HOKUSEI REVIEIV THE SCH00L OF HUMANITIES(HOKUSEI CAKUEN UNIVERSITY)Vo1 35,1998 0FFPRINT

丁he Myth of Femininity:

Neglected Heterogeneity of Women's

Language in COntemporary」 apanese Society

Shoii TAKANO

北星 論集 (文 )第35号

ⅣIarch 1998

The hlyth of Felmininity:

Neglected Heterogeneity of Women's
Language in Col■ temporary Japanese Society
Shoji Takano

l.lNttRODUCT10N
A traditional view of social construction of gender in JapaneSe

society emphasizes men's public roles as heads of households andwomen's domestic roles as housewives and mothers(Lebra,1984;
Snlith,1987).Bernstein(1991:12),a histOrian of Japan,hoM″ ever,calls
Inyth"Ⅳ Iale― female relationships havebeen more diverse and subject to constant dynanlic revision through―out the history of Japanese society than they have been credited for,and the complex realities of the apparently fixed division of genderroles seelll to have been oversimplified or greatly misunderstOod
this monolithic definition a

Of greater significance is that the traditional division of gender‐
linked social practices is in rapid transition on a monumental scale inγhile」 apan's modernization and industriali―
contemporary society.ヽ ヽzation graduaHy consolidated

sexualsegregation

betv″ eenbusinessmen― husbands and hOusewives and led to the exclusion of thehousewife frolll the public sphere, a dramatic diversification of theroles of housevrives has taken place since the 1960s― ―――the decade ofJapan's econolllic rniracle Due to a serious shortage of labor,increas―
ing numbers of housewives started to M「 ork as part― tilne.By the latez(full‐ tillle housewife)
1970s,social approval of being a sa2ag夕 θθS力 π′
and its prestige as representing up、 vard social mobility began to fallapart, and the sa,7≦ クθθS力 Zク磁 had become asocial nlinority'' v″ ith

their self‐ identity threatened(UenO, 1987: 139)

hereas the prescribed view of male/female cOmplementaryⅥ″
relationships stiH rigidly survives as an ideology,the great rnaiorityof」 apanese women now desire careers beyond the home(Kashima,

1993:106) 〕/1arriage and becoming a wife are not necessarily recog‐
nized as a top priority in life(Kashillla,1993:106;Soorifu,1993:29‑‑81‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

Tlle Myth of Feminiit■

丁able l30) Today,increasing numbers of Japanese women actively partici

pate in labor market activities outside the home(Inoue&Ehara,

Neglected HeterOgendty of Womers Lanttage lll Contemporary Japanese Sodety

Employed and Non― Wage Earning Population Distribution in
1 989 Survey

1991:83),and it has come to be taken as less abnorinal for women to
be given opportunities to play traditional rnale roles of authority andleadership in the public sphere l

TOtal Emploved Population
3rd― party Enlployees

Nevertheless, mainstream research on gender differentiation in

Self‐ Ernployed

Japanese has been captured precisely by v″ hat Bernstein calls a'rnyth':v/orking」 apanese lllen,typically、 vhite‐ coHar businessmen inTokyo, are considered to be typical Japanese men and represent
men's language,and Tokyo llliddle‐ class fuH― tinle honlemakers,who
are considered to be typical Japanese women playing traditional

Family Business
TOtal Nonヽ Vage Earlling Population

Female

ⅣIale

2,お 〔
韓墨%)

3737(770%)
2929(603%)

281(55%)437(85%)615(123%)2564(505%)

1091(215%)

17卿 ユ%)

94(19%)

Honlemakers

蛉22(2,I考 り

12(02%)

Studcnts

452(88%)Others590(115%)546(112%)532(110%)female roles M/ithin the domestic sphere, are the exclusive focus of

The figures are in ten thousands

research on Japanese v√ omen's language (e.g., Ide, et al, 1986;
ShibamotO,1985,1990;Smith,1992a)ζ The 1989 demographic data in(Adapted from lnOue&Ehara,1991:83)

Table l below,ho、 ハrever,sho、 ハr that full‐ tinle homemakers,who haveparty employees (ie., working for a party other than the family

been the exclusive target of the mainstrealll research,constitute only

business), and about seventy― five percent of those v「 omen being allabout thirty percent of the total female population ln a 1991 survey,
the number of full‐ tilne homelnakers had beconle even snlaller,
faning t0 2426(Soorifu,1993:329).
2へ bout fifty percent of the female population worked in 1989,with341% of Japanese、ハ″
ollDen participating in the labor force as third‐l A governnlental survey conducted in 1991 reports(Soorifu, 1993:103‑4)thatv√ hite― collar officc clerks constitute the largest group of v′
Orking v7onlen(341%),ヽハFhereas other nlajor occupational groups include blue― collar M√ orkers at

manufacturing plants(201%),technical experts and professional、 「ハorkers(13full― tilne、

vorkers The felnale working population has been groヽハ
/ingsince 1989(495%):501%of Japanese women worked in 1990,and 50
7% in 1991(SOorifu, 1993: 100)In 1991, the number of third― party
employees constituted 38 3%(Soorifu,1993:102).
It is thus obvious that the scope of previous investigation into
apanese、ハ″
omen's language and its sampling have been focused on」
the currently'nlinority'group Of full‐ tilne homemakers as a result of
the bias stenlllling fron■ the traditional ideology on lnythical comple―

mentary gender roles̲ Iン inguistic evolution proceeds hand in handwith the social change of a speech community, v/here the shape of9%),Salesclerks(126%),and maintenance and service personnel(108%)

linguistic behavior changes rapidly as the speaker's social position

While v7omen in managerial pOsitions still constitute a tiny minority anlongchanges (Labov, 1972a)̲ Without empirical investigation of theworking wOmen(10%),diaChrOnic changcs in the proportiOn of women tO

ilnpact of the ongoing evolution of women's gender roles on theirnlen in the positions indicate that this lDarticular group of、 70rking M7omen

has been steadily growing over the past decades: 54% of thoSe v/ho held
managerial positions vrere felllale in 1975, 682̀ il■ 1980, and 84%̀ in 1985

language,it is plausible that typical characteristics of honlemakers'
speech have provided an enormously reduced picture of ho、 v contem‐(InOue&Ehara,1991:105)A1989 survey,which illvestigated the nunllDer Of

porary women speak and have stereotyped the speech of」

female company executives, also reports that inore than thirty percent ofv″

Japanese cOmpanics increased the llun〕 ber()f felllale elnployees in nlanagerial
positions such as section chiefs(ka‐ choo)or chief clerks(k alく ari choo), andthat sixteen percent did so in the position of secti()n llnanager(bu‐choo)(Soorifu, 1993:115)It is certain that the number of fenlale col■ lpally execu―

Furthermore,serious problems arise v″ hen the stereotyped char―acterization(based On homemakers'speech)is used to lllake superfi―
Cial iudgments against the practical value (ie, ecOnomic/politicaltives will keep rising from now on(Kashima,1993:37)

values)of women's language.3 Definitions from some of major

apaneSeomen as a whole

2 Gender distinctions in」 apanese defined and circulated so far are also prilllar―
ily an urban phenomenon(3こ itaga、「a, 1977)There are,in fact, al]un■ ber of
local dialects、 /hich do nOt illvolve male― female distinctions(I(indaichi,1969;

see Yamaguchi,1991 for example)‑82‑―

3 11l addition tO thc lDroblem with the restricted scopc()f investigation tO the―‑83‑―北星論

集 (文 )第35号

The Myth of FemininilvI Neglected HeterOgendty of Womenヽ Langtlage in Contemporary Japanese Sodety

and indirectness)are both likely to segregate Japanese women fromlanguage― related dictionaries and essays publicized in」 apan seelll to
exemplify the'static,'prescribed definition of hov′」apanese women

the public sphere(Reynolds,1990)As increasing numbers Of women

speak in the changing society Women's language in Japan is typi‐

enter into the marketplace today,the linguistic ideologies are begin‐

cally blanketly attributed to being indirect, polite, deferential, andemotionally loaded,but deprived of logicality,solemnity,and author‐

ning to conflict v″ ith hov/women aCtually speak in playing their neⅥ ″gender roles in the public sector 「Fhis type of conflict tends toromen use expressions v/hich sho、 パヽヽ″the speaker's respect for″
ork in positions
become most critical particularly for v/omen M/hoヽ ハof authority and leadership,which have traditionally belonged to rnen

others and emphasize politeness of attitudes,speak in an indirect(Mogami,1986;Smith,1992b;TakenObu,1994).

manner,and often leave utterances incomplete(MashimO,1969)

The objective of the present study is to reveal neglected sociolin‐
guistic heterogeneity vrithin the grallllnar of Japanese wolnen v″
ho

ity.

