| | Japanese language and history by ALS International (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30) |
 | | Among these languages, Korean is most frequently compared to Japanese, as both languages share significant key features such as general structure, vowel harmony, lack of conjunctions, and the extensive use of honorific speech, in which the hierarchical rank of the listener heavily affects the discourse. |
 | | Japanese also shares considerable similarities with the languages of the Ryukyu Islands, within which Okinawa is located, although the Ryukyu languages and Japanese are also mutually unintelligible. |
 | | Another influence of current note is the generation gap that exists relative to Japanese language use-today's younger generation is tending to favor the utilization of more neutral and informal speech, ignoring the importance of the role of honorific and gender-specific speech regarded important in traditional Japanese. |
| www.alsintl.com /languages/japanese.htm (1590 words) |