UNAIR NEWS To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japanese Language Study Program, the Faculty of Humanities (FIB) at (UNAIR) organized a guest lecture titled Characteristics of the Japanese Language on Thursday, March 5, 2026. The event featured Tatang Hariri, M.A., Ph.D., a lecturer and Japanese linguistics expert from Universitas Gadjah Mada.
The event was attended by students of the Japanese Language and Literature Study Program as well as lecturers interested in studies related to linguistics, Japanese culture, and language. In his presentation, Tatang Hariri explained that the Japanese language has unique characteristics in terms of pronunciation, its implementation in daily life, and its intonation patterns. He also emphasized that Japanese has distinctive characteristics that differ greatly from other languages, particularly Indonesian. According to him, understanding the uniqueness of the Japanese language is important not only for students and researchers but also for those interested in Japanese culture and society.
Differences between Japanese and other languages
In the first session, Tatang Hariri discussed several fundamental differences between Japanese and other languages. Unlike many languages that have various stylistic variations, Japanese is broadly divided into two language styles: Kokugo (Goku) and Nihongo (Goku). These two styles exist in different contexts. Kokugo (Goku) refers to Japanese as the national language of Japan, while Nihongo (Goku) refers to the Japanese language as learned and used in an international context.
Unlike other languages, particularly Indonesian, which has many variations such as Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, and other accents, Japanese places stronger emphasis on intonation, context, and pronunciation. Tatang Hariri explained that even a slight difference in intonation can change the meaning of a sentence.淚f the intonation changes, the meaning changes as well, he said. This aspect makes Japanese a language with unique characteristics, especially in terms of pronunciation and contextual word usage.
Japanese linguistics
In the second session, Tatang Hariri explained the linguistic aspects of the Japanese language in detail. He stated that Japanese generally has five main characteristics. These include being largely monolingual, functioning as an agglutinative language, using conjugation, and having distinct language usage between men and women. Japanese also has grammatical structures that distinguish between non-formal and formal or polite language. From the phonological perspective, Japanese has five basic vowels namely a, i, u, e, and o, as well as consonants that form words and sentences. The language also emphasizes sound particles within words. These include features such as long vowel sounds and words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings.
Through this guest lecture, students are expected to broaden their knowledge of Japanese linguistics while gaining a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics that distinguish the language from others.
Author: Nikita Aulia
Editor: Ragil Kukuh Imanto