Women use more honorific expressions,speak more politely andare playing increasingly diverse gender roles in contemporary socimore indirectly,and produce more incomplete utterances(Naety 4 Adopting the variationist approach,the study v″

kano,1980).

compare spontaneous speech of t、 vo diametrical groups of Japanesev″

Women produce incomplete utterances,use repetitions, and use
adiectives(Kanemaru,1988).

ill quantitatively

omeni full― tilne working women who play traditionally male rolesin the public sphere and fuH― tilne homemakers、 vho play traditional

female roles in the domestic sphere Once we shift the traditional,

restricted scope of investigation to the speech of the currently

Women's speech often ends with inconnplete sentences; indynamic sector of 」apanese women, namely, full time working

requests, 、パ″
omen tend to ask a favor in a nonconlrllittal

women leading social lives linked closely to the public sphere,linguis―vay,、using ambiguous expressions and excuses(Nakamura, 1989)̲
̀̀Women's ways of speaking . are soft,cooperative,and indirect,
but they are inclined to focus on trivial topics of conversation
and use a great deal of repetition"(Horii, 1990: 29)」ugaku's series of、 vork(1979,1984,1985,1986,1990)argues thatthe prevalent cultural ideology that women should talk in felllinineways(̀θ ηηα ηSカ ルグ)inhibits equality in communication between
men and、 ハ″
omen、 vho are supposed to collaborate or cOmpete with
one another in the marketplace.Stigmatization against、 vomen who
adopt non‐ feminine ways of speaking and stereotyped images of theirpowerlessness in communication(derived from prescribed politenessparticular sectOr of the female population, heavy reliance on introspective
data and anecdotal evidence is another problem prevalent in previous studies

of Japanese gender differentiation(Endoo,1991)It iS rather comnlonsense in、ハ
restern sociolinguistics that both quantitative and qualitative discrepancies
are usually identified between v′ hat people 'perceive' about their language
use and what they actually'do'in real‐ world communicative settings(W01f‐

son,et al,1983:Sankoff,1988:WolfsOn,1989i Schlnnidt, 1993)―‑84‑―

tic behaviors of the innovative grOup hardly conforlll to some of the、vomen's lan―biased, even stigmatized, characteristics of JapaneSeguage ヽ″ariable rule analyses of three mOrphosyntactic phenomena,
which have been fOund to be female― specific by prevlous studies,、 villdetect statistically significant degrees of intra‐

gender― grOup differen―

tiation and obtain fairly systematic correlation bet、 veen the detectedvariability and the subiects'OCCupation― based group membership

2.RESEARCH DESIGN
2 1 SubieCtS and Data Collection
A total of 12 、
vomen、 ハ″
ho were born and raised in the Tokyoll■etropolitan areas participated in this study 5 2ヽ 1l the subjects weresecond― order net、 vorks" (ie, friends or

recruited thrOugh my

4αGrammar"in the present paper is equivalent to a performance(or soCi01in―

guistic)gramnlar involving structured,rule― governed variation in language
use,which is covariate with a composite of linguistic/discoursal constraints

and extralinguistic factors(ie, the speaker's demographic characteristics,
setting and audience design)(Cedergren&Sankoff,1974)ヽ
Vhenever the termてくgrammar'' appears hereafter,this sarne definition applies―‑85‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

The Mytll of Femininitr Neglectd Heterogenelty of Womells Languar in Contelllporary Japanese So‐

丁able 2acquaintances of friends or acquaintances of mine)during the sulll

mer of 1994(Milroy,1980:53).I had never met any of the subiects
prior to the intervie、 vs Six of them are full― time working、 vomen in

lety

Profile of informants(2 Groups,1 2 Speakers)
GROUP I:Employed V″ omen in Tvlanagerial Positions(EM√ ■/1)

positions of authority and leadership,which have traditionally beenpart of male roles This group of women can be assumed to represent
a leading edge of contemporary Japanese v″ omen、 vho are finding(6 Speakers)
Sン ο
α力σ″

increasingly lllore opportunities to play innovative gender roles in thechanging society today̲The remaining 6 speakers,acting as a control
group, are fun‐ tilne homemakers who have no employment of any

kind outside their households. As mentioned earlier, this group of―lgθ

A(M,lC)6

JuniorCollegeB(M,2C)

Ph D

D(S)

BA
BA

E(M)

lvledical

C(卜 1,2C)women has been portrayed as ̀typical' Japanese women and has
consistently been the exclusive target of previous studies of Japanesegender differentiation̲

Table 2 below is a summary of the subieCtS'demographic charac

Schoolterlstics

BA

F(lvI,lC)

P4ヵ セsあ ″

Eグ ″ご
α′
グ
ο″

んzル ll′ οltl
Sο ″グ
4g

Division Chief at a Pub
lishing Conlpany
Division Chief at a
Rescarch lnstituteヽヽ/orkplace

Company President

Coffee Shop
Coffee Shop

Officer/Educator at
Reform School for
Femalc Juvenile
DelinquentsOphthalmologist at a
Univcrsity Hospital
Law Office n/1anager

Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop

WOrkplaceTo elicit spontaneous speech from the subiects, I adOpted aparticular interview technique caned thè̀sociolinguistic intervie、v″hich is designed specifically forquantitativev,"

GROUP II:Full time Homcmakers(HM)(6 Speakers)

sociolinguistic

research(Labov,1981:7‑16)The prirnary ainl of the sociolingusitic

シ ′″ σ/4gσ

Eれθク″ο″P00saο ″intervie、 v is to elicit the subiect'S narratives of personal experienceswith high degrees of involvement in his or her talk ln conducting
sociolinguistic intervie、 vs, the interviev″ er lnakes every effort tothrow in topics wvhich seem likely to get the interviewee highlyG(M,2C)

involved in his or her talk and contribute to the smooth flov″ of his orJ(M,2C)

H(M,2C)(Colllpany President)

Home

High

(Laundry Owner)

Home(Independent Architect)

Coffee ShopBA
BA

(Company Employee,Tvlana

Home

gerial Position)

her narratives. This technique was found beneficial for the present
study in three respects. First, it aHows us to obtain the speaker'sK(M,2C)vernacular''一 ―――a speech style to v″ hich the speaker pays theL(Ⅳ I,3C)

JuniorCollegeBA(Conlpany President)

Coffee Shop

(Company Employee,ManaHome

gcrial Position)

nlinilnum attention(Labov,1972b:112)Previous sociolinguistic work
has proven that the vernacular is most regular in its structure,thus

Profession(

providing the best data for revealing the systematic and regularcharacter Of gralllrnar(Labov, 1972b, 1981)SecOnd,conducting the):HuSbands'occupations

control the content and direction of talk(ie,chain Of topics talked
about)in a uniforln manner across the subjects(Labov,1981),M/here̲

sociolinguistic interviev″ guarantees a sufficient quantity of data forby the gathered data would involve a high degree of comparability

quantitative analysis of various variables vrith every single subiect(Labov, 1981)Last and most cruciany,the sociolinguistic intervieⅥ,′ ″162

JuniorCollege

SchoolI(M,2C)動 ″η ブθω″

betMreen the two groups of subiectsヽ vh0 1ead totaHy different types of″s lllight
social lives.That is,what was talked about in the intervieヽ ハ

consists of solne formal protocols and a1lows us to lnoderately

otherwise have been focused predominantly on personal, relatively
informal, subiect matters (eg, Children, husbands, homemaking,5「rhough l pointed out earlier that the exclusive focus on Tokyo Japanese has

led to oversinlplification of sociolinguistic heterogeneity in」apanese lan―
guage use,the present study has also chosen Tokyo Japanese speakers as the

