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In the Japanese language, aizuchi (Japanese: 相槌 or あいづち, IPA: [aizɯ(ꜜ)tɕi]) are interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention or understands the speaker (backchanneling). In linguistic terms, these are a form of phatic expression. Aizuchi are considered reassuring to the speaker, indicating ...
In Japanese culture, social hierarchy plays a significant role in the way someone speaks to the various people they interact with on a day-to-day basis. [5] Choice on level of speech, politeness, body language and appropriate content is assessed on a situational basis, [6] and intentional misuse of these social cues can be offensive to the listener in conversation.
Upon finishing a meal, the Japanese use the polite phrase gochisōsama-deshita (ごちそうさまでした, lit. ' that was (the condition of) a(n honorable) feast '). In response, the preparer often says osomatsusama-deshita (おそまつさまでした, lit. ' I think that meal was not feast '). [12]
Japanese adjectives are unusual in being closed class but quite numerous – about 700 adjectives – while most languages with closed class adjectives have very few. [6] [7] Some believe this is due to a grammatical change of inflection from an aspect system to a tense system, with adjectives predating the change.
Hiragana are generally used to write some Japanese words and given names and grammatical aspects of Japanese. For example, the Japanese word for "to do" (する suru) is written with two hiragana: す (su) + る (ru). Katakana are generally used to write loanwords, foreign names and onomatopoeia.
The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called keishō (敬称), which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while prefixes are attached to the beginning of many nouns.
The yōon (Japanese: 拗音 (ようおん)) is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added sound, i.e., palatalized, [1] or (more rarely in the modern language) with an added sound, i.e. labialized.
Gairaigo are Japanese words originating from, or based on, foreign-language, generally Western, terms.These include wasei-eigo (Japanese pseudo-anglicisms).Many of these loanwords derive from Portuguese, due to Portugal's early role in Japanese-Western interaction; Dutch, due to the Netherlands' relationship with Japan amidst the isolationist policy of sakoku during the Edo period; and from ...