An analysis of Sex Stereotypes in the Japanese Language

Abstract

By means of a questionnaire (based on a pilot study: Jorden 1974 a) administered to a group of 18- to 25-year-old speakers of standard Japanese, the present study identifies 60 lexical/grammatical feature which are considered to be indicators of the sex of a speaker. These 60 items are assigned a relative numerical value and are placed in a hierarchy ranging from those features through those to be strongly masculine or feminine, through those which are somewhat so, to varying degrees, to be the most statistically significant are self-reference and Address Forms, Sentence Particles, and Politeness Levels.