6A/1=married,S=single,♯ C=the number Of children

subjects because of the research objective―‑86‑――‑87‑―︱
一北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

Tlle Myl〕

of FeminijtI Negtcted HeterOgendty of Wol■ ells Languagc in Contanporary Japanese Sodety

hobbies,etc)in the case of fulltime homemakers,and on wOrk―

because of possible errors and bias in sampling procedurcs No

related, relativcly fornlal, topics ill the casc of full― tilne workillg
ヽVOlllell in charge l have assumed that such gaps in the contcnt ofprevious quantitative studies of gender distinctions in Japanese follo、 v this elementary procedure(except for ShibamOto, 1987, v「 hichinvestigates contextual variation v/ithill、 「ハomen's language)It f01‐
lo、 ハ√
s that without such a check, a resultillg interpretation tends tohave a great potential for involvillg bias derived from researchers'

narratives nlight danlage accurate conlparative measurenlents ofoccurrences///non― occurrences of variables in question across the t、 /odistinctive groups of Japanese v・ 7omen,so I、 velcolned the sociolinguis―
tic intervieM〆 s formal protoc01s

illlpressionistic colllparisons of bare percentages and subieCtiVe inter―｀■he final note about data elicitation through sociolinguistic
interviews concerns the intervie、 /setting lt can be expected thatlesspretations of the cornparative restllts

formal interview settings(eg,the home en宙 ronmellt)tend to haveconcerns the intersectillg relationships bet、 reen the occurrence of a

The second crucial requirelnent of the quantitative paradiginl

positive effects on the speaker's production of the vernacular, andvariable under investigation and a large number of other types ofvice versa (ie, the v「 orkplace would inhibit such prOduction)

factors that inay silllultaneously constrain its occurrence(SankOffぞBecause the honle grounds of sociallives of the t、 ハ″o groups of、 vomen

Labov, 1979)In variable linguistic behavior,every token of a variable occurs under the sirnultaneous influence of a number of factors,
such as the nature of the gramnlatical context,discursive function of
the utterance, topic, style, interactional context, and personal or

are quite distinctive, I attelnpted to choose neutral places such as
coffee shops to make different degrees of formality of the intervie、v´
setting uniforlal across the subieCtS
his attcnlpt,hoヽ ハ/cver,could not「
al、「ays be accolllplished, tlsually due to vari()1ls tinle constraints ofthe subjects 7 conSequelltly, while thc clistl‐

11)tltion oF intervicw settings resulted in sonle discrel)を 11lcy l)et、 ハ√(lcll thC g「 otll)S,no systcnlaticcorrelation betvreell the detectc(l vそ lrial)ility all(l thc settillgs v√ as｀found ■hus, I concitldccl that thc illtcrvic、 v scttillg could 1lot be a
maiOr factOr affectillg illtra― gellder― grot11)variability,as discussed in壁sociodemographic characteristics of the speaker or other partici
rhat the variationist、 vants to kllo、 √iS the relative status〈 )rpants ヽヽ
rallk ill importance of those intersecting factors in tcrms of thestrength of influence on the production Of the dependent variable

The last requirenlent concerns the advantage of probabilistic

Section 3 below

accounts of variable applications of linguistic rules over the use ofbare percentages of frequencies Due to the unavoidable sl(ev√ ing ofsociolinguistic data and the necessity of figuring out the enormously

22 Theクヘnalytical Tool

complex intersecting relationships among a nunlber of potential

ln dealing 、ハ″
ith variable linguistic phenonlena quantitatively,
there are a fevピ inethodological requirenlents researchers nlust fulfill

influencillg factors, probabilistic accounts of occurrences or non―occurrences of a variable in question have proven to be superior to■ent is thestatistical verification of frequencies of occurrence Any generaliza―
tion,v/hich is derived particularly frolln a large amount of quantifica―

the use of lDare percentages by a llulllber of sociolinguistic studies

tion,must be evaluated for significance by a statistical test of thatbody of data(()uy, 1987)「 Fhis procedure is indispensablc lDeCatlse c)f
inherent problems of ske、 ving in the distribution of sociolingtlistic
data elicited from uncontrolled llatural speech(Salll(Off, 1985)alld

VARBRUL progra111:VARBRUL4(Rousseau,1989)It is a cOmputerin order tO gaill enlpirically sound results The first requirel■

7 Some of thc vFOrking、 vonlell preferred to be intelvicwc(l at thcir wo「lDlaCCS´
hey exl)rcssc(l diFfictlltics、 vithヽFllellever they coultl find sOl■ ne spare tilnle
nlecting mc aftcr、 「ハork due to their extrcnlcly l)usy l)1ス )「 cssiollal schc(lules
1くI｀

Sonle of the full tillle 1lonlenlakers also told llle that tllcy cotlld not leavc

their holne due to their domestic chores―‑88‑―(Guy,1975,1987:Sallkoff,1985,1986)
The present study enlploys one of the rnost recent versions of theapplication of the statistical nlodel of sociolinguistic variation initiat―

ed by Cedergren and Sankoff(1974) It estilnates the prObability
values frOnl observcd frequellcy distributions of the factors in thedata across a variety of illtersecting linguistic and extralinguistic
contexts and a1lo、 /s us to obtain an overall picture of the variable
tendencies of the speaker's lilnguistic perfornlance in cluestion
The progranl conducts a nlultivariate analysis of data usillg themaxirnulll likelihood technique and yields a probability estilllate of
the effect of cach contextual constraint on the application of the rule―‑89‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

Thc Mytll of FemiijtI Negiecttd lle健 )genely ol Womells Language in Contanporary Japanese soclety

in question in relation to the other remaining constraints̲8 Further―

The topic marker ―llα is often onlitted in the casual mode of dis―more,the output of the program a1lo、 「
ハs us to calculate the level of´
his can be done using values ofsignificance of any factorial effectcourse without any change in propositional rneaning
Analyzing naturalistic sanle― sex peer― grouplog likelihood;the difference in the log likelihood bet、 veen tv″ o variable rule runs,the second of、 vhich ignores the constraint to evaluate,
is rnultiplied by‑2,and the result to be obtained is the chi square value｀、
vhite― collar businessnlen in■ okyo,Shibamoto(1985)found that herI｀conversations
involving 15 housewives in a v「 hite― collar neighborhood and 15

Data are tralnsforlmed into a token file, in which observed fre―female subieCtS deleted the particle more often(239%of the time)than the male counterparts(11%) In her f01low up study (1990),
ShibamOtO further confirnled the gender linked differentiationi 3

quencies of rule application(ie,the number of tokens to vihich thehousev″ ives from nliddle to upper― nliddle class households in Tokyo

rule in question has been applied out of the total nul■ lber of possible

environinents)are recorded along v√ ith potential linguistic anddeleted the particle 35 7% of the tinle、vhen engaged in peer― groupconversations,v″ hereas the counterpart of 3、 vhite― collar businessmen

extralinguistic constraints the analyst hypothesizes may be relevant
or distinctive based on factors such as previous theoretical v「 ork,in Tokyo deleted it ll 196 in their peer― group interactions l〕
Identification of this particular variable as categorically female―

ilnpressionistic observations,and prelinlinary investigation 9

specific may contribute to the stereotypes of、 /omen's language use
as ̀non― canonical,' ̀deviant,' or ̀marked,' as opposed to men's lan―
guage use as ̀canonical,' ̀standard,' or ̀unlnarked'(Spcnder, 1980)(lVeiner&Labov,1983:40‑1)

2.3 Feminine Variables Exal■

illed

ヽ
lre should first note that in both of Shibamoto's studies cited above,
The variables the present sttldy focuscs on include three kinds ofmorphosyntactic phenomena,which have、 videly l〕 ccll l― ecogllized as
nlarkers of felllinine speech by previotis l― esearch (at least fronl

research based on the speech of full― tinlc honlenlalく ers) 1｀ he firstαvariable is the eHipsis of Japanese topic marker―

aノ1)ル レ″sカ グrllの 2お s力 οηS″ 力″π/z/////′ ″πsπITOP mission school

:

