However, dropping honorifics is a sign of informality even with casual acquaintances. Some people of the younger generation, roughly born since 1970, prefer to be referred to without an honorific. Within sports teams or among classmates, where the interlocutors approximately are of the same age or seniority, it can be acceptable to use family names without honorifics. It is never used to refer to oneself, except for dramatic effect or some exceptional cases.ĭropping the honorific suffix when referring to one's interlocutor, which is known as to yobisute ( 呼び捨て), implies a high degree of intimacy and is generally reserved for one's spouse, younger family members, social inferiors (as in a teacher addressing students in traditional arts), close friends and confidants. However, it is dropped by some superiors when referring to one's in-group or informal writing. Japanese names traditionally follow the Eastern name order.Īn honorific is generally used when referring to the person one is talking to (one's interlocutor), or when referring to an unrelated third party in speech. In situations where both the first and last names are spoken, the suffix is attached to whichever comes last in the word order. They can be applied to either the first or last name depending on which is given. The paper concluded that honorifics have shifted from a basis in power dynamics to one of personal distance. A 2012 study from Kobe Shoin Women's University found that the use of honorific suffixes and other polite speech markers have increased significantly over time, while age, sex, and other social variables have become less significant. Usage in this respect has changed over time as well. Thus, the difference in politeness was a result of the average social station of women versus men as opposed to an inherent characteristic. For example, a 1986 study on the notion that Japanese women spoke more politely than men examined each sex's use of honorifics found that while women spoke more politely on average than men, both sexes used the same level of politeness in the same relative situation. The use of honorifics is closely related to Japanese social structures and hierarchies. As the examples from this blog project and the results of a student survey, which was conducted at the end of the semester show, a project like “Junior Sensei” can be beneficially implemented not only in an actual classroom setting but also in a virtual context.Although honorifics are not essential to the grammar of Japanese, they are a fundamental part of its sociolinguistics, and their proper use is deemed essential to proficient and appropriate speech. However, the existing research does not examine whether or not this type of project can be implemented to connect senpai/kohai students who are geographically distant from one another. For instance, Thomson and Mori (2014) illustrate the example of a student who benefited in his Japanese language learning from having a “junior teacher”. In the past, some educators in the field of Japanese language education have reported a number of benefits for incorporating the concept of “Junior Sensei” in their language classrooms. In fact, the concept of “Junior Sensei” is not new. As a highlight, second year level students played the role of “Junior Sensei” (Thomson and Mori 2014) and assisted first year level students with first draft of their skit presentations. Our study used a blog platform,, to connect students, and a total of approximately 50 students took part in the semester long virtual communication project. The two universities were involved originally through the fact that both instructors had the common interest in incorporating the idea of “virtual exchange” in their language courses. This presentation demonstrates how a senpai/kohai mentor structure can be employed to foster an intellectual virtual exchange between first year level Japanese language students and second year level Japanese language students at two different universities. The opposite of “Senpai” is “Kohai” “Kohai” usually refers to someone who is in a lower grade level. In Japan, there is a term for referring to someone who is a senior or even a year older in school: “Senpai”.
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