Team Members: Scott, Lucas, Angela, Jianyang
Our group decided to look at different Japanese dramas. Initially our group found dramas like Hana Kimi, Hibana Spark, Gokusen, and Good Morning Call. For finding dramas to analyze we tried to find characters that had stereotypical roles since those male or female characters usually use more masculine or feminine ways of speaking. For example, it is assumed that at an all-boys school or class (Hana Kimi, Gokusen, etc.) would have male students that speak in different ways showing different levels of masculinity. The same goes for Hibana Spark where the main two male characters would show different levels of masculinity due to the power difference between them. We also chose dramas that had easy access to Japanese subtitles, like Hibana Spark and Good Morning Call on Netflix, so we could find captions and screenshots easier.
In the end, we decided to choose Good Morning Call which is a story about two high school students, Hisashi Uehara and Nao Yoshikawa, who accidentally end up living together in the same apartment. The show follows their on again, off again love relations as well as their struggles living together. As the show progresses, we meet Daichi Shinozaki, a childhood friend of Nao’s, who wants to date Nao. Because there are two men trying to get Nao’s attention, it was interesting to see the difference in speech styles.
Ratios:
Hisashi
- neutral
- masculine
- super masculine
- masculine
- super masculine
- Neutral
4/6 masculine or super masculine, 2/6 neutral, 0/6 feminine
Daichi
- neutral
- masculine
- masculine
- neutral
- neutral (no)
- neutral
- masculine (ze)
- neutral (soft)
- Feminine
5/9 neutral, 3/9 masculine, 1/9 feminine
As we can see from the list of speech styles above, the majority of Hisashi’s speech is masculine, while the majority of Daichi’s speech is neutral. On top of differing speech styles, their tones are also completely different. Hisashi tends to be more aggressive and direct while speaking with Nao, whereas Daichi is much softer.
Character #1: Hisashi Uehara
“How did you find a picture frame from so long ago” Hisashi uses 見つけたな which is more neutral
“You’re late” Hisashi uses a slang form of おそい that is more manly
“Quickly eat” Hisashi uses 食う a very manly way of saying to eat and ends with ぞ a masculine suffix.
“You are a storm calling woman aren’t you” Hisashi ends with だよな which is a masculine way of ending a sentence.
“I will eat all of this pizza” Hisashi once again he uses 食う the masculine form of to eat.
“Be quiet…I was doing something else” Hisashi uses a harsh way to tell Nao to be quiet and ends his sentence with だよ
Hisashi is the stereotypical “cool” guy that appears in Japanese dramas. As a student he is the top in class, while never studying. As a person he is heavily sought after by all the girls and the most popular at school, while barely talking to anyone. On top of all this he also likes to talk in an overly masculine speech style. We frequently hear him using hyper masculine verbs such as 食う in describing how he’ll devour his pizza, or talking in other male speech patterns with phrases such as おせーよ. In addition to all the above, だろ and 俺 are among other frequent speech patterns he utilizes. In the instances where Hisashi uses neutral speech it is when he is being kinder to Nao, ending his sentences with だよ.
Complementing his “cool” kid perception, Hisashi’s tone is extremely harsh and direct. When listening to him speak, you can see that he is clearly trying to get his point across in a abrupt and non sugar-coated type of manner. He even uses 黙って which is considered a rude way of telling someone to “shut up” adding to his blunt character. In doing so, this only accentuates his hyper masculine persona.
Character #2: Daichi Shinozaki
“Have you been searching for a place to move to?” The use of の at the end of a verb can be used by both men and women, but it is typically used to convey a softer tone.
“You like Uehara don’t you?” Daichi uses だろ which is the more masculine form of saying でしょ
“そうだな” More masculine form of そうだね
“Are you going home alone Nao?” Daichi uses 帰れるか also known as 帰ることができる which is more formal than saying just 帰る
*”行くっすか”(Caption is off) “If you’re free this upcoming Sunday, wanna go to the aquarium together?” Daichi says “ 行くっすか” which is slang for “行くんですか”
“じゃあ菜緒が食べる”(Caption is off) “Okay Nao, eat some” Daichi uses casual speech that is more neutral than masculine
“You should absolutely eat this, it’s very exquisite” Daichi puts ぜ at the end of his sentence, a masculine suffix like ぞ.
“If there is another person that he likes Nao, do you give up on him?” Daichi again makes his speech sound softer by saying 諦めんの
“Well this bad, I’m just gonna go home” Daichi uses 帰るわ which is traditionally more feminine way of speaking. He was also just rejected in this scene.
When looking at Daichi’s speech style we see that he is using masculine forms in the usage of だろ and 俺, however we also see that he frequently uses の at the end of his sentences to soften the meaning. As Daichi is a childhood friend, and also trying to date Nao, it makes sense that he would use の to soften his speech because he isn’t trying to come off as an aggressive person. Similarly, he still uses masculine formed language such as だろ and 俺 so that he will be perceived as masculine.
Another interesting piece that we noticed was the speech style that was used when Daichi was rejected by Nao. In the last picture with Daichi and Nao, we see Daichi using わ at the end of his sentence (俺先帰るわ). わ is generally perceived to be more feminine, so for a man to use わ is already interesting enough; however, the fact that it is used after being rejecting might highlight something more. With this in mind, it could potentially show Daichi’s demasculinization in the moment, and thinking about it with a psychological approach could signify that Daichi feels less of a man in the moment. Additionally, he could also be using わ as a way of showing Nao that he understands she doesn’t feel the same way about their connection.
Comparing Hisashi and Daichi:
After looking at both characters’ dialogue, we noticed a distinct difference in that Hisashi uses more male gendered speech with an aggressive tone, while Daichi likes to use more or less the same speech style but with a softer tone. Daichi’s tone can possibly be attributed to the fact that he has known her for some time and is trying to woo Nao, therefore doesn’t want to come off as rude or a jerk. Hisashi on the other hand, frequently utilizes a more aggressive and brash tone because it’s a part of his “cool” boy persona and due to the fact that he has to live with a complete stranger. Characters with speech styles like Hisashi and Daichi are often found in Japanese dramas and their speech follows the typical character tropes they represent. Varied levels of masculine speech help the audience understand the main male characters easier as well.
Do their speech “gender-features” index gender or affective stance? In the examples from above, we concluded that their speech indicated a more general assertive or non-assertive stance as well as affection and emotion. Although both characters are male and use male specific speech, their word choice is determined by their personality and the situation they are in. In no way did their speech indicate how “manly” each person was, but it the level of masculine speech indicated how kind they were being to Nao. For Hisashi’s case, since he used masculine words that only males could use there could be an indication that he was trying to be more manly. Since females don’t use 食う or 俺 it could directly indicate that he is male, but Daichi’s use of わand のdoes not mean that Daichi is Female. There are many different ways to define how manly a person is, but in this instance the level of masculine speech only indicated their personality, not their gender.