ノο

̀力
was COPFP10

the tv″ o groups Of speakers are not truly colnparable in ternls ofvhere the groups of speakers are
donlains of social lives 、engaged in everyday conlnlunicative activities and routinesi business―
nlen in the public sphere interact actively with out‐ group people froma variety of backgrounds,、 vhereas house、 vives in the domestic sphereinteract rnaillly、 vith other family men■ bers or peers in their neighbor―pril■lary(My sCh001 Was a mission schoo1/1 graduated fr01n a mission

hood.Sccond,as is the case in other inainstreanl studies of」 apanesegender differentiation, the status of this particular variable as aschool)[Subiect A, a 46‑year― old division chief(buchoo)at a maior

fenlinine rnarker has been based exclusively on the speech of full tillle
homelnakers,but has nOt been empirically confirnled、 vith the speech

publishing company]of other subgrOups of women in contemporary society(eg,white―collar̀busillesswomcn')MoreOver,women's advanced unmarking of
the particle are enlpirically disproved in crOss―

8 A similar program to this is ANOVA Algorithms for calculating ANOVA,、Fhichhowever,■ Ormally require balanced nulnbers Of tol(ens in cach cell,、/ould be possible only with data fronl controlled experillnentation(Young&
Bayley,1996)Thus,the vARBRUIン programs arc the only and best alterna―
tive to successfully handle thc extrenlely sI(ev√ ed nature of sociolilぅ guistic
data frOnl natural speech
9 An■ ong a nunlber of intersecting factors,both lingllistic allcl extra lillgtlistic,

analyzed, the present paper reports only the results regardillg ollc of thesocial factors, nanlely, the speaker's participatioll ill the 11larlく etplace
Further discussions on the other potential factors arc presented in detail in

Takano(1997)
10 TOP=Topic A/1arker;COP=Copula;FP=Final Particle―‑90‑―

sex peer conversations

where male speakers tended to elide the particle more often thanakano,
female speakers as a result of acconllllodatiVe convergence(「
I｀

1994)

11 ヽTo statistical tests 、vere condllctcd in either study ln Shiban10to (1985),

recording sessions for fenlale data took place at the honle of one of theparticipants, and l■ ■ale interactions、 vere recorded during the subjects'lulncll′
break at their、 バ
orkplace ln Shibanloto(1990),on the cther halld,both female
ancl male interactions IIrere tape‐ recorded at the home of one of the partici

pant in each gender grOup‑91‑

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

cted Heterorndty Of Womers Language lll Contemporary Japanese Sodety
The Myth of Fe面 lllit,N昭 た

Uttc%α πθιジ%α ′ノら,η 7zsZ̀ " 077ZO'22Zα Sππα″The second variable to exallline in the present study concerns
variable surface lnanifestations of utterance‐ final forms.Utterances
recorded were classified into three nl街 or types in terms of the formsof the predicatei

think

)

Dαた
απ οπ″グ多 7/7グ ③
αI: 」
9ο ηηαsι πSι ググο
sπ 力
グ′θ
s%
G:Sttο 々π ηζ αηο″ποs″ グ

So,about the same age(aS yOu)
What is he likeP(He's)very, Well,entertaining

夕0(9)l)complete utterances with full forms of the predicate;2)incomplete utterances、 vith non‐ conclusive forms of the predi‐
cate;3)fragmental utterances typically v″ ith the predicate or the
copula elided or consisting of noun phrases with/、 vithout the
postpositions̲̲4η οο,And,He's nOt a city persOn,so

わ力αグ πο カグ
め 力 παグ たα%,クsο ιο
力%グαs力 4ノ οノ″ποs″ gθ カタ
た76a多 ″グα
Sカ ガ sグ π
′
′
α7/7
r。 ′
′
22,zoヵ グοおz力 α
σ力z%σ ι′sカ グ
ιoohe's very pure, and very polite,

andVery considerate

The following excerpt from an inter宙 ew with Subject G(a43 year‐ old full time homemaker)illuStrates the three types Letter I

Underlines 3,7,and 9 are classified as the first type,the complete

designates the interviewer(the author)asking about her everyday

utterances Underlines l and 10 with the gerundive endings are typicalnon― conclusive utterances observed in the data Other typical endings
tari/ith the alternative particle ―of this type include those ending、ハUnderline 2 is regarded as a fragmental utterance v″ ith the entire
predicate(possibly,naratte imasùI learn' or ̀I aln taught')elided
Underlines 4,5,6,and 8 are all regarded as fragmental v″ ith possibly
the copula(― da/desu)elided.

activities̲

′I: Eπααη グοο グ
′
′
α 々ο′
ο οsカ グら

Usually,what kinds of things do

you do to spend tilneP々α″ s%螢 9sα %θ 77rπ ″ 77 カαP′′
カαπ UsuaHy, mostly domestic
G: Flrα αππππ″, 力″グ gα たノ″夕ο, αποO, Sカ ク″ πグ カαグ chores,And,um,t、 /ice a、 veek I
, α′
0̲R‐

I:

αJ/7カ zs/1グ タα′′
θ2z̀ 7・ 7″ aιり
' O Zυ
,筋

do(sttldy)English,so xxx

̲4α , sθ ο グιsγ 力αPAh,is that soP
I study English conversation
Well,(I'nl taught English)by an

ηαノα′
た力 o
G: E"α グ̲4η 00 777た 力た力わ″グ πο

of in‐ group register,strike the listener as highly casual,friendly,lessslppl

distancing,but too blunt,sloppy,Or even childish in certain situations

αP
Nαππ′
π 力α グss/7ο ″asπ た

(Do you study)with Severalv″

other people?

in―Thars rightNow,(there are)three Of us

complete utterances)aS part of men's grammar and the latter two

Only threeP

variants as part of v″ omen's gralllinar Alllong a very fevr data‐ based

Yes,yesstudies done so far regarding variable uses of the predicate inJapanese,Snlith(1992a)uph01dS the apparently prescribed,normative

)

̲14)

π ″ιP
Sα ηπグ

G: E● οα ια σι.

I:Noda,1987:324‑5)Fragmental utterances,on the other hand,as partsaπ sa′ (a″ zπ η0

G: Sο ο ″θ
sz πιに
f777α Sα ππιπI:ambiguity and rnake it sound gentler,indirect,and hesitant(」 ordenで 受

Arnerican teacher fronn NIissis―

s力 π
s sカ グη πο α,22θ れたα

I:

While the full forms of the predicate strike the listener as asser‐vith non―tive, straightforward, and formal, the incomplete forms 、conclusive forms of the predicate render the utterance a certain

ls your teacher nlaleP0′ ο
力ο ποsa72sι グ″ι
s% たαP

G: 0わ たο ηοsι /7S′ グG)｀
77グ .6)コ√″%%― 力αθ4,77700 SOttSOЮ …
ノ″ηπ% ″αιカグg″ zα ググο 々′
のα
,

