APPENDIX I

Other Styles of Speech

1. The impersonal style

In lectures, radio announcements, and the like, Japanese often use the impersonal style, which is also encountered in books and articles. Here are the principal ways in which this style differs from the usual polite style of speech:

i. Polite forms are not used. Instead, the plain forms are used even at the end of sentences. Sometimes, however, a Japanese person will end his explanatory sentences with …no de arimasu instead of …no de aru ‘it is a fact that…’ Here are some examples:

Meaning	Polite	Impersonal
He was born in 1990.	1990-nen ni umaremashita.	1990-nen ni umareta.
There is no explanation.	Setsumei wa arimasen.	Setsumei wa nai.

ii. Colloquial words, lively particles like yo and ne, and contractions like ja for de wa and n for no are avoided.

iii. The copula da is replaced by the phrase de aru or de arimasu. The phrase is inflected just like aru:

Imperfect	de aru	= da [na, no]	de arimasu	= desu
Perfect	de atta	= datta	de arimashita	= deshita
Tentative	dearō	= darō	de arimashō	= deshō
Gerund	de atte	= de	de arimashite	= deshite
Infinitive	de ari	= ni, de
Provisional	de areba	= nara
Conditional	de attara	= dattara	de arimashitara	= deshitara
Alternative	de attari	= dattari	de arimashitari	= deshitari

Here are some examples:

Meaning	Polite	Impersonal
China is Japan’s neighbor.	Chūgoku wa Nihon no tonari desu.	Chūgoku wa Nihon no tonari de aru.
That was an earthquake.	Sore wa jishin deshita.	Sore wa jishin de atta.
Prices have risen.	Nedan wa agatta n desu.	Nedan wa agatta no de aru.

iv. Instead of a gerund, an infinitive is often used at the end of a clause meaning ‘does and, did and’ or ‘is and, was and.’ This is just a stylistic variant of the use of the gerund.

Japan is an Asian country, and England is a European country.

Nihon wa Ajia no kuni de, Igirisu wa Yōroppa no kuni desu.

Nihon wa Ajia no kuni de ari, Igirisu wa Yōroppa no ku ni de aru.

The older son became a doctor, and the younger a teacher.

Chōnan wa isha ni natte, jinan wa kyōshi ni narimashita.

Chōnan wa isha ni nari, jinan wa kyōshi ni natta (no de aru).

They have no money and can’t buy food.

O-kane ga nakute, tabemono o kau koto ga dekimasen.

O-kane ga naku tabemono o kau koto ga dekinai.

v. Nouns are sometimes strung together in a series without a connecting particle (we would expect to or ya in the polite style). There is often, but not always, a pause after each item except the last, which is usually followed by the appropriate particle to link the entire phrase up with the rest of the sentence.

Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe are all in Kansai.

Kyōto ya Ōsaka ya Kōbe wa minna Kansai desu.

Kyōto, Ōsaka, Kōbe wa mina Kansai de aru.

2. The plain style

The most down-to-earth way of talking in Japanese is that of the plain style (also called the familiar style, the intimate style, the ordinary style). This sort of speech is used among workers, students, club members, and others in a situation where a certain amount of camaraderie is inherent. It is also often used within the family, with truly intimate friends, and in certain set phrases (like proverbs), which are inserted into otherwise polite-style speech. The foreigner seldom has occasion to use much of this style himself, but he hears a good deal of it around him. Here are some of the characteristics of this style of speech:

i. Difference between women’s speech and men’s speech.

In the polite style, there is very little difference between the way women talk and the way men talk. Women will sometimes choose a more elegant expression, are expected to use the honorific style more than men, and attach the honorific prefix o- to nouns more than men do.

Women seem to leave more of their sentences dangling with non-finite verbal expressions than men do, although sentence fragments are widespread in the plain style for both sexes. Japanese often turn a finite verb expression into a noun expression with the noun no or koto ‘fact,’ which is frequently followed by the particle yo, or just ends the sentence itself: Iku no yo ‘I’m going,’ Kore na no yo ‘It’s this one,’ Tadaima kita no? ‘Did you just get here?’

Women often use atashi for watashi or watakushi ‘I’ in plain or sometimes in polite speech, and men often substitute boku for it. The explicit plural of boku is bokura. Men also use kimi (explicit plural kimitachi or kimira) for anata ‘you.’ There are other impolite pronouns such as ore, which are considered vulgar; and the condescending word omae ‘you’ is rather insulting.

ii. Use of particles

The particles wa, ga, and o are freely dropped. The question particle ka is often dropped. The meaning is carried by the context:

Tabako aru (ka)? = Tabako ga aru ka?

Do you have any cigarettes?

Doko iku? = Doko e iku ka?

Where are you going?

In the speech of men, the question particle ka is often replaced by ka ne (contraction kai) or da ne (contraction dai). If the sentence contains an interrogative word, da ne (dai) is more likely to occur.

What is it?

Nan dai? = Nan desu ka?

Is it interesting?

Omoshiroi kai? = Omoshiroi desu ka?

The plain copula da usually drops before ka:

Is it your friend?

Tomodachi kai? or Tomo dachi ka? = Tomodachi desu ka?

The final intensive particle yo occurs more commonly in the plain-style for both men and women. Women often end a plain-style sentence with wa (or wa yo!); you will occasionally hear men use final wa, but only after a polite-style sentence. Men sometimes use final zo! or ze! to be forceful. Both men and (especially) women freely punctuate their relaxed speech with the particle ne! (‘you see, you know, I mean’). In Tokyo, the more vigorous sa! (‘I tell you, you see, mind you!’) is often used instead.

iii. Use of contractions

Contractions occur in all styles of speech, but they are more common in the plain style. Some contractions are peculiar to individual words—like the women’s form atashi for watashi and anta for anata. Others are more widespread shortenings or modifications of certain sound sequences.

