80425
I'm accustomed to thinking of おまえ, in modern Japanese, as a second-person
pronoun and form of address that is used by men and boys with their inferiors
or equals. But in 『少年と犬』, by 馳星周, there's a forty-year-old female character,
紗英{さえ}, who uses おまえ at least twice in addressing the dog of the title, whom
she and her husband have adopted at this point in the novel. She has given the
dog the name クリント, and she calls him that sometimes, too, but on page 139 she
rhetorically asks the dog

> 「おまえは本当にどこから来たの？」

Then on page 141, after the dog's calming presence has helped her keep her
cool while speaking with an angry and unreasonable customer on the phone, she
says:

> 「ありがとう。おまえがいなかったら怒鳴り返しちゃったかも。」

I'm wondering whether it's common for women and girls to address dogs and
other animals as おまえ. If so, are there other contexts in which they might be
likely to use おまえ? And if not, does this character's use of おまえ reflect some
regional usage (she lives outside 富山市), or is it perhaps meant to convey
something about her personality? So far, it's clear that she's a very capable,
hardworking person who is unhappily married to a feckless and self-centered
man, but we don't know much about her beyond that. (She hasn't had occasion to
wear makeup in a long time and isn't stereotypically "feminine" in dress or
affect, but that's more the result of her circumstances than anything else,
and she doesn't seem particularly "masculine" either. Nor does she seem to be
eccentric, in her speech or in any other way.)

I did look up おまえ in 大辞林, and the relevant part of the entry there (多く男性が用いる)
does seem to leave plenty of room for use by women. However, it doesn't say
anything about when such exceptions to the general rule occur, or what they
might mean. My efforts to find an answer here on JLSE and elsewhere on the web
have also proved fruitless.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-30T22:21:14.607
80409
2020-08-31T17:07:08.953
33934
question
words usage pronouns gender second-person-pronouns
What's the significance of this female character's use of おまえ?
The Japanese pronoun choice is quite context-dependent, but I can confidently
pinpoint that this おまえ is "a way to address a junior family member". In this
sense, it has no particularly masculine or feminine connotation, and is rather
regarded as a conservative (or old-fashioned) usage in the present day (the
younger generation is less likely to use in this way).

As you may know, so-called gendered speech in Japanese is not as fixed as the
"grammatical gender" but more a product of "gender" in sociological terms,
that a man or woman should talk or behave in such-and-such manners, which of
course floats with times. Generally, at least in my generation, many women do
use おまえ in friendly circles, as it represents an unreserved and familiar
attitude (regardless to gender on this point).
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-31T17:07:08.953
80425
2020-08-31T17:07:08.953
7810
80409
answer