Diction defines Character

In any language diction defines the speaker’s character because the speaker has a choice in the way of phrasing what she or he would like to say according to the notion of propriety or appropriateness in the context of the speech uttered, for example:

Let’s go.

Shall we go?

Are we ready to go?

We’d better be going.

We are going.

C’mon, move!

OK, fellas, get going.

For each of these variants we can imagine the situation and to some extent the speaker’s character.  In Japanese the speaker’s diction defines more precisely her or his gender, age and social position as well as the situation, using only lexical variants, that is, without changing the syntax. Consider, for example, this dialogue:

  I’m hungry.  Shall we go for lunch?   Yeah, let’s. I’m starving.

In Japanese one can say it this way:

Hara ga hetta, hirumeshi kuini ikôka.  Un, sô dana, pekopekoda.

   腹が減った、昼飯喰いに行こうか。うん、そうだな、ぺこぺこだ。

Here, the speakers are both clearly men, and the subject (understood) is unmistakably “俺  ore,” though it is unstated, only implied,  Subject pronouns are often omitted in Japanese precisely because the diction makes the pronominal reference clear enough.   

            

Alternatively, the translation of the above sample sentence might be:

Onaka ga suita wa, ohiru tabeni ikimashôka. E’e, sône, onaka pekopeko.

    お腹がすいたわ、お昼食べに行きましょうか。ええ、そうね、お腹ぺこぺこ。

Here, the interlocutors are women, with “atashi あたし” as the understood subject. 

If the relationship between the two women is formal, a more polite form has to be adopted, and the fact of hunger is elided because the mention of hunger is a bit vulgar, as it might be in English as well:

Are you perhaps ready for lunch.  Yes, thank you. 

So, in Japanese:

Soro soro ochûshoku ni mairimashôka.  Ha-a, dômo.

    そろそろお昼食に参りましょうか。はあ、どうも。

Here the speaker is a woman; the respondent is a man; a woman is likely to answer  simply: E-e えぇ。

The greatest hurdle in learning Japanese is the grammatical rule governing the diction differentiated by gender, age, and class. 

Japanese is a language which embodies a complex semiotics of hierarchy.  So, the simple imperative, “Let’s go,” can take these variant forms without modifying the basic meaning:

Ikô. 行こう (standard)

Ikimashô.  行きましょう(polite, feminine)

Mairimashô.  参りましょう(very polite)

 Ikube’e.  行くべえ (rustic)

It gets even more complicated with “Come here” because involves the relative social positions of the interlocutors involved:  

Koko ni kina.  ここに来な。

Kocchi e koi.  こっちへ来い。

Kocchi ni oide.  こっちにおいで。

Koko ni kitamae. ここに来たまえ。

Koko ni kitekure.  ここに来てくれ。

 Koko ni kinasai. ここに来なさい

Kocchi ni kiya’agare. こっちへ来やぁがれ。

Kochira ni irasshai. こちらにいらっしゃい。

Kochirani irasshai na. 　こちらにいらっしゃいな。

Kochira ni oide kudasai. こちらにおいで下さい。

Kochira ni oide kudasaimase. こちらにおいで下さいませ。

Kochira ni okoshi kudasai. こちらにおこしください。 

Kochirani dôzo.  こちらにどうぞ。(This way please)

Each of these expressions defines the character of the speaker, the social relationship of the speakers to each other, and the circumstance in which the statement is made, and this is only a partial list.  The complexity comes naturally to the native speaker of this curious, marvelous language.  

Listening to Japanese dialogues in a play or reading them, and imagining writing lines to give the characters, I became keenly aware of the remarkable pliability we have in Japanese in defining a character by diction.