title: Ben Shapiro

text: He has stated he does not feel same-sex marriage should be taught to students in schools, saying, "In California, they've already passed laws that you have to teach same-sex marriage in public schools, for example... I went to public school for elementary school and junior high, I don't know why the government is teaching me anything about this stuff. This is for my parents to teach me. This is a values thing." He also states, "I'm very much anti gay-marriage in the social sense. As a religious person, I think homosexuality is a sin, I think that lots of things are sins that people engage in, I think they should be free to engage in them." In 2014, Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center disputed Shapiro's assertion that the United States "is not a country that discriminates against homosexuals" and that "there is a vastly minute amount of discrimination against gays in this country."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro believes transgender people suffer from mental illness. He has commented, "You can't magically change your gender. You can't magically change your sex," and has compared such changes to the notion of changing one's age. Shapiro also opposes same-sex couples raising children.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In July 2015, Shapiro and transgender rights activist Zoey Tur were on "Dr. Drew On Call" to discuss Caitlyn Jenner's receipt of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. After Shapiro referred to Tur, who is a trans woman, as "sir" and questioned her genetics, she placed her hand on the back of his neck and threatened on air to send him "home in an ambulance". Shapiro replied, "That seems mildly inappropriate for a political discussion." Later, Shapiro filed a police report charging Tur with battery and stated that he intended to press charges to teach the left a lesson. Tur said the report was Shapiro's attempt to keep the story in the news.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In 2019, in response to 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke calling for the removal of the tax-exempt status of religious institutions opposed to same-sex marriage, Shapiro said that if O'Rourke was going to try to "indoctrinate" his children in religious schools, Shapiro would be forced to either "leave the country" or "pick up a gun."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In the spring of 2016, Shapiro wrote an article for the "Daily Wire" in which he exclaimed that he "will never vote for Donald Trump". Shapiro supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential election and opposed Donald Trump's candidacy. In August 2016, Shapiro wrote an article for the Daily Wire suggesting that Trump, if elected, would not appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court. He called Steve Bannon a "bully" who "sold out Breitbart founder Andrew Breitbart's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump." Shapiro defended Bannon when he was accused of antisemitism. Shapiro has suggested that the election of Trump was more a vote against Hillary Clinton than a vote in favor of Trump.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: During his presidency Shapiro supported the Trump administration ordering the killing of Qasem Soleimani, recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel, the nominations of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Shapiro also supported Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, cutting regulations, and his nomination of 12 appellate court judges. However, Shapiro opposed and criticized Trump for firing James Comey, his appointments of Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon, and endorsing Roy Moore.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: On October 19, 2020, Shapiro announced that he would be voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election: "There are three reasons I'm going to vote for Donald Trump in 2020 when I didn't four years ago: First, I was simply wrong about Donald Trump on policy. Second, I wasn't really wrong about Donald Trump on character, but whatever damage he was going to do has already been done, and it's not going to help if I don't vote for him this time. And third, and most importantly: The Democrats have lost their fucking minds." He rebuked Trump on election night, November 3, 2020, when Trump prematurely claimed himself the winner when neither he nor his opponent Joe Biden had yet reached the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. He tweeted: "No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has." Shapiro denounced the false claim that Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. He criticized the January 6 Capitol attack whilst also criticizing the Democratic Party.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: He has acknowledged that African-Americans were historically victims of injustice in the United States, but does not believe in the existence of widespread systemic injustice today. In 2017, Shapiro stated that "the idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; that's just not true." Shapiro has dismissed the idea that the United States was founded on slavery and argued that America was founded in spite of slavery.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro is critical of Black Lives Matter and has argued that "the Black Lives Matter movement did indeed begin with protests about police brutality but quickly morphed into broader debates over the validity of looting and rioting, tearing down historic statues, slavery reparations and defunding the police."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro was one of several conservative commentators condemning Representative Steve King (R-IA) after King's January 2019 comments in defense of the terms "white supremacy" and "white nationalism". Shapiro called for King to be censured, and supported King's 2020 primary challenger Randy Feenstra.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro practices Orthodox Judaism, which informs his ideological positions. In a 2011 tweet, Shapiro claimed that Judaism is plagued by "Bad Jews" who "largely vote Democrat". The same year, he wrote an article titled "Jews in Name Only" in which he claimed "Jews who vote for Obama are, by and large, Jews In Name Only (JINOs)" and that such Jews "do not care about Israel" or that they "care about it less than abortion, gay marriage and global warming". During the 2016 presidential election, he wrote an article titled "No, It Doesn't Matter That Bernie Sanders Is Ethnically Jewish. He's a Jew In Name Only."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In a 2014, YouTube video entitled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority", Shapiro said, "We're above 800 million Muslims who are radicalized – more than half the Muslims on earth. That's not a minority... the myth of the tiny radical Muslim minority is just that: it's a myth". Fact-checks by PolitiFact and "Channel 4 News" in the UK rejected his methodology largely on the basis that support for Sharia law being made the official law of a nation state was not sufficient to label an individual a "radical Muslim.", while adding that "The meaning of Sharia law varies from sect to sect and nation to nation." "Channel 4 News" also critiqued his usage of polls with sample sizes of a few thousand as an accurate representation of the views of tens of millions of Muslims. PolitiFact concluded that his claim was false. While "Channel 4 News" acknowledged "that some polls do show that very illiberal values and concepts can be prevalent in some Muslim countries.", there is also "a huge diversity of views among different Muslim countries and that people's beliefs can change dramatically in a few years."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In 2018, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) document presented at the sentencing hearing of Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette showed that the murderer checked in on Shapiro's Twitter feed 93 times in the month leading up to the shooting. Shapiro condemned the attack and called Bissonnette an "evil piece of human crap".