,

′
ο
π″777/%0々 %力 α sカ グ
εカグ″ιカグ,′%喀 αZ″ 00 SO″ OSO%O Sα η ノZZ /2Zハ″
ith someone who does not sharehere the speaker is talking 、
group solidarity and rapport
Previous studies have characterized the first type of variant(theA/1ale teacher

properties of Japanese women's language― ――一indirect,non‐ assertive

28 years old

v″

soon¨

inCOmplete/fragmental utterances, she looked at

He came、 /hen he was 28,ah,no,modalities."In Smith's terms,saな %勿 ιグ(eXplanation)modality forms

he came when he v/as 26 or 27,
so now he should soon be 30,I

no da) ilnply mutual knowledge andhazu da, ‐wake da, ―(eg, ―
agreement as to that knowledge's factuality .(and)play important―‑92‑―

ays of speaking Rather than exanlining the data for complete/secondary―‑93‑―■

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

The Mytll of Femininill NegLcted Heterogenel●roles in constructing convincing arguments and in effective persua―
vhereas 3α ばθ2 (evidentials)modality forms(eg, ―sion"(p̲545), 、yooda,‐soo da)̀̀Suggest that the speaker has not、 vitnesseddaroo,‐
hich she/he is lnaking an asser―
or experienced the situation about Ⅵ″.(and)SerVe tO
tion and therefore cannot rnake a definite statement,¨soften or mitigate its assertive force and factuality"(p544)There‐
fore,using gα ばθπ forms,thè̀speaker takes less personal responsibil―

ity for the accuracy of the associated propositions and also indicate

of WOmellゝ Language in Contemporary Japanese Sodety

were found between the sexes(Women:62̲8%vs Men:69̲1%in
assertive sentences;ヽ Vomeni 37 2%vs Meni 309%in StOp in― thc‐
nliddle sentences)(Endoo,1992163)Her analysis of suspended utter‐
ances(θ 力1/%sカ タろππ)alsO Obtained counter‐ evidence(ヽ Vomen: 241%

vs̲Men:248%)to the claim that women tend to leave utterances
incolllplete more often than men 13

These results suggest the necessity of taking into accountspeakers'participation in the marketplace as an important extralin―″o same‐ sex

guistic factor affecting gender‐ linked differentiation in uses of thisconversations of three male and three fenlale Tokyo‐ JapaneSe̲

particular variable.The present study has integrated this perspective
into its research design and Ⅵrill empirically prove that solne of theprevious clailns are overgeneralizations about all women's language;

less certainty as to its accuracy"(p.544)Using as data tⅥ

speaking friends frolll a llliddle― class neighborhood,12 slllith analyzed
sex― based differences in degrees of the speaker's assertiveness andconfidence concerning the proposition She found that there vras aquantitative difference,though not statistically proven,in the uses ofsecondary l■ odalities,''sι おπ772ι グ (explanatioll) and gαgι η′(evidentials),the latter of which was exploited more by the female

speakers(WOmen:206%;Men:92%)̲Smith COncludes that theresult is indicative of the prescribed roles and cultural illlages boundto gender(ie,soft,indirect,and humble for v″ omell),alld that the stillquite extreme degree of sexual division of the society fosters differ―ent interactional styles appropriate to each of the sex groups
These generalizations, ho、 vever, can be challenged by anothervol■ lenstudy of natural speech,which investigated language use by、―一―、
vho belong to a different social stratulll frolll Slllith's subjects―

working women participating funy in the marketplace Endoo's(1992)
parativc
COl■ ■

study of the speech of 10 male and 10 fenlale profes‐
sionals provides striking counter‐ evidence to stereotypical claillls
vays of speaking This study is highlyvomё n's 、
about JapaneSe 、
significant in that her colllparative analysis is based on naturalistic
speech data of rnen and、 vonlen fronl sillnilar occupational categories
ハolllen tend to produce more incon■ plete utterances
The clailll that、 「
vrith alllbiguous propositional content than rnen was disproved by herガーわク77)andカグ
analysis of variation in the use of assertive sentences(グ グι%η )i no significant clifferences
S/7′ ‐
stop‐ in― the llliddle sentences(グ たα12 No furthcr descriptions are available with respect to the spcalく

ers' demo―

graphic backgrounds such as occupation,n■ arital status,a1ld illdividual age
hite― collar businessnnen and house、「ives froln nliddle―
They are presunlably、 ァclass neighborhoods in l｀ okyo, as 、/as the case ill her other studies(ShibamOtO,1985,1990)―‑94‑―and that in reality, heterogeneity of women's language use ismanifested closely linked to occupational factors.
跳θ
sび ″ ηル γ万″力″ ′ηαノタα″ θ′ιS
The final variable is the usage of Japanese final particles(s/1π π―メθSカ)(FPs),which are often cited′as one of the lllost salient genderノ
marking systems in Japanese 「 here are roughly three groups ofparticles, namely, gender― neutral particles (eg̲, πa, ノθ), female̲%α ), andexclusive particles (e.g̲, 総α with rising intonation, /iα s力 ′ηαmale‐ exclusive particles(egり Zθ ,)(MCGloin, 1990)̲HoWever,changes in particle use are evident,with increasing use of lnasculine

particles by younger felnales(OkamotO&Sato,1992)and particle
gender neutralization by the younger generation in general(Peng etal.,1981)The present study is another attempt to shed light on suchongoing sociolinguistic variation and change; more specificany, t。
identify any systematic correlation bet、 veen variability in uses ofgender‐ linked final particles and the tM/o subgroups of wolllen leading

distinctly different social lives ls the apparently vridespread increas‐
ingly ll■ asculine use of final particles a linguistic change super―

ilnposed on different subgroups of Japanese women?Does it other‐wise involve any social stratificationP Ho、 r differently do the enl―て
13 Endoo's 'assertive sentence'' is roughly equivalent to my 'complete utter―く
ances,'andて 'suspended sentence"to'fragmental utterance,'andて stop in― the‐liddle sentence'' presunlably to my 'incomplete utterances," though hcr
l■illustrations of the types do not explicitly include the particular kinds offorms described above (eg, the gerundive form or the ending v′ ith thealternative lDarticle)―‑95‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

Language in Contemporatt Japane∞

The Myun of FemininitI NegLcted HeterOgelldty of WolllenヽSOt‐ lety

丁able 3 Ellipsis of the ttopic Marker‐ wa

ployed and non― wage earning Ⅵ″
omen deal vパ th culturally prescribed
felllininity through the use of FPsP

(2 Groups,1 2 Speakers)
GROUP I Employed Women in Managerial Positions(ElVlvI)

3.RESULTS AND DiSCUSS:ON(6 Speakers)

31.Ellipsis of the Topic NIarker― Ⅵraシ ι″ ι″Pγ οルsι οπ

4gσ

Sタ

ノ
″″g

Table 3 shows individual rates of the enipsis of the topic rnarker
A「 orkplaceヽ

27%[50/186]

Division Chief at a
Research lnstituteCoffec Shop

14%[26/185]

C(Ⅳ I,2C)

Company President
Oificer/Educator
at Reform School

Coffcc Shop
Coffec Shop

28%[22/80]

D(S)Coffee Shop

17%[21/126]

Workplace

30%[42/142]

Average22%[185/854]

occurrence ofA(M,lC)the topic lnarker― vra in the potentially occurring environlnent)in thepresent data was 1568 いi grand average of ellipsis rates turned out toB(M,2C)2生

total number of tokens(ie,the Occurrence and non―be 31%(485 out of 1568),whiCh lies between 24%in ShibamOto(1985)

and 36%in ShibamOto(1990)14
The results also show that there are no coherent relationships″
bet、 ハeen the rates of particle enipsis and interview settings For
example,it does not necessarily seen■ to be the case that the work―
place enhances the level of formality of speech,in that Subiect F,v″

Division Chief ata Pubhshing Corn―pany

18%[24/135]

for Female Juve‐nile DelinquentsE(M)Ophthalmologist ata University Hospi

hoelided the particle(30%̀)far abOve the group average(222̀)amOng
メ、lthough
the GrOup l members,was interviewed at her workplace.

