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Aswad -> RE: Language submission (4/28/2007 6:37:00 PM)
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Seems like an interesting approach, and a nice experience. Plus, learning through practical experience is very effective, and the direct feedback could possibly add to that.
Would be more interesting for Japanese than Chinese, though, I think.
I've been thinking a lot about the Japanese language lately. It has some really interesting aspects that can be used in D/s, about which I'll probably make a post when I've got my own thoughts on the matter fully sorted out, as well as a basic comprehension of the language.
What I like about it is, among other things, that it has relative social positions embedded in the language, and even the pronounciation. Men tend to drop the trailing "u" in words that end in that sound, for instance, while it's considered feminine to keep it. Of course, there's a certain male-dom aspect there due to their cultural heritage etc., but I don't see why it couldn't be used the other way around; that's apparently what female managers do, at least. Basically, there are forms ranging from the most casual to the most formal, from the most humble to the most pompously arrogant, and from the gentlest question to the gruffest order; the proper use of these forms are dictated by relative social status, and the degree to which such a status is asserted, or conversely the degree to which a familiarity is permitted, can be regulated on a fairly nuanced scale.
It even has age-related bits in there for those looking for that (e.g. some pronoun forms are only used by children, others only by senior citizens, some only by women, some only by men, etc.)...
Plus, for the people looking to use third person speech to change the way a person thinks about themselves, or the extent to which they focus on themselves vs their Dom or Master, there's the benefit that Japanese is a pro-drop language, which is to say that you can leave out anything that isn't critical. It also has a lot of different forms that make it possible to make this less of a conditioned language pattern on a superficial level (the typical result of third person speech) but rather making it a cognitive pattern on a fairly deep level. An example would be "Should I get you some tea?" (regular) vs "Should this one get you some tea?" (third person rewrite) vs "As for you, could it be that you might find tea pleasing?" (absence of subject). The latter doesn't sound unnatural in their language the way it does in English, by the way.
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