The topic particle wa is often shortened to just a. We find kuruma-a alongside kuruma wa ‘as for the car,’ and kinō-a alongside kinō wa ‘as for yesterday.’ A front vowel—i or e—at the end of a word preceding wa may be replaced by y: kory-a for kore wa, aky-a for aki wa. Or it may be replaced by nothing: kor-a for kore wa, o-kashi-a for o-kashi wa. The shortened form of wa, a, is then sometimes lengthened before a pause to ā: koryā or korā = kore wa.

This explains the contraction ja (or jā) from de wa. The sequence d-y does not occur in modern Japanese, so j is substituted for it. A gerund ending in -de followed by the particle wa becomes -ja in the same way: Kono mizu o nonja ikenai yo = Kono mizu o nonde wa ikenai yo ‘Don’t drink this water.’ This contraction is paralleled by the contraction of -cha (or -chā) for -te wa (ch since the sequence t-y does not occur in modern Japanese): Soko e itcha ikenai yo = Soko e itte wa ikenai yo ‘You mustn’t go there.’ Mainichi sakana o tabenakucha ikenai = Mainichi sakana o tabenakute wa ikenai ‘Every day we have to eat fish.’ Hanashicha dame da = Hanashite wa dame da ‘It’s no good to talk.’

The provisional endings -(r)eba and -kereba are often contracted to -(r)ya (or -(r)yā) and -kerya: Kono kusuri nomanakerya naran = Kono kusuri o nomanakereba naranai ‘I have to take this medicine.’ Kore taberya byōki ni naru yo = Kore o tabereba byōki ni naru yo ‘If you eat this, you’ll get sick.’

A gerund + the verb shimau ‘finishes, does completely’ is contracted in the following way: -te shimau becomes -chimau or -chau; -de shimau becomes -jimau or -jau. Shinjimatta or Shinjatta = Shinde shimatta ‘He died.’ Tabechimatta or Tabechatta = Tabete shimatta ‘He ate it all up.’

The initial i of the verb iru ‘stays, is … ing’ often drops after a gerund: Nani shiteru? = Nani o shite iru ka? ‘What are you doing?’ The final e of the gerund form is often dropped before the verb oku ‘puts away, does for later’: Koko ni oi-toita enpitsu wa doko e itta? = Koko ni oite oita enpitsu wa doko e itta ka? ‘Where did the pencil I put here go?’ Kippu katt-oita = Kippu o katte oita ‘I bought the tickets (in advance).’

The particle keredomo is often shortened to keredo or kedo. Shortenings of mono to mon and of no to just n have already been noted. The use of these, like the use of ja for de wa, is common in polite speech, too.

The plain negative ending -(a)nai is often contracted to -(a)n: Wakaran desu ne = Wakaranai desu ne ‘I don’t know, you see.’ Wakaran yo = Wakaranai yo ‘I don’t know.’ (The polite negative ending -masen also ends in -n, as if it were from a form -masena-i.)

The word tte is said to be a contraction of to itte ‘saying thus,’ but it is perhaps best treated as just another particle. The word has two uses: one is the same as the quoting particle to (or to itte), the other is the same as the topic particle wa. The gerund and conditional forms of the copula, de and nara, are also often used with about the same meaning as wa and tte—singling out a topic for consideration:

This movie’ll be OK.

Kono eiga nara, ii desu.

Kono eiga de, ii desu.

Kono eiga wa, ii desu.

Kono eiga tte, ii desu.

He said goodbye and left.

Sayōnara tte, itchatta = Sayōnara to itte, itte shimatta.

In addition to tte, some speakers use ttara and tcha—from to ittara, to itte wa—in a similar fashion, as a sort of lively substitute for the drab particle wa.

In addition to these and other more-or-less standardized contractions, some speakers tend to underarticulate many of their sounds, particularly certain consonants. The expression Sō desu ne ‘Let me see now’ frequently sounds as if the d were completely dropped, and the e is also difficult to distinguish: Sō-s-ne.

iv. Choice of forms

In the polite style, plain forms of verbs, adjectives and the copula are usual in all positions except at the end of the sentence, and sometimes in the middle before loosely connective particles like ga and keredomo. Occasionally, polite forms are used within the sentence to give an extra-polite flavor. In plain speech, the plain forms are usual in all positions. The plain copula is often omitted, especially in questions.

v. The plain imperative

In the polite style, you usually make commands in a roundabout way. If a genuine imperative form is used, it is from one of the exalted verbs: nasai from nasaru, kudasai or kudasaimase from kudasaru. In plain speech, too, oblique commands are common: Shinbun katte kite kurenai ka ‘Won’t you go buy me a newspaper, please?’ Often, you use the simple gerund: Chotto matte (yo)! ‘Wait a minute!’

In addition, there is a plain imperative form, but you seldom use it except when showing extreme impatience, or when quoting rather impersonal commands. The imperative forms are often followed by the particle yo!, as in Ike yo! ‘Go!’

3. The modern literary style

The modern literary style, or bungo, is seldom heard except in the form of set expressions quoted, as it were, from written sources. It is not even often used in contemporary writing, but many things written a generation ago were in this style. The grammar of the literary style is different from that of colloquial Japanese in many ways, and its structure should be studied separately. If you are reading something that contains literary passages, the quickest way to understand the material is to get some Japanese to ‘translate’ the passages into colloquial Japanese.