‐″クE〃 ゎsお%[#Elided/Total]tal

Law Oficc Man―

F(M,lC)

ager

Group

the interviews done at coffee shops appear to involve relatively lower

rates of particle ellipsis,Subiect C,who elided it relatively more
GROUP II:Full― time Homemakers(HM)(6 Speakers)

frequently than the others(28%̀),was also interviewed at this setting

Silllilarly, while the home environment appears to contribute tohigher rates of enipSiS among the GrOup II llllembers,Subiect I,M/hO

elided it 50%(8%above the group average),waS interviewed at a″
ed at theircoffee shop SubieCtS G and H, who M/ere both intervie、 ハ
homes,do not necessarily elide the particle、 vith particularly higher

frequencies(ie,39%and 38%,respectively).
As seen in Table 3 below,the difference between the t、 vo groups
elided the particle an average of 22%of the

S´

γ
σ力σ
/・

Иgο

P7崚ssグ ο″

′
′
助′
電

G(M,2C)
H(M,2C)

HOme
Horne

I(M,2C)

Coffee Shop

J(M,2C)

Horne

K(M,2C)

Coffec Shop

L(ⅣI,3C)

HOrne

rM
of v″ omen is large:Eヽ ヽ

GrOup Averagetime,、 vhereas HⅣ I elided it 422̀ Table 3 also displays a great deal―
ωαE〃 ゎsお%[#Elided/Total]

39%[35/ 89]
38%[34/ 90]
50%[46/ 92]
52%[51/ 99]
32%[52/163]
45%[82/181]
42%[300/714]

Summed Avcragc
for Both Groups

of individual variation in particle ellipsis AInong others,the subieCtS'

31%[485/1568]

age is particularly exal■ lined beloM″ as a potential factor that rnay bezllα )and the nOlllinative rnarker(g′ )were
coHapsed,so the rates counted the occurrences of both types Considering thatthe data in both of Shibamoto's studies were elicited frolDn single‐ sex peer

14 1n both studies,the topic rnarker(―conversations(thOugh the researcher,a non― Japanese fenlale,was present as
an eavesdropper), the first― encounter, cross― sex interactions on which thepresent study relied appear to be successful in collecting low monitored,
naturalistic casual speech fronl the subiects―‑96‑―

responsible for the wide range of variationコ
ヘs Figure l below shows,there seems to be no clear― cut correla‐tion betv″ een the speaker's age and the rates of particle ellipsis
However, the regression line divides the subieCtS into two groups,
according to the occupation‐ based categories The six speakers in thecircle are all full‐ time homelllakers(GrOup II),and the speakers
appearing below the line are all full― time、vorking、 vomen in positionsof authority (C.roup I).

Figure 2 recaptures this sociolinguistic―‑97‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

The Myth of FemininII Negた cted Hderogenelty of Womells Language in Contemporary Japanese Sot・

aspect of variability as a continuum,、 vhich clearly reveals the differ‐

geneous in degrees of variability in their performance grammars

ence in particle eHipsis bet、

ldy

veen the two groups

significant at p<001 The VARBRUL program calculates a probabil

3.2 Utterance‐ Final Forms
Table 5 below sho、 ハ
rs individual uses of the three types of utterance―
final forms フ
ヘ total number of tokens coded、 vas 1505,among v″ hich

ity weight for potential contributing factors and assigns each of thema value froln O to l.メ tv″ eight of 50 indicates that the factor has nowere 7%,and fragmental ones were 18%

Accordingly, the result of a variable rule analysis in Table 4
below reveals that the intergroup difference is statistically highly

effect on the production of the dependent variable(ie,― M/a deletion)complete utterances were produced 75%of the time,incomplete onesιυα, striking
タ
ヘs is the case in the ellipsis of the topic marker ‐The closer the weight is to O, the more strOngly the contributing

intra‐ gender‐ group differences can be observed in the rates of the two

factor disfavors the dependent variable The closer the weight is to l,

subgroups of women While、 vorking women in positions of authority

the more strongly the factor favors it
Table 4 shov/s that the group of homemakers strongly favors‐ oυ αellipsis at the、 ハreight of 62,whereas the group of professional womenin positions of authority and leadership strongly disfavors particle

predominantly use complete utterances(86%of the time),full― time

ellipsis at 38 15

such salient difference betv″ een the groups is observed in the use ofFill these results indicate that a division into the two occupation―

homemakers use the same variant 65%̀of the tirne This latter grOup,

on the other hand,use fragmental utterances much more frequently(27%)than the former group which use the same variant only 7%No
incomplete utterances

variability in particle ellipsis.Each group's speakers are quite homo―o2へ closer look at individual variations in the uses of these tM″variants here again reveals that the individual distributions are notaccounted for in terms of generational differences in Figures 3 and 4

Figure l

belov/

based categories helps account for the wide range of individual

individual Distribution by Figure 2 0ccupational CategOries/1ge in Particle Ellipsis
and‐ wa Ellipsis

They can rather be best described by occupation‐

basedgroupings,each of v√ hich consists of a homogeneous set of speakers
holding sirnilar employment status(Figures 5 and 6 beloM″ )As、 vas observed in particle ellipsis,the two groups of、 vomen arealmost perfectly demarcated by the regression line in the uses of bothvariants However,SubieCt H(a62‐year‐ old housewife),whOSe behav―

iors are deviant from her own group and rather closer to GrOup I,isthe only exception to this consistent pattern of intergroup discrep―
ancies(See Figures 5,6).Though l do not have any objective evidence
available for explaining this exceptional case, I speculate that the
speaker's out‐ group contacts through the falllily business(a small
ハrays oflaundry her first son runs)may be responsible for her 、

speaking Subiect H mentioned in my sociolinguistic interview that
Table 4 Variable Rule Analysis of―

11♪ ッ
1

714

%Deleted
％％

Wヽヽ
″M

No of Tokcns
854

she sometimes helped at her son's laundry if needed This presumably

wa Ellipsis
Varbrul、、
rcigllt[p< 001]

gives her frequent opportunities to interact with out― group customers

from a variety of backgrounds,which would encourage her to use a
independent factorsi in other words,they have been calculated in relation to
the constraining force of other intersecting factors such as linguistic environ―

15 These varbrul v/eights indicate the strength relative to other potential

ments of particle ellipsis,and discoursal and stylistic factors Discussions on
the other factors are presented in Takan。
(1997)―‑98‑――‑99‑―北星論

集 (文 )第35号

Tlle Myll of Femininiけ :Negね cted HeterorndけFigure 3

Table 5 Utterance― final Forms
GROUP I Employed V√ omen in Managerial Positi()ns(EVFA/1)(6 Speakers)

2g

Plaた ssaθ ″

地 α

Sθ ″′

of WOnlers Language in Contettorary Japanese Soctty

individual Distribution by

Figure 4

individual Distribution by/1ge in Use of Complete/1ge in Use of Fragmental

Utterances

Utterances%[#Elided/Total]
Complete
Fragmental%%

83%[86/104]

A(M,lC)

Division Chief at a Publish‐

B(M,2C)

DivisiOn Chief at a Research

Coffee Shop5%[ 5/104]
80%[96/120]
6%[ 7/120]

C(ヽ 4,2C)

Company President

Coffee Shop

83%[116/139]

ing Company

13%[13/104]

14%[17/120]

9%[12/139]
8%[11/139]
Oficer/Educator at Reform
School for Femalc」 uvenilc

D(S)DelinquentsOphthalmologist at a Univer

E(M)F(3/1lC)I´

92%[108/118]
30/。 [ 3/118]

6%[ 7/118]

Coffee Shopaw Office Manager

88%[80/91]
2%[ 2/91]
10%[ 9/91]
92%[112/122]

2%[ 2/122]

CrOup

Avcrage

Figure 50ccupational Categories

Figure 6

and use of complete
Utterances

0ccupational CategOries

and use of Fragmental
UtterancesF%∫ ̲ノ ]g′ ]86%「 598/6941

6%[39/694]
8%「 57/694]

GROUP II Fulltime Homemakers(HM)(6 Speakers)
S'ι

α
力
′
″

′燿のをssあ ″%[#Elided/TotaJ

59%[ 84/142]
15%[ 22/142]
25%[ 36/142]
81%[109/134]

C(M,2C)
H(M,2C)

6%[ 8/134]

J(M,2C)

13%[ 17/134]
66%[ 95/144]
8%[ 12/144]
26%[ 37/144]
62%[ 80/130]

K(M,2C)

32%[ 42/130]
69%[ 95/138]

L(A/1,3C)

25%[ 35/138]
52%[ 65/124]

I(M,2C)

6%[ 8/130]
6%[ 8/138]
6%「

Croup

Average

SulYlmed Averagefor Both Croups―‑100‑―

8/1241

̲1′ 」]
65%[528/811]
̀1%1̲pl∠8%[ 66/811]
27%[217/811]

75%[1126/1505]

