Talking Gender: The Analysation of Gendered Sentence-Final Expressions in the Japanese Animated Film Kimi no Na wa

In this thesis an attempt is made to examine the use of gendered sentence final expressions in the Japanese animated film Kimi no Na wa. The two research questions stated in this thesis aim to uncover whether there is a trend observable where young Japanese male and female speakers tend to use less stereotypically gendered sentence final expressions (SFE) and more neutral ones. Therefore, the two research questions are: do the two main characters of the film Kimino Na wa mainly use neutrally gendered sentence-final expressions? And does the young female protagonist Mitsuha use more masculine sentence-final expressions than feminine ones? Using data collected in prior studies that demonstrate the traditional gender association of many Japanese SFE, the SFE used by the two main characters were collected and compared to answer these questions. The conclusion shows that there is indeed a trend visible where young female and male speakers tend to use more gender neutral SFE than...Show moreIn this thesis an attempt is made to examine the use of gendered sentence final expressions in the Japanese animated film Kimi no Na wa. The two research questions stated in this thesis aim to uncover whether there is a trend observable where young Japanese male and female speakers tend to use less stereotypically gendered sentence final expressions (SFE) and more neutral ones. Therefore, the two research questions are: do the two main characters of the film Kimino Na wa mainly use neutrally gendered sentence-final expressions? And does the young female protagonist Mitsuha use more masculine sentence-final expressions than feminine ones? Using data collected in prior studies that demonstrate the traditional gender association of many Japanese SFE, the SFE used by the two main characters were collected and compared to answer these questions. The conclusion shows that there is indeed a trend visible where young female and male speakers tend to use more gender neutral SFE than stereotypical feminine and/or masculine ones. This study would benefit from future research that also takes in mind other gender specific language aspects in the Japanese language, such as pitch, use of honorifics, and use of first- and second-person pronouns.Show less

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Talking Gender: The Analysation of Gendered Sentence-Final Expressions in the Japanese Animated Film Kimi no Na wa