Japanese honorifics

The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people. These honorifics attach to the end of people's names, as in Aman-san where the honorific -san was attached to the name Aman. These honorifics are often gender-neutral, but some imply a more feminine context (such as -chan) while others imply a more masculine one (such as -kun).

These honorifics are often used along with other forms of Japanese honorific speech, keigo, such as that used in conjugating verbs.

Usage

Although honorifics are not part of the basic grammar of the Japanese language, they are a fundamental part of the sociolinguistics of Japanese, and proper use is essential to proficient and appropriate speech. Significantly, referring to oneself using an honorific, or dropping an honorific when it is required, is a serious faux pas, in either case coming across as clumsy or arrogant.

They can be applied to either the first or last name depending on which is given. In situations where both the first and last names are spoken, the suffix is attached to whichever comes last in the word order.

Shi (surname)

Shi ([ʂɨ])) is the romanization of several Chinese surnames, including 石, 史, 師, 時, 士, and 施. Several of these are common Chinese surnames. Five other variations are listed as variations in the Hundred Family Surnames - 張 唐 傅 崔 師 - but these are written in traditional Chinese, a character set no longer used in mainland China. As with other family names in Asian cultures, the surname is written before the given name.

士

Shì in Pinyin.

石

Shí in Pinyin.

Shi (poetry)

Shi and shih are romanizations of the character 詩 or 诗, the Chinese word for all poetry generally and across all languages.

In Western analysis of the styles of Chinese poetry, shi is also used as a term of art for a specific poetic tradition, modeled after the Old Chinese works collected in the Confucian Classic of Poetry. This anthology included both aristocratic poems (the "Hymns" and "Eulogies") and more rustic works believed to have derived from Huaxia folk songs (the "Odes"). They are composed in ancient Chinese, mostly in four-character lines. In such analysis, "shi" poetry is contrasted with other forms such as the Chu-derived "ci" and the Han-era "fu". This use is not common within Chinese literature, however, which instead classifies these poems into other categories such as "classical Chinese poetry", "Field and Garden" poetry, and "curtailed" poetry.

Forms

Gushi

Gushi, literally "Ancient Poetry", may be used in either of two senses. It may be used broadly to refer to the ancient poetry of China, chiefly the mostly anonymous works collected in the Confucian Classic of Poetry, the separate tradition exemplified by Qu Yuan and Song Yu's Songs of Chu, and the works collected by the Han "Music Bureau".

Persona

A persona (plural personae or personas), in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον (prosōpon). Its meaning in the latter Roman period changed to indicate a "character" of a theatrical performance or court of law, when it became apparent that different individuals could assume the same role, and legal attributes such as rights, powers, and duties followed the role. The same individuals as actors could play different roles, each with its own legal attributes, sometimes even in the same court appearance. According to other sources, which also admit that the origin of the term is not completely clear, persona could possibly be related to the Latin verb per-sonare, literally: sounding through, with an obvious link to the above-mentioned theatrical mask.

Persona (psychology)

The persona, for Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, was the social face the individual presented to the world—"a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual".

Jung’s persona

Identification

The development of a viable social persona is a vital part of adapting to, and preparing for, adult life in the external social world. “A strong ego relates to the outside world through a flexible persona; identification with a specific persona (doctor, scholar, artist, etc.) inhibits psychological development. Thus for Jung “the danger is that [people] become identical with their personas—the professor with his textbook, the tenor with his voice.” The result could be “the shallow, brittle, conformist kind of personality which is 'all persona', with its excessive concern for 'what people think'”—an unreflecting state of mind 'in which people are utterly unconscious of any distinction between themselves and the world in which they live. They have little or no concept of themselves as beings distinct from what society expects of them'. The stage was set thereby for what Jung termed enantiodromia—the emergence of the repressed individuality from beneath the persona later in life: 'the individual will either be completely smothered under an empty persona or an enantiodromia into the buried opposites will occur'.

Revelations: Persona

Revelations: Persona, released in Japan as Megami Ibunroku Persona (Japanese: 女神異聞録ペルソナ, lit. "Goddess' Odyssey: Persona"), is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus. It is the first entry in the Persona series, itself a subseries of the Megami Tensei franchise, and the first role-playing entry in the series to be released in the west. Originally released for the PlayStation in 1996 in Japan and North America, the title was ported to Microsoft Windows in 1999. A port to the PlayStation Portable retitled Shin Megami Tensei: Persona was released in 2009 in North America and Japan, and 2010 in Europe. This port featured new cutscenes and a redone localization.

The story focuses on a group of high school students as they are confronted by a series of supernatural incidents. After playing a fortune-telling game, the group each gain the ability to summon Personas, the multiple selves within them. Using this power under the guidance of Philemon, a benevolent being representing humanity's subconscious, the group face off against multiple forces that threaten the world. Gameplay revolves around the characters navigating environments around their town and fighting enemies using their Personas. During the course of the game, the player can create new Personae for battle using spell cards gained in battle or by talking with enemies.