7%[105/1505]
18%[274/1505]

relatively more canonical, formal variety of speech.「 Fhis uniquesituation truly draws a line between this subieCt and the otherhomemakers 、
vho appear to be confined to the home without any
note、vorthy exposure to cornlnunicative activities in the public
domaln̲Figures 5 and 6 recapture the、 vide range of individual variations

as being correlated with the occupational categories
Accordingly, a variable rule analysis figures out the following
probabilities and the level of significance of the inter‐group differ‐ences in「 rable 6 Since the dependent variable has three levels rather
than t、 vo,the neutral v/eight is 33.The higher than.33 a weightis,themore strongly the factor favors the production of the variant in

‑101‑

北

星

論

集 (文 )第35号

Tlle Mtt of FelllhimtI Negected HeterOgendty of Wolllens Language h Contelllporatt Japanese Soctty

Table 7 Gender― linked Final Particles

丁able 6 Variable Rule Analysis of Utterance― final Forms

Complete

Inconnplete

86% 47

6%31
8%33

65%21

Fragmental(6 Speakers)

％％

WWM
HM

GROUPI:Employed Women in Managerial POsitiOns(EWM)
・αたで/
助
・

8

レ (疵ssあ ηSct′ ‐%[#Elided/Tota][p< 001]
question

The lo、 ハ
rer than 33 it is, the more strongly the factor
disfavors it lt is obvious that working women in charge are very
ith complete utterances(47)and very unlikely tolikely to speak Ⅵ″
produce fragmental utterances(22). Full‐ tillle homemakers'behav―

A(M,lC)

DivisiOn Chief at a

B(ヽ I,2C)

Division Chief at a Researchiors,on the other hand,involve precisely dianletrical patterns,in that

C(M,2C)

Coll pany President

they are very likely to speak、 vith fragmental utterances(46)andvery unlikely to use complete utterances(21)Without any earlier empirical evidence to the contrary,̀Japanese

D(S)Oficer/Educator at Reformas the case in particle
ellipsis, these results reconfirm the empirical fact that twvo linguis‐in terms of ways of speaking Hov/ever,as v″
tically distinct groups of Japanesesociety

CoffeeShop

CoffeeSchool for Female Juvenile●(ヽ 1)

women'were presupposed to constitute a single,homogeneous group

85%[82/96]
15%[14/96]
0%[ 0/96]

Workplace

Publishing Com● any

Ophthalm01ogist at a Univer

WirorkplaceF(ヽ 1,lC)、
vomen exist in contemporary

100%[83/83]

0%[ 0/83]
0%[ 0/83]
99%[92/93]
1%[ 1/93]
0%[ 0/93]
97%[85/88]
2%[ 2/88]
1%[ 1/88]
94%[85/90]
2%[ 1/90]
4%[ 4/90]
93%[90/97]
0%[ 0/97]
7%[ 7/97]
95%[517/547]

3%[18/547]
2%[12/547]

33.Uses of Gender‐ linked Final Particles

GROUP II Fulltime Homemakers(HM)(6 Speakers)

Table 7 belo、 v shows individual variation in uses of the three types♂
γ
ofeヽ llπof final particles(FPs):gender― neutral(eg,π a,ノ θ),female‐ exclusive名α),and male‐ exclusive(eg,2θ
(e.g.,ω α With rising intonation,力 αsカ グηα)16%[#Elided/Total],

0verall, FPs as the markers of interpersonal ̀affect' occurred

86%[83/ 97]

C(ヽ1,2C)

14%[14/ 97]very infrequently in the data(6%for feminine FPs,1%fOr masculineFPs),presumably due to the sociopsychological climate of the inter―H(ヽ 1,2C)

viev″ : first― encounter, cross‐ sex conversations Because of such loM″

rates of occurrence and tremendous degrees of individual variation(ie,some speakers have only a feⅥ /occurrences of gender― bearing FPs;others do not use them at an),my analysis is based exclusively on

Coffee Shop

I(M,2C)

J(M,2C)

13%[11/ 87]

1%1 1/ 87]

Coffee Shop

K(3/1,2C)

16 Whether a particular FP strikes the listener as fenlinine, masculine, or

three groups reliably,I have asked anOther Japanese linguist to review mycoding The level of inter― rater agreement was over 99%,and the tOkens、 /ithv7hich we did not reach tO agreement、

CrOup

1%[ 1/ 68]
1%[ 1/ 68]z%f̲2̲§ p]

Average90%[471/521]

Sun]lned Average

93%[988/1068]

8%[42/521]
2%[ 9/521]

6%[60/1068]
1%[21/1068]″
ere disregarded frolna further analysis―‑102‑―

98%[66/ 68]

83%[74/ 89]
15%[13/ 89]

L(M,3C)

gender― neutral depends not only on the choice of the particle per se but also

On their concurrence v/ith various forms of the predicate(eg,direct infornlal
style vs distal forlllal style) To classify the subjects' particles into these0%[ 0/ 97]
98%[96/ 98]
2%[ 2/ 98]
0%[ 0/ 98]
94%[77/ 82]
1%[ 1/ 821
5%[ 4/ 82]
86%[75/ 87]―‑103‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

The M山 Of FellllnlllltI Nttlecled Heterogeneiけgroup data with some reservations about the validity of the results
Figure 7 below visually tabulates individual rates per group As
for the use of gender‐ neutral FPs,the variability of GrOup I(Enl‐ployedヽ Vomen in Positions of Authority)seems more stable(eXcept

for Suttect A)with higher rates of occurrence(95%)than that ofhile SutteCt A uses femi
GrOup Ⅱ (Full― time Homemakers)(90%)Ⅵ ″Of WOmers Language in Colltemporary Japallew Sodety

Working、 vomen,on the other hand,are highly likely to use rnasculine
FPs(39),disfavOring feminine FPs(26).17
The individual variations in the uses of FPs are also found tO

involve an intriguing pattern of generational change, as shown in
Figure 8 and Table 9 below
For the comparative purpose, I divided the subjects into tv″

oSubieCtS(G,J,L)in GrOup II use thelll to a sirnilar extent.As forhose age is under 40 are lumped
together as the younger group (Subjects D, E, F, I, J, X[), and 6

masculine FPs,it seems hard to identify any differences betM″ een thesubjects whose age is over 41 are lul■ lped together as the older grOup

nine FPs far more frequently than the other subieCtS in GrOup I,three

generational groups: 6 subiects V″

groups There are only a feM/subiectS WhO use masculine FPs at aH,(Subjects A,B,C,G,H,I).This type of comparison seems to yieldand then with low frequencies in each groupmore recognizable intergroup differences, as compared with theoccupation― based grouping(Figure 7).The variability of the younger
group can be characterized in three terlnsl stability in the use of

The foHowing results of a variable rule analysis in Table 8 below

are derived from group data
Since there are three levels, the neutral v/eight is .33

Thegender― neutral FPs among the individuals,Inore advanced adoption

higher the weight is,the more the factor(EWM vs.HM)favors,andFigure 8

the lower it is,the more the factor disfavors the variant in question̲
rhile a slight tendency for GrOup l to be ahead in the use ofヽヽ90

gender neutral FPs(35 for EWM; 33 for HM)is obServed,some
００〇一⊆００﹂０﹂

saliellt effects of the occupational categories on the uses of thegender linked FPs can be identified. Homemakers are likely to
exploit fellllinine FPs(38),strongly disfavoring masculine FPs(̲29)
Figure 7

1ndividual Rates in Use

οf Gender― linked Final Particles

ど0

Sub10CtS:Younger(‐ 40)vs Older(41)Table 9 Variable Rule/1nalysis of Gende「 linked FinaI Particles

50

through/1ge

40
30
20
10

YOUNGER
OLDER

0Tabie 8 Variable Rule/1nalysis of Gende「 linked Final Particles
NeutralFerninlne

Masculille

％％

3% 26

％ ％

HM
[p<001]8%38―‑104‑―

NeutralFenllninelvlasculine

94%35
92%34

3%25
77% 453%4003% 21[p< 001]

SubieCt EWM(a‐ つ VS HM(g‐ ゅ

EV/M

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

100
90
80
70
静 60

5

Gender‐ linked Final Particles by Age Groups

100

17 The varbrul weights are calculated as the relative probabilities to thefrequencies of occurrences of the other remaining variants Thus,while thedifference in the percentages of masculine FPs between EWA/1 and HNIis only

l%,the high weight fOr EWNI's use of inasculine FPs(39)Inay be derived
frOnl the relative configuration to the percentages of the other variants(ie,gender‐ neutral and feloninine FPs)―‑105‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

of l■lasculine

FPs,and allnost categorical exclusion of felllinine FPs(eXcept for SubieCt J)The patterns of the older group,on the otherTlle Myth of Feminini■

NttLcted IIeterOgent・

lty of Womelデ s Language in Contelllporary Japane∞

Sodetyhand,seelll to involve a、 vider range of individual variations in the useof gender― neutral FPs, and exploit fenlinine types and exclude

Through the dense, peer― oriented social network relationships, usesof covert,vernacular types of variants are likely to be encouraged(MilrOy, 1980)Less distancing,informal, and positive― polite uses oflanguage tend to be valued as interactional norms in closeknit,denselllasculine types to a greater extent than the counterpart

networks(Brown,1980;Brown&Levinson,1987)CommOn back‐prevalent generational change of masculinization in the use ofground and the greater degrees of shared knowledge and assumptions
prOmoted through their dense colllnlunication net、 vorks allo、 /for a

Japanese FPs(OkamOtO&Sato,1992)The yOunger group strongly

greater degree offavors the use of lnasculine FPs(40)and disfavors that of fenlinine

greater reliance()1l implicit ineaning(Finegan & Biber, 1994: 320;

FPs(25).The Older group,on the other hand,displays the opposite

Coupland,1983)

type of linguistic behaviors,strongly favoring fenlinine FPs(̲45)andThough empirical evidence involves v√ eak validity,a more fellli―nine variety of speech(encOded through fenlinine FPs)also seenls tol｀he varbrul weights obtained in Table 9 clearly indicate thedisfavoring masculine FPs(21)̲

linguistic econon3y,''a reduction of the code and abe encouraged as part of predolllinantly single― sex,in― group linguistic

3 4 Discussion
い、
1l these results fronl systenlatic allalyses of llatural speech
empirically prove that sociolinguistic subgroups can be identified inハ″omen internls of their perfornlance grallln■ ars all■ ong Japanese ヽrepertoires al■ ong full‐ tilne holllemakers

On the other hand,working v「 omen in position,of authority andleadership,v″ hose life styles and everyday comlnunicative activities
are predolllinantly oriented to the public sphere (ie, job― related

contemporary society,、 vith at least tv″ o social factors(i̲e,speakers'
occupation― based categories and generational groups)being respon―

relationships),are associated with a llnore formal,canonical variety

sible for the formation of subgrOups Focusing on the illapact ofparticipation in the marketplace(ie,the public sphere)on language

utterances ln their more diffused, open,job linked comnlunicationof speech involving less particle ellipsis and frequent use of complete√
ith people froln
net、 vorks,the speakers are more likely to interact、 ハ

use, I argue belo、 v that the potential causes of the group― specificpatterns of variability revealed stenl frolll the speakers'cononlunica―

mutual unde]「 standing and interpersonal rapport vrith thenl in various

tive experiences and routines in their unique donlains of everyday

communicative situations ln striking contrast to those of the home―

lives 18

makers, these types of con■ nlunicative experiences and routines

The speech of full― tilne homemakers,、 vhose lives are restricted

a、 vide variety of denlographic backgrOunds and share less overlap inthrough thcir()ccupational roles tend to inhibit exploitation of lin‐to the domestic sphere,has been fOund to be heavily correlated withguistic econol13y, ellcouraging more standard, explicit encOding ofa relatively less canOnical,infornlal variety of speech that allov/s formessages(SankOff&Lal)erge,1978;Nichols,1980,1983,1984)anda great deal of particle ellipsis and frequent uses of fragmental

prOmote negative― politc uses of language, nlaintaining appropriate

utterances. The non― canonicality and casualness of full^tilne honle―■
akers'speech seelll to be fostered through typical conlmunicative

son,1987)Speakers in()pen colllinunication networks also tend to bel■degrees of distalnce froln interlocutors(Bro、 vn,1980;Brownで 受 Iン evin―activities the speakers are likely to encounter in their everyday lives

more subiect t0 0Vert norn■ s for language use and have lllore oppOrtu―

in the local comnlunities Full― tinle homemakers are likely to beengaged in interactions involvil■ g a restricted set of single― se x, ill―group locals 、
vho share lnutual rapport and ties in linkage to thenities for careful speech production The qualifications and abilities
as persons in charge arc judged to a great cxtent through their waysof speaking,thus thcil‐ occupational roles require thelll to shov/off

domestic domain (e.g., farllily llnatters and domestic chores)

their po、 verfulness throtlgh language,speaking assertively and clear―ly ハ、
1l these comnlunicative requirements from their occupationalroles have resulted in reinforcing a lllore formal,canonical variety of
18 The follo、 Fing discussion ignores the generational change in the use of final
particles‑106‑

speech(Coupland,1983;Fillegan&Biber,1994)
As the analysis of the uses of FPs indicates, the speech of―‑107‑―

北 星 論 集 (文 )第 35号

v″

orking、「ハonlen also seenls to display a tendellcy of masculinizationand preference for gender― neutral speech, presumably due to theirextensive contact、 ハ″
ith the external gender subculture in the male―oriented marketplace and their reaction against̀sounding felllinine'

as being powerless(Reynolds,1992;Smith,1992b)

The Myth of Femininivi Neglected Heterogaleity of Womc・

111

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Belalamins pp 253‑306[ABSttRAC丁 ]Social constructions of gender in Japanese society today are undergoingdrastic transformatiOn While the ideal of traditional gender roles(ie,men's
public roles and、 /omen's domestic roles)survives as an ideology,this ideology

omen engaged in labor and1/1ainstream research on gendercoexists with the reality of increasing numbers of v′

even leadership roles outside the home

differentiation in Japanese rests upon a silnplistic viev′of the traditional

complementary relationship: men v′ ork, and 、7omen stay at home vァ ith full
responsibility fOr dOmestic matters This conllnon viev7 has consistently led
linguists to base their descriptions of Japanese v/omen's language exclusively
on the speech of a traditional grOup Of v70men― ―――sο 夕2gyο ο 力の場 (̀full― tilne
̲3‐homemakers'),especially thOse from middle class salaried households in urban
settilngs While fenlinine characteristics based on data from the restrictedsector of the female population are usually purported to represent the speech
Of」 apanese women as a v/hole,they do nOt necessarily conform to the speechof thèmajority'of Japanese women,many of whom lead different types ofsocial lives in the changing society today

This paper challenges the prescribed homogeneous definition of Japanesewomen's language by shedding light on the speech of a currently most dynamic
sector of Japanese v「 omen who play non― traditional gender r01es― ―――prOfes―
sional v「 Omen in leadership positions Spontaneous speech of 6 prOfessional
women in positions of authority v′ iH be analyzed quantitatively in terms of
three ̀fenlinine' variables: the ellipsis of the Japanese topic marker ‐wa,manifestations of utterance― final forms,and the use of sentence final particles
Their variable granllnar v7in then be compared、/ith the graln3mar of a control

group of 6 full tillle homemakers, M√ ho have been the exclusive focus ofprevious studies of Japanese gender differentiation
The results of variable rule analysis、 ′ill demollstrate that the speech ofworking、vomen in positions of authority differs frOnl that of honlemakers tO
gender‐ grOup variability isa statistically significant extent,and that the intra・
correlated systematically v7ith the subjects' occupation‐ based group member―ship A commOn assumption of ̀women'(or ̀men)as a linguisticallyhomogenous group is silnply a myth Gender differentiation in language shouldbe accounted for on the basis Of an individual's social practices in close linkage

to her sOciOeconomic activities rather than her biological category per se―‑112‑