Aimai

To all english speakers.

Why is it that we feel the constant need to use subjects when we talk?

Example,
In Japanese you would say
みます　mimas - for 'I see'. You would also say みます for he sees, they see, we see, you see. The context would tell you enough to make it clear who the subject of the sentence was. For example if I'm talking to you and ask 'future what do?", it would almost definately mean what are you doing in the future? So why the need to put 'you' in at all? In fact, in japanese it's almost seen as a bit rude to keep using subjects - particuarly if you're talking about yourself - slightly too self indulgent and obsessed. I don't even know what the words for he or she are in Japanese. In Spanish the conjugation of the verb will tell you who the subject of the sentence is (veo (i see),ves(you see),ven(they see))- but in english not only do we conjugate we also insist upon inserting subjects constantly.

Sayaka (my flatmate) has been complaining to me about it. And all I could think was that in english our aim is to make the sense or the meaning of the sentence impossible to misunderstand. Good communication is seen as ensuring that there is absolutely no doubt of what we mean.

In Japanese ambiguity plagues not just the language but the culture in general. Aimai is the word for ambiguity in japanese. In "The Japanese Mind" they write of japanese communication,

"Ambiguity is..indispensible for maintaining harmony in Japanese life, where it has the quality of compromise. The Japanese carefully weigh the atmosphere that they share with others. people learn to become aware of one another's thinking and feelings instinctively, which is required in order to know who is taking the initiative. Ambiguitity protects people in this sense and is regarded as socially positive because it is a kind of lubricant in communication"

As Morimoto also writes,

"To express oneslf distinctly carries the assumption that one's partner knows nothing, so clear expression can be considered impolite".

But I dislike feeling as though I am judging japanese without looking at my own cultural baggage. Why shouldn't the japanese style of language and culture actually make more sense? Maybe there's some other explanation that focuses not on pointing out japanese ambiguity, but on the english speaking world's obsession with clarity. So, if any of you aspiring linguistics students know of why english continually points out who the subject of a sentence is then I'm sure Sayaka would greatly appreciate an explanantion, and I'll pass it on to her.