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This is my analysis of な vs. ね in Japanese colloquial speech. Its a bit stuffy, but I encourage those with an interest in 日本語 to check it out. This will mostly likely be the last major paper I write as a student.

Train hard.

Though there is a significant amount of research in regards to sentence final particles and their role in Japanese, there is a noticeable lack of information surrounding the informal particle な. The purpose of this paper is to expose the role of な in Japanese, especially in comparison to sentence final particle ね. This will be done through comparing documented research on the particles ね and な with their occurrence in several native speaker dialogues. In his paper, な refers explicitly to the sentence final particle. Thus, it should not be confused with the various other functions of な, particularly the negative command form, V(Plain)+な, or the な adjective.

Todd and Erika Geers (1988) indicate な as the male equivalent to the sentence final particle ね, as expressed through several clear examples. Geers (p. 18) translates the English phrase, ‘That’s right!’ as そうだね, usable by both males and females. そうだな, on the other hand, is a form, according to Geers, usable only by males. Another straightforward example of this phenomenon is found in a translation of the English, ‘Maybe.’ Geers (p. 20) again indicates たぶんね as a gender free phrase, while たぶんな is markedly male. These phrases are significant because the only distinction that keeps them from being identical is the sentence final particle. That is to say, it is specifically な that makes the phrase markedly masculine. A particularly interesting phenomenon occurs in the translation of the English phrase, ‘That was good.’ While ね is often thought to be gender free, in the instance of 良かったね, The phrase becomes markedly female, in contrast to the male counterpart, 良かったな (Geers, page 23). Similarily, ‘Definitely!’ is be translated as 本当にそうよね, a marked female form, while 本当にそうだよな is another, according to Geers (p. 19), male form. Constantine affirms the use of な as a masculine sentence final particle with several implicit examples, such as: 俺 は てっきり あの ちいんちぇんでは この辺 のこと知ってると思ったんだがなあ (Constantine, 1994, p. 22). 俺, in this example, makes it clear this is a phrase used by males. In his 1992 work, Constantine provides a definition of な in relation to ね. な and なー are “the rough and masculine sounding version of ね and ねー” (Constantine, 1992, p. xxi). Thus, based on the research presented, な is defined as the masculine equivalent to the female particle ね.

Using this definition, the functionality and conditions for using な will now be analyzed through direct analysis of particle ね. Lee’s 2007 study explores the use of ね and よ in Japanese as tools of involvement. His abstract states, “the particles commonly share the function of signaling the speaker’s attitude in order to invite the involvement of the conversation partner” (p. 363). To be specific, Lee explains, “ね invites the partner’s involvement in an ‘incorporative’ manner, by which the speaker is committed to align with the partner with respect to the contents and feeling conveyed in the utterance” (p. 363). Therefore, な can be explained as male only instance of the sentence final particle ね; な is a tool by which male speakers encourage the partner’s participation in an incorporative way. In terms of conditions, Lee explains ね in the following manner:

“Provided that ね indicates the speaker’s attitude of inviting the involvement of the other party, the use of the particle is crucial if the following two conditions are fulfilled: (i) The main concern of the speaker is to align himself with the partner in respect to the utterance contents. (ii) The speaker assumes that the partner will also fully understand the content and feeling of the utterance. Condition (i) is essential; if this condition is met, while condition (ii) is not satisfied, the use of ne is optional” (Lee, 2007, p. 373).

Using Constantine’s 1992 definition of な as a masculine version of ね, Lee’s conditions for ね are thus also applicable to な, albeit restricted to use only by men.

The use of な will now be analyzed through several native speaker conversations, as transcribed by Ohta’s 2009 Japanese 443 class. In my analysis of the conversation ‘Keitai1.mov,’ (CALPER, 2009) な is used in the following way: 41: T: a mata meeru ga kichatta hayai na henshin. T, in an unmarked, spontaneous utterance, reflects on the speed of which his message was replied. It should be noted that な here is also used as defined by Lee (2007), as T is seemingly inviting group involvement. This is clear, as T’s mention of the reply is a direct extension of his earlier statement: 22: T: ara meeru ga kichatta. T’s use of Ara, in addition to his leaning towards the group and raising of his cell phone, appears to be a means of getting the group’s attention. T seemingly wants to create humor, which he succeeds in doing, by making a satirical joke commenting on the use of cell phones, while the group discusses cell phones. Subsequently, な, as used in 41, can be interpreted as T’s way of attempting to prolong the joke and encouraging group involvement and laughter, as he smiles and jokes about the speed of the reply. Another interesting example comes in line 57: T: ma daichi tegami toka kakane mon na, 60: S: zettai kakane ne, and 61:T: kakane yo //na. T’s use of な elicits S’s aligned response in line 60 and thus supports Lee’s (2007) theory of involvement. Furthermore, this is a prime example of Geer’s (1994) classification of な as a sentence final particle that makes the phrase distinctly masculine. Though S, in line 60, also applies the ね ending to her verb 書く, she distinctly produces the ね sentence-ending particle to finish her phrase. T, on the other hand, uses な in both instances. The phrases are nearly identical except for the use of な vs ね. This supports the evidence noted earlier; な is essentially adding a masculine tone to the ね particle; their functionality is indistinguishable.

In Javier’s analysis of ‘GiftA.mov,’ (CALPER, 2009) there are two examples of な being used in alignment with conditions listed above. The first example comes in line 45: K: [giri choko tte no wa na:[: (uttered by male speaker), and again in line 112: K: [nodoame de howaito dei tte sugoi na (same speaker). However, also in Javier’s analysis is an example of a female using な, as shown in line 108 and 109: Y: a zutto mattetan dakedo nodoame demo ii no ni na::[ to omottetan dakedo ((while smiling and making a cute, joking gesture with her hands)). This is the only point in this dialogue, or any of the dialogues for that matter, that な is used by a female speaker as a sentence final particle. It is important to note Y uses ね throughout the rest of the dialogue, for example in lines 22 : Y: [giri choko to ka sa ne, 44: Y: un:: giri choko [ne:!, and 46 [kaisugi da yo ne:.

Is Y’s use of な an exception? Before analyzing this instance of な、it is necessary to review Cook’s 1996 report on the spontaneous and disciplined modes of self. Cook explains the existence of two self-speech modes. Spontaneous speech is unmarked, natural, and typically expressed through the plain form Japanese (Cook, 1996). The disciplined form is marked, controlled, and usually expressed with the です／ます form (Cook, 1996). Though this instance of な does not perfectly coincide with Cook’s explanation of disciplined speech corresponding to the です／ます form, the articulation and context of lines 108 and 109, in addition to the physical gestures, suggest な in this instance is a marked, non-spontaneous speech act.

Y’s utterance: 108: a zutto mattetan dakedo nodoame demo ii no ni na::[ to omottetan dakedo, translates to ‘Though I waited forever, I would have been happy with just cough drops!’ which is said in response to her male counterpart’s utterance: 106: K: wasurechatta ((grins)), translated as, “Oops, I forgot to give you something.” Apparently, K has forgotten to return Y’s chocolate, or he simply did not prioritize it as something important or necessary, as is amplified by his grin. Y’s comment, ‘I would have been happy with just cough drops!’ in addition to a smile and cute hand gesture, creates a markedly humorous atmosphere that seems to indicate her lack of any actual anger or disappointment. The statement thus comes across as a joke, as most women would certainly be disappointed in receiving such a gift on White Day. K’s spontaneous laughter in line 110 further supports Y’s statement as being a blatant joke. な, thus, can also be interpreted as part of the joke, making it an explicitly marked form. That is to say, had Y truly been angry at K for not giving anything to her on valentines day, it is likely she would have not made a joke about cough drops, or utilized the particle な. It is then な itself that makes it more obvious her statement is, in fact, a joke. This is Y’s only use of な in the dialogue, and stands out against her unmarked, frequent use of ね, providing further evidence of な as a marked form in line 109.

From the information available, there was only one instance of a woman using the な sentence final particle. In this case, な came in the form of a joke and appears to be a marked statement. Thus, though there may be instances of woman using な as a sentence final particle that exist outside the data of this paper, based on the dialogues available, な coincides with the previous research presented. That is, な is a sentence final particle usable by men in natural, unmarked statements to encourage partner involvement. The CALPER dialogues used in Ohta’s 2009 Japan 443 class support this information.

References
CALPER’s Learning through Listening Japanese Materials Bank (2009). Available from CALPER’s Learning through Listening website: http://calper.la.psu.edu/learningthroughlistening/index.php
Cook, H. M. (1996) Japanese Language Socialization: Indexing the Modes of Self. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Constantine, P. (1994) Japanese Slang Uncensored. Tokyo: Yenbooks.
Constantine, P. (1992) Japanese Street Slang. New York: Tengu Books.
Geers, E., Geers T. (1988) Making out in Japanese. Tokyo: Yenbooks.
Lee, D.Y. (2006) Involvement and the Japanese particles ne and yo. Journal of Pragmatics, 39, 363-388.
Yonekawa, A. (1992) Beyond Polite Japanese. Tokyo: Kondansha International.