way Japanese people sometimes agree to something even when they don’t really mean it results in a society where many people don’t clearly state their opinions or remain equivocal.

Note: The government prohibited the use of めくら、おし、つんぼ (blind, mute, deaf) because they thought language could affect social beliefs

Sorry my explanation for the last two points kind of suck. I couldn’t find anything in the readings and couldn’t really think of anything =X
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Explain aizuchi observed in conversation.

Aizuchi refers to the act of participating in the conversation. It is defined as ‘any utterance sent by the listener that does not actively seek for information, for a request or a decision.’ The essence of aizuchi is their timing; they have to be used at the most appropriate point in the discourse.

Aizuchi as…
★Continuers – means “I am listening” and encourage the speaker to continue talking
★Acknowledgments – function mainly to show agreement and understanding of the content
★Echoers – echoing the speaker is an indication of interest and participation in the communicative interchange
★News markers – used to show interest and are sent only after the main piece of information has been delivered
★Affective aizuchi – all aizuchi that display emotion and feelings are classified as affective aizuchi. They can show surprise, empathy, or shock.
★Fillers – aizuchi used as fillers are used when topics are delicate, when there is topic attrition, and when participants are not willing to take the floor

(10) Explain ‘Discernment’ and ‘Volition’ by referring to the study by Hill, et. al.

DEFINITIONS:

*Politeness – constraint on human interaction with the purpose of considering others’ feelings, establishing levels of mutual comfort, and promoting rapport
~ the system for polite use of any given language exhibits two major aspects:
1) necessity for speaker Discernment
2) opportunity for speaker Volition

*Discernment (aka “wakimae”) – the almost automatic observation of socially-agreed-upon rules (aka ‘conforming to the expected norm’)
~ Hill, et. al. suggest that Discernment is necessary to, and in fact the fundamental determinant of politeness in any language, and violation of the rules of Discernment offends others, hurts the speaker’s social image, and results in social punishment.

*Volition – aspect of politeness which allows the speaker a choice according to their intention, from a relatively wide range of possibilities
~ Unlike Discernment, Volition is not necessary to politeness, but rather is an optional element to take into consideration.

Hill, et. al.’s hypothesis goes something like this: All human speakers use language according to politeness, which is fundamentally determined by Discernment, which in turn is determined by several factors, the most prominent being the type of addressee and the situation. (When you put those two together, you get Perceived Distance, or the speaker’s perception of the closeness of their relationship to the listener.)

To test their hypothesis, they did a survey on both Japanese and American students about what sort of wording they would use when asking to borrow a pen from various types of people.

The results were that though both the Japanese and American participants showed a conscious level of Discernment in their answers, the Japanese students were very unified in their choices of how to make their request to certain kinds of people (thus showing a stronger consideration for Discernment in their decision-making process), while the Americans’ answers were much more varied for a given situation, suggesting that they may or must take into greater account the factor of Volition.

In other words, the appropriate ways to speak to a teacher, a stranger, a good friend, etc. in American English are not nearly as set-in-stone as they are in Japanese, and as a result, speakers of American English don’t have any choice but to rely more on Volition by consciously or unconsciously choosing what level of politeness to use (rather than simply drawing upon a set response).

Q: What are some characteristics of the Japanese sound system?

Loan words – The Japanese lexicon contains an extremely large number of loan words, most of which originate from China since the Nara period. Since the 1600s, western words began to appear within the language as a result of being exposed to western culture, written and pronounced according to the Japanese phonological rules. Examples include nyuusu, chiimu, Igirisu, and Yooroppa.

Politeness – For the Japanese language, wakimae is known as the general framework associated with politeness strategies, referring to a set of social norms of appropriate behaviour people must observe to be considered polite in society. The most common way to express politeness is to use formal verb endings, the desu/masu style however politeness in Japanese often requires a set of prescribed behaviour, such as adding apologetic phrases to a request, tone of voice and level of hesitancy.

Honorifics – Honorifics in Japanese requires utilizing respectful forms when addressing and talking about someone whose social status is higher than the speaker’s. Humble verb forms are also used as by humbling one’s action, social differentiation is achieved. Depending on the situation, the speaker’s choice of honorific forms and formal endings will vary. For example, if the speaker and listener are either uchi or soto members, the referent is someone superior to the speaker, the verb form is respectful formal: irrashimasu ‘come’. However if the speaker and listener are either uchi or soto members, the referent is someone on the same or lower social level and the situation is formal, the verb form is plain-formal: kimasu.

Women’s language – In Japanese casual speech, differences in men’s and women’s language can be observed, where masculine and feminine speech styles are differentiated through more or less blunt versus a more or less gentle style, and the use of different interactional particles. Za and yo na are strictly used by males whereas women use wa and kashira. Feminine speech also differs through the use of abrupt expressions demanding action (Sonnani kangaekomu na – Don’t think so hard) and the encouragement of expressing closeness through less abrupt forms.

Youth language –Japanese youth language as suggested by Akihiko Yonekawa contains extensive word formation which includes mixing English and Japanese words (chikin-hada meaning tori-hada goosebumps), changed expressions (okane-mochi¬ for person with connections instead of rich person), created verbs (kopi-ru ‘to make copies’), and deletion (saten for kissaten). For written Japanese youth language, features include short sentences, liberal use of katakana, play on language through onomatopoeia, emphatic elongation (karuui instead of karui), and colloquial phrases. In addition, for young women’s language, characteristics include using a half-question, making comments laced with uncertainty, and adding politeness by adding the prefix o to many nouns.

8. What aspect of the Japanese society is reflected in the words such as 出戻り、売れ残りetc.?

出戻り＝a woman who has been divorced
Divorce used to entail deleting the wife’s name from her husband’s family register and sending her away, whereupon she would have nowhere to go but back to her own parents’ house. In the past she was also required to switch back to her premarital name. Because the woman had left her house only to return again due to her divorce, she faced hostile public opinion and could never revert to her former respectable status. This reality is reflected in the language because there is an actually word used to describe such women.

売れ残り＝ unsold goods
It is used to ridicule women who remained unwed past the so-called marriageable age (適齢期＝ていきれいき). The older unmarried woman is “unsold merchandise” as opposed to the brides who found themselves a “market” (売れ口＝うれくち). These phrases imply that women wait as passively as grocery-store tomatoes hoping a customer will purchase them before they rot.

hey this is jess’s response, sorry it’s a bit late, i just came back from closing my bank account

Heh. I am kinda stealthy ’round here, ain’t I? Though that’s more due to my lack of attention…
Anywho, here be uchi/soto answers:
The speaker’s orientation in terms of who is uchi and who is soto provides the reference point for the use of polite forms, example: irasshaimasu and mairimasu. Irasshaimasu is the honorific version of kimasu, would be used in reference to someone of higher position and power and places the one referred to outside of the speaker’s uchi group. Mairimasu is the humble form of kimasu and is only used in relation with one’s own actions or those within their uchi.

That seems to be all that’s in the uchi/soto readings that isn’t giving and receiving. If anyone finds a more specific reference to greetings in particular, let me know. Otherwise the easiest way to link this into the question’s wording would be in referencing the gift-giving customs when moving as an example, as I figure that’d count as a greeting to the group. It’s defined by the pre-existing uchi group receiving gifts from the one who has recently moved into their area (building, neighbourhood, etc.) who is counted as soto until these customs allow them into the uchi group. Thus a greeting custom that is influenced by the respective uchi/soto status of the participants.

Giving and Receiving verbs
The use of giving and receiving predicates in Japanese is primarily dependent on what the speaker perceives to be the make-up of the in-group, and the direction of giving in relation to this in-group. Ex. Ageru – give (to out group), kureru – give (to in-group), morau – get (from out-group)
Use of giving and receiving verbs can also signal shifting definitions of the in-group during discourse, allowing the speaker to show affiliation with or empathy for referents. Ex. The announcers in a Japanese cooking program shifting their definition of uchi to involve the teacher or the audience depending on the role they are playing at that moment to show their affiliation with that group.
Ex. When speaking of people’s actions in the third-person it is possible to show empathy with the subject by using giving and receiving verbs that indicate they are a part of your uchi.

Hello people. Sorry for my late reply, but hopefully this will be helpful!

11. Explain attribute and frame by referring to Nakane Chie.

In any society, individuals are gathered into social groups or social strata on the bases of attributes and frame. In Chie’s book, Japanese Society (1979), she explains the Japanese tendency to prefer frame over attribute.
The group consciousness of the Japanese depends considerably on the immediate social context, or frame, whereas in India it lies in attribute (caste, fundamentally a social group based on the ideology of occupation and kinship.)
The Japanese stresses situational position in a particular frame, rather than universal attribute,
For example: When a Japanese ‘faces the outside’ (confronts another pereson) and affixes some position to himself socially, he is inclined to give precedence to institution over kind of occupation. Rather than saying, ‘I am a typesetter’ or ‘I am a file clerk,’ he is likely to say, ‘I am from B Publishing Group’ or ‘I belong to S Company.’ In group identification, a frame such as a ‘company’ or ‘association’ is primary importance; the attribute of the individual is secondary.
The same tendency is found among intellectuals: among university graduates, what matteres most, and functions the strongest socially, is not whether a man holds or does not hold a Ph.D. but, rather, from which university he graduated.
Thus, criterion by which the Japanese classify individuals socially tends to be one of institutional affiliation rather than universal attribute. Such group consciousness and orientation fosters the strength of an institution, and the institutional unit (such as school or company) is in fact the basis of Japanese social organization.

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Thanks to everyone who’s participating in this. LIFE SAVOR!!! (:

Q : Katakana problems

Around 1600 Japanese started to borrow many western words, particularly from Portuguese and Dutch. The Meiji period ( 1868 – 1912 ) saw the beginning of an influx of German, French and most of all, English loanwords. Western loanwords are written in Katakana, adn are pronouced accoding to Japanese phonological rules, mostly in the form of the available Japanese syllable structure. Japanese pronounciations of English loanwords are often incomprehensible to native speakers of English.

After 2nd WW, English loanwords flooded the Japanese language. Therefore English loanwords are by far the most numerous. English loanwords constitute 80.8 percent of the total loanwords.

Sometimes a homonym in English may appear in Japanese with two distinct pronounciations. In the case of the word ”strike”, sutoraiku means a strike in baseball, and sutoraiki means a strike in the labor movement. Sutoraiki is often shortened to suto. A loanword may have a specialized meaning within the same semantic field as a Japanese word. For example, the word biru, a shortened version of the English word ”building”, normally refers to a tall, western-style buildings only, while the japanese word tatemono, ”building” refers to other types of buildings. Long foreign words are often shortened, as is shown by biru, bankachi ”hankerchief”, depaato ”department store”, and so on.

On advertisements, loanwords make a text seem modern and sophisticated. Other functions include use of brand names, loanwords that introduce concepts otherwise noexistent in Japan, technical terms, and euphemisms.

American ( and western ) images sell well in Japan. Adding foreign words in Japanese adveritesments is a marketing device that makes a product look authentic, sophisticated, and with it.
Japanese people are fascinated with loanwords, and the number of such words continues to increace. Also substantially common are pseudo-loanwords-phares of foreign origin (mostly English) created by Japanese speakers with meanings substantially different from the original. For example, naitaa, a neologism, is formed from the English word ”night” followed by the suffix ”-er”, and it means a night baseball game

So basicly when dealing with katakana, in most cases you can’t really be sure of the original word where the katakana came from.

List up some of the ritual humble expressions in Japanese and explain when they are used.

From my notes in class, Machida wrote a few on the board:
申し訳ありません（もうしわけありません）used to apologize
何もございませ んが “May not suit your taste but…” said to a guest you cooked for
愚妻 （ぐさい）(literally my stupid wife)
愚息（くそく）(literally my stupid son)

some other humble expressions:
いるhumble form is : おります（おる）
行く、来るhumble form: 参ります（まいります）（参る）
言うhumble form: 申します（もうします）（申す）
するhumble form: いたします（いたす）
食べる、飲むhumble form: いただきます（いただく）
あるhumble form: ございます（ござる）
～ているhumble form: ～ております（～ておる）
～ですhumble form: ～でございます（～でござる）

other verbs: お＋ますstem＋する/いたす

this isn’t in the question but nouns or verbs will have おor 御（ご）added in front depending on whether that word is Sino-Japanese(Chinese origin) or not(ex. ご案内する、お天気)

why are the humble expressions you listed used?

to humble the speaker when talking to a superior

OK, that’s everyone’s answers! Thanks a lot for all your hard work, hopefully we can all make it through the exam tomorrow with this! Good luck!

it would be nice to get the info on the exam room and time? I know it’s tomorrow, but I keep losing the info somewhere.. lol