map-male-japanese-first-person-pronouns-gaj-relative.png

Description

A map showing the usage of different first person pronouns by men through various regions of Japan, in various "situations," bamen 場面. The label O-bamen, A-bamen, and B-bamen refer to when talking to one's friends, without politeness, to random people, with minimum politeness, and to one's superiors, with added politeness. The study is a bit old: the results were collected from men born in 1891–1931. Noteworthy is that in northern regions ore 俺 is used even in respectful contexts, and that uchi ウチ, which is typically considered feminine, is used by men in some regions.