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In October 2022, Shapiro condemned Kanye West's antisemitic comments, comparing them to propaganda in Nazi Germany. He also called West "unstable."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In 2006, Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated. He cited speeches critical of the George W. Bush administration by Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry and Howard Dean as "disloyal" and seditious. Shapiro subsequently retracted these views in a 2018 column, stating that his 2006 column "absolutely blows. It's garbage" and adding that the idea of sedition laws was "inherently idiotic". Shapiro later described President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address as "philosophically fascist."


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro has called for lowering taxes on the very wealthy. He has also backed privatizing Social Security and repealing the Affordable Care Act. In August 2022, Shapiro argued that "Marxism can't work in America," saying this was because of "high levels of societal income mobility".


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In 2008, Shapiro married Mor Toledano, an Israeli medical doctor of Moroccan descent, and they lived in Los Angeles. The couple has two daughters and a son. They practice Orthodox Judaism.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In 2019, the FBI arrested a man from Washington for making death threats against Shapiro and his family.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: In September 2020, Shapiro announced that he and his family were moving out of California. Shapiro relocated the headquarters of his "Daily Wire" enterprise to Nashville, Tennessee, but he resettled in South Florida.


title: Ben Shapiro

text: Shapiro's sister, Abigail Shapiro, who studied operatic singing, is a conservative female media influencer who posts videos on her YouTube channel "Classically Abby". She has been subjected to online antisemitic trolling due to her brother's high public profile. Ben Shapiro is a cousin of writer and actress Mara Wilson, though the two are not on speaking terms due to their conflicting political views.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series "Saturday Night Live" (1982–1985), "Seinfeld" (1989–1998), "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2006–2010), and "Veep" (2012–2019). She is one of the most award-winning actresses in American television history, having received more Primetime Emmy Awards and more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other performer, tying Cloris Leachman (with eight) for the most acting wins.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus broke into comedy as a performer in The Practical Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, which led to her casting in the sketch show "Saturday Night Live" from 1982 to 1985. Her breakthrough came in 1990 with a nine-season run playing Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld", one of the most critically and commercially successful sitcoms of all time. Her other television roles include Christine Campbell in "The New Adventures of Old Christine", which had a five-season run on CBS; and Selina Meyer in "Veep", which ran for seven seasons on HBO. Her film roles include "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989), "Deconstructing Harry" (1997), and "Enough Said" (2013). She has also performed voice roles in the animated films "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Planes" (2013), and "Onward" (2020), and has played Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2021.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus has received eleven Emmy Awards, eight for acting and three for producing, in addition to a Golden Globe Award, nine Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five American Comedy Awards. Louis-Dreyfus received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2016, "Time" named Louis-Dreyfus as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2018, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, presented by the Kennedy Center as America's highest comedy honor.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus was born in New York City on January 13, 1961. Her American-born mother, Judith (née LeFever), was a writer and special needs tutor, and her French-born father, Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, chaired the Louis Dreyfus Company. Her paternal grandfather, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, was president of the Louis Dreyfus Group; he was a member of a Jewish family from Alsace and served as a cavalry officer and member of the French Resistance during World War II. She is also a great-great-granddaughter of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, who in 1851 founded the Louis Dreyfus Group, a French commodities and shipping conglomerate, which members of her family still control; and is related to Alfred Dreyfus of the infamous Dreyfus affair.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 1962, one year after Louis-Dreyfus's birth, her parents divorced. After moving to Washington, D.C., when Julia was four, her mother married L. Thompson Bowles, dean of the George Washington University Medical School; Louis-Dreyfus gained a half-sister Lauren Bowles, also an actress. Due to her stepfather's work with Project HOPE, Louis-Dreyfus spent her childhood in several states and countries, including Colombia, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia. She graduated from the all-girls Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1979. She later said, "There were things I did in school that, had there been boys in the classroom, I would have been less motivated to do. For instance, I was president of the honor society."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. She studied theatre and performed in the Mee-Ow Show, a student-run improv and sketch comedy revue, before dropping out during her junior year to take a job at "Saturday Night Live". In 2007, she received an honorary doctor of arts degree from Northwestern University.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: As part of her comedic training, Louis-Dreyfus appeared in The Second City, one of Chicago's best-known improvisational theatre groups. It was her performance with The Practical Theatre Company at their "Golden 50th Anniversary Jubilee" that led to her being asked to join the cast of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" at the age of 21.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus subsequently became a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" from 1982 to 1985, the youngest female cast member in the history of the program at that time. During her time on "SNL", she appeared alongside several actors who later rose to prominence, such as Eddie Murphy, Jim Belushi, Billy Crystal, and Martin Short. It was during her third and final year on "SNL" that she met writer Larry David during his only year on the show. David later co-created "Seinfeld". Louis-Dreyfus has commented that her casting on "SNL" was a "Cinderella-getting-to-go-to-the-ball kind of experience"; however, she has also admitted that at times it was often quite tense, stating that she "didn't know how to navigate the waters of show business in general and specifically doing a live sketch-comedy show".


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Following her 1985 departure from "SNL", Louis-Dreyfus appeared in several films, including Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), "Soul Man" (1986), and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989), in which she starred alongside fellow "SNL" alumnus Chevy Chase. In 1987, Louis-Dreyfus appeared in the NBC sitcom pilot "The Art of Being Nick", an intended spin-off from "Family Ties" starring Scott Valentine. When the pilot did not make it to series, Louis-Dreyfus was retained by producer Gary David Goldberg for a role on his new sitcom "Day by Day", as the sarcastic and materialistic neighbor, Eileen Swift. Premiering in early 1988, "Day by Day" aired for two seasons on NBC before being cancelled.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In the early 1990s, Louis-Dreyfus became famous for the role of Elaine Benes on NBC's "Seinfeld". She played the role for nine seasons, appearing in all but three episodes. One of the episodes that she did not appear in was the pilot episode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles", because her character was not initially intended to be a part of the series. It was only after the first episode that NBC executives felt the show was too male-centric and demanded that creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld add a woman to the cast. It was revealed in the commentary on the DVD package that the addition of a female character was the condition for commissioning the show. Louis-Dreyfus won the role over several other actresses who also eventually enjoyed TV success, including Patricia Heaton and Megan Mullally.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: On the "Notes About Nothing" featurette on the DVD package, Seinfeld says that Louis-Dreyfus's ability to eat a peanut M&M without breaking the peanut aptly describes the actress: "She cracks you up without breaking your nuts."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus garnered critical acclaim for her performance on the series, and she was a regular winner and nominee at television award shows throughout the 1990s. Her performance earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations, winning once in 1994, nine Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning one in 1995 and two in both 1997 and 1998, and seven American Comedy Awards, winning five times in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998. In 1996, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, an award she was nominated for on seven occasions from 1992 to 1998. After receiving the award, Louis-Dreyfus claimed the win was a "shocker", and that after being in both positions, it was "much better to win than to lose."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 1998, Jerry Seinfeld decided to end the series after nine seasons. The series finale aired on May 14 and was one of the most-watched TV events in history, with over 76 million viewers tuning in.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: During her time on "Seinfeld," she appeared in several films, including "Fathers' Day", opposite Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, and Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry".


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Following a voice role in the highly successful Pixar film "A Bug's Life", Louis-Dreyfus lent her voice as Snake's girlfriend Gloria in "The Simpsons" episode "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love". In 2001, she made several special guest appearances on "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David's show "Curb Your Enthusiasm", playing herself fictionally trying to break the "curse" by planning to star in a show in which she would play an actress affected by a "Seinfeld"-like curse.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: After several years away from a regular TV job, Louis-Dreyfus began a new single-camera sitcom, "Watching Ellie", which premiered on NBC in February 2002. The series was created by husband Brad Hall and co-starred Steve Carell and Louis-Dreyfus's half-sister Lauren Bowles. The initial premise of the show was to present viewers with a "slice of life" from the goings-on and happenings of the life of Ellie Riggs, a Southern California jazz singer. The first season included a 22-minute countdown kept digitally in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, which many critics panned, claiming it was useless and "did nothing for the show." Overall, the show received mixed reviews but debuted strongly with over 16 million viewers tuning in for the series premiere, and maintained an average audience of about 10 million viewers per week.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: When the series returned for a second season in the spring of 2003, it suffered a decline in viewership, averaging around eight million viewers per week. The show had undergone a drastic stylistic change between the production of seasons one and two. The first season was filmed in the single-camera format, but the second season was presented as a traditional multicamera sitcom filmed in front of a live studio audience. With dwindling viewership and failing to retain the numbers from its "Frasier" lead-in, the series was cancelled by NBC in May 2003.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Following NBC's cancellation of "Watching Ellie", the media began circulating rumors of a so-called "Seinfeld curse", which claimed that none of the former "Seinfeld" actors could ever achieve success again in the television industry. Louis-Dreyfus dismissed the rumor as "a made-up thing by the media", while "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David asserted that the curse was "completely idiotic."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus was interested in the role of Susan Mayer on "Desperate Housewives", the role that ultimately went to Teri Hatcher. Instead, Louis-Dreyfus scored a recurring guest role as Maggie Lizer, the deceitful prