てよ・だわ言葉: ～てよ・だわ・こと・かしら・の（よ）
First appearing in romance novels in the early Meiji Period, a super “girlish” means of talking was beginning to develop among the speech of flippant women who dared to expand their horizons but which soon made its way into the speech of refined women, and individually the speech of “ladies” from good homes.
Although its use in Modern Japan is stereotypical of aristocratic, well-off women, the sentence endings associated with this speech style are still commonly used to create character personae to that effect.
Sentence endings indicative of this style of speech include:
・～てよ △
・～だわ △
・～こと（よ）△
・～かしら
・～の（よ）（ね）
Of these endings, those marked with △ have become rather unnatural in the speech of everyday women, in part due to the role feminism has a played in shaping the use of Japanese speech in the last 100 years.
Be that as it may, it is still worthwhile for us to see how these sentence endings work (or more so “have worked“), as nuancing is always a powerful tool.
～てよ
Described in the simplest terms in Japanese dictionaries as interjecting one’s feelings into a declarative statement, ～てよ is the posterchild is this bygone era of female speech.
It first appeared in Tokyo Dialect speech in the early 1860s from women of the lower classes, but their speech was quickly adopted by influential writers, which then caught on among female students. It was then this newly educated set of speakers which elevated its status to being aristocratic before ultimately following out of use no sooner than it had due to conflicting opinions on the implications such overtly marked speech has towards women.
1. あなたを大分お待ちになっていてよ。
I have been waiting for you for quite some time.
2. ふふっ、よろしくてよ。
Hehe, very well.
3. かまわなくって1よ。
I do not mind.
4. あたくし、ちっとも酔ってなんかいなくてよ。
I’m not even the least bit drunk.
From 『永すぎた春』 by 三島由紀夫.
5. 父上も知って居てよ。
My father also knows.
From 『婦系図』by 泉鏡花.
6. 屹度油っこくってよ。
It’s got to be oily.
From 『ある女』by 有島武郎.
7. 外はまだ暑くってよ。
It’s still very much hot outside.
From 五月鯉 by 巌谷小波.
With question intonation, the final particle て seen in this grammar could also denote a question, but this is perfectly in line with how affirmative sentences may switch to questions by such an intonation change2.
8. あなた、私のいうことがわかって？
Do you understand what I’m saying?
9. でも、この写真のほうがこの人には似ていなくって？
But, doesn’t this photo look more like this person?
～だわ
As is evident from the term てよ・だわ言葉, ～だわ（ね）was used just as ubiquitously, and arguably, its usage has survived quite strongly into Modern Japanese if you know what you are looking at. In doing so, this grammar will be referred to as what it is at its core: the final particle わ.
The Etymology of わ
The final particle わ entered the language as an interjectory particle (間投助詞) via a parallel path that the final particle や took, starting out in grammatically “bound,” fixated positions mid-sentence to highlight doubt, which led to it being used in an exclamatory tone for various effects (marking astonishment, admiration, etc.) at the end of the sentence. Which is to say, the exclamatory わ seen here in female speech ought to be viewed as a sub-use of the final particle わ meant to mark surprise (驚き), exclamation (感動), and/or admiration (詠嘆)3. all of which are functions borne from its shared etymology with the topic marker は.
Meaning, the first female speakers to incorporate わ into the female speech fad of the time would have already exhibited わ as a tone modifier; what made this わ so different was both its high-pitched intonation and its overuse to highlight the femininity of the speaker. To these female speakers, だわ served as the assertive counterpart to the not-so-assertive てよ . Then, when coupled with よ and/or ね as well as after politeness markers (～です・～ます), the bubbly, girlish emotions were further highlighted, which also happens to be a major reflection of how modern speakers remember this speech style overall: cutesy, well-off young lady (お嬢さん), and with just the right tone of voice, the embodiment of a 良妻賢母 (good wife and wise mother).
10. 本当に楽しいわよね。
It sure is fun, isn’t it?
11. 負けませんわよ。
I won’t lose, you know?
Discerning The Gender Role of わ
Putting aside intonation and other aforementioned indicators of feminine speech, tone is the greatest indicator as to whether you are dealing with the gender-neutral わ or the uber-feminine わ. Consider the following:
12. 今から行くのはちょっと嫌だわ。
Eh, I’m just not digging going (there) right this moment.
13a. あのお洋服、ホントに素敵だわ。
13b. あのお洋服、ホントに素敵ですわ。
Those clothes are SO lovely!
In speech, it would be readily apparent that the わ in Ex. 12 has a falling intonation, whereas the わ in Ex. 13. As for the reason why わ is used in either sentence, we see that there is a stark difference. In Ex. 12, わ lessens the declarative tone of the predicate, but in Ex. 13, it does the exact opposite.
Ex. 13b also demonstrates how if any other markedly ‘feminine’ wording is used, the femininity of the sentence increases so much that the gender identity of a male speaker would be put into question.
Another take-away from these examples is the choice in adverbs used to accompany the predicate. Whereas ホントに helps to highlight the exclamatory tone of the sentence along with the feminine わ in 13, ちょっと makes it clear that, although certainly interjecting emotion into the sentence, わ is gender-neutral.
In either case, だ＋わ is not inherently feminine. It is the overly emphatic declarative tone that わ may have which causes it to sound feminine.
The Use of わ in Today’s Speech
As for how widespread the particle わ is in either case, many speakers view its feminine iteration as a dying aspect (死語) of Tokyo Dialect and that the gender-neutral version is more common outside of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area (首都圏). Certainly, in Western Japanese dialects, わ does have a greater range of emotional effects to an utterance, but the particle’s ubiquity since its appearance renders these opinions not so much wrong as they are reflections on how it has been associated with ever-changing personae.
14. 本当に困ったわ。(Gender Neutral)
I’m really in a rut.
15. 行くわよ！(Feminine)
Here I go!
16. あとの事は何れ東京へ出たら、逢った上で話を付けらあ。(Dialectal; Gender-Neutral)
I’ll talk about that once I’ve gone and met (with him).
From『門 』by 夏目漱石.
Contraction Note: The “らあ” seen in Ex. is in fact an example of the final particle わ fusing with the verb-ending morpheme /ru/. This is indicative of many Western Japanese dialects and is not associated with Standard Japanese.
The Pattern 〜わ〜わで
An often overlooked grammar point which stems from わ’s overall ability to mark exclamation, often negative (and out of exasperation) in context, is 〜わ〜わ（で）, in which multiple, bad situations are juxtaposed to indicate just how hard of a time the speaker is having.
As for the presence of で, if the clauses marked by わ are shown as reasons for the speaker’s thought stated in the main predicate, then it may appear. Otherwise, わ is listing off interrelated things in an exclamatory tone.
17. この店はね、味はまずいわ、値段は高いわで、もう二度と来ないわ！
This restaurant, k, the (food) tastes horrible, the prices are high, and so I’ll never come back again!
18. 店の中は汚いわ、店員の態度は悪いわ（で）、もう最悪だね。
The inside of the restaurant is dirty, the attitude of the workers is horrible; it’s just the worst.
19. 熱は出るわ、喉は痛いわ（で）、今度の風邪はひどかったよ。
My last cold was horrible, what with the fever and my throat hurting.
20 . 武史君は大学を卒業しても、働かないわ、家事も手伝わないわで、今後が本間に心配やわ。
Even after graduating college, Takeshi-kun doesn’t work or help out at all with the housework; I really worry about his future.
～こと（よ）
The final particle こと has several iterations, all but one being highly indicative of the stereotypical women’s speech that exemplifies てよ・だわ言葉.
Declarative/Question Sentence Softener
The intent behind using ～こと with declarative statements is to soften the tone, and this can be verified by comparing how the same sentence sounds without it.
21. もう知らないことよ。
I don’t care anymore.
22. おや、珍しい動物がいること（ね）。
Oh, what a rare animal (they) have here.
23. もういいこと！
That’s enough!
When used to create a casual suggestion, while accompanied with negative forms – politer forms being even more feminine – ～こと sounds even more indicative of upper-middle class dames. In modern speech, this particular scenario has almost completely fallen out of use – its elegance betraying it.
24. どこかへお花見に行きませんこと？
How about we go somewhere to look at flowers?
25. タクシーでも拾わないこと？
How about we grab a taxi?
Exclamatory Rhetorical Question
When a question is meant to be rhetorical, the final particle こと sounds quite exclamatory, intended to draw a deep emotional reaction.
26. なんと美しいですこと！
My, how beautiful!
27. 羨ましいこと！
How envious!
Creating a Firm Command
※Gender-Neutral
Used notably by superiors to those of lower status, ～こと may mark a practical yet firm command. In this scenario, the speaker’s tone is resolute. Most notably, ～よ does NOT follow, lest the speaker desires for their tone to be, in fact, feminine.
28. とにかく謝ること！
At any rate, apologize!
29. 借りたお金を返すこと！
Pay back the money I lent you!
～かしら
According to Edition 7 of the 広辞苑, ～かしら is thought to derive from ～か知らぬ – seen also at this time in the form ～かしらん – appearing in the Meiji Period and subsequently being adopted into feminine speech. However, as many popular novels from this same period indicate, male speakers did utilize it.
30. 赤シャツは図太くて誤魔化すつもりか、気が弱くて名乗り損なったのかしら。
Either Redshirt intended to be bold in dodging me, or perhaps he was too timid to state his identity (name) (to me).
Indeed, instances of ～か知らぬ・かしらん used more so like the modern ～かしら to simply indicate doubt had already begun to appear in Japanese since the Edo Period, and at that point, no particular bias toward any certain demographic could be made out.
By the end of the Meiji Period, however, it had become defined as the female alternative to かな, with かな4 also notably being restricted to male speech. In Modern Japan, a gradual erosion of markedly gender-oriented language has begun to shift the perception of ～かしら as only being appropriate for female speakers to use; however, it is still the case that its femininity (女性性) is deemed rather high.
31a. ねえ、入っていいかしら？（Notably Masculine)
31b. ねえ、入っていいかな？ (Gender-Neutral)
Hey, um, would it be alright if I came in?
One situation in which ～かしら appears to becoming gender-neutral for more rapidly is when asking oneself a question (自問) ; however, in retrospect of the examples in which it had once been used by male speakers, this was the primary context in which it was used in.
32. これって本当に大丈夫なのかしら？
Is this really alright, I wonder?
As far as what ～かしら means, it is still completely synonymous with ～かな despite their etymologies still being different.
33. どのくらい雪が積もったかしらね。(Borderline Gender-Neutral)
I wonder how much snow accumulated.
34. （彼は）大丈夫かしら。(Rather Feminine)
I wonder if he’s OK.
35. あの男、誰かしら。(Rather Feminine)
I wonder who that man is.
As is also the case with ～かな, ～かしら may on occasion elicit a request to someone in a casual setting. We see that in Ex. 36, the femininity of the sentence is also increased by the humble verb for “to receive” いただく being used in plain speech, which is indicative of a female speaker.
36. これをいただけるかしら？(Highly Feminine)
Could I have this?
～の（よ）（ね）
Of all the “feminine” sentence endings discussed in this lesson, the final particle の – notably without the copula – persists as a frequently used aspect of speech while also maintaining a high level of femininity5.
The semantic role that ～の plays is the same as its “masculine/gender-neutral” iteration ～のだ, which is to indicate decisiveness and/or implicit reasoning. To further soften the tone, よ and/or ね may follow.
37. やりたくないの！（Kiddish∼Feminine)
I don’t want to do it!
38. 休みなのよ。（Feminine)
I’m on break!
39. ああ、そうだったの？（Mildly Fminine)
Ah, is that so?
40. やはりだめだったのね。（Feminine)
It wasn’t good after all, was it?
41. 強い男は泣かないの。(Feminine)
Strong guys don’t cry.
With a notably elongated, falling intonation, the final particle の is instead indicative of dialectal speech often attributed to older generations.
42. おお、真君か、よく来てくれたのぉ。（Dialectal)
Oh, it’s you Makoto-kun; good of you to come.
As a question, ～の？ is far softer in tone than ～のか, but because の adds that element of reasoning, the semantic necessity to get at “why/what” supersedes gender roles. Although a few decades ago, such questions would still potentially sound childish/girlish for a guy to emanate, this usage in particular has become entirely unisex.
43. 明日来ないの。
You’re not coming tomorrow?
44. 仕事があったんじゃないの？
Didn’t you have work?
45. 宿題（を）忘れたの？
You forgot your homework?
- Although more common in Early Modern Japanese, the geminated form of て – って – could be seen rather interchangeably with its ungeminated form て so long as a consonant is not dropped from the 連用形 of whatever it follows. ↩︎
- For example, 行きます certainly means “(will) go,” but when rendered as 行きます？ with question intonation, it forms the question “will (you) go?” ↩︎
- All of which are functions borne from わ’s shared etymology with the topic marker は. ↩︎
- The masculinity (男性性) of ～かな has all but faded away in Modern Japanese. ↩︎
- As gender dynamics change, the cultural acceptance of any speaker wishing to use this ending to create a softer tone is expected to rise. ↩︎