Japanese: 7–10 Sequence / Levels 9 and 10 / Understanding / Language variation and change
Content description
Recognise variations in language use that reflect different social and cultural contexts, purposes and relationships
Elaborations
examining how language choices reflect social relations and priorities, for example, the concept of 内/外、 using ご/お prefixes and plain or polite forms, and using expressions that deflect praise of self or of own family to show modesty, such as 日本語がじょうずですね。いいえ、あんまり。
finding examples of informal forms of language used by young Japanese speakers, such as the use of abbreviations or emoticons when texting and the use of loan words when discussing popular culture, for example, ‘J-rock’, ‘J-pop’, ‘fast food’
noticing differences in text structure and grammar between formal and informal Japanese language use, such as abbreviations, dropping of particles and emphatic intonation in informal communication such as face-to-face interactions, blogs, emails and other forms of correspondence, for example, あした行く？/先生、あした行きますか。、 うん、わかった。/はい、わかりました。、 それは何？/山中さん、それは何ですか。
identifying how variations in language use and communicative behaviours reflect how emotions or attitudes such as respect, gratitude or embarrassment are differently expressed across languages and cultures
comparing features of written and spoken Japanese that reflect different communicative purposes, such as formal grammatical structures in letters compared to conversational markers or interjections to support the flow of face-to-face conversation, for example, hesitation ええと、 えー
comparing verbal and non-verbal elements of communication in different languages and cultural contexts, such as ways of disagreeing or responding to thanks, or the use of gestures, facial expressions or あいづち/silence
