Expressive Japanese: A Reference Guide for Sharing Emotion and Empathy

Feelings play an enormous part in our lives, but their expression is often neglected in foreign language education. How do I communicate happiness, surprise, or anger? How do others communicate these emotions to me? Such questions become increasingly relevant as we become more competent in the language we are learning. Expressive Japanese is the first detailed guide to emotion words and expressive strategies for students of the language. Words connoting feelings, such as "kanashii" (sad), are important in everyday Japanese conversation, but communicating emotions effectively also requires the use of expressive strategies, such as "Nani?" (What the heck?), "Yattaa!" (I did it!), or "Hottoite!" (Leave me alone!).

Introductory chapters examine the characteristics, constraints, and history of expressive Japanese and discuss linguistic variations and styles and how these play a part in conveying emotion and empathy. There follow more than seventy entries that draw on hundreds of authentic examples taken from a variety of sources, including television dramas, comics, interviews, novels, essays, newspaper articles, and web sites. In these examples, students will find playful and creative uses of expressions that do not usually appear in language textbooks. English cues and key Japanese expressions are indexed at the back of the volume, making this a handy reference for anyone who possesses a grasp of the fundamentals of elementary Japanese.

Based on extensive research by a prominent linguist and teacher, Expressive Japanese brings learners into the world of real human interaction and effectively illustrates how native speakers use language to convey identity and a sense of self as well as to communicate feelings and emotion.

Senko K. Maynard is professor of Japanese language and linguistics at Rutgers University.