Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!grass From: grass@uiuccsb.UUCP Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: Replacement for he/she - (nf) Message-ID: <5687@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 16-Feb-84 22:33:36 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.5687 Posted: Thu Feb 16 22:33:36 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 18-Feb-84 02:52:02 EST Lines: 21 #R:rayssd:-36700:uiuccsb:10500018:000:971 uiuccsb!grass Feb 16 10:31:00 1984 >From what I can tell from a semester and a half of Japanese, it has virtually no pronouns at all. There are several meaning "I" and "we" (with or without gender marking, with or without formalness) but I have asked and been told that the equivalents of "he, she, it, they" exist but are virtually never used. When you speak of a third person, you use their name or names with a title (no gender clue here, but it does carry social rank). Otherwise, the subject of sentences is supposed to be understood from context. This does not seem to create any problems. Japanese doesn't have gender distinctions in noun forms, or in any of the various forms of verbs and adjectives. However, it is easy to tell from word choice and GRAMMAR (!) whether a man or a woman is writing/speaking. I am told that the distinction is much less marked for younger women, especially educated ones. The language doesn't change to reflect whether a man or woman is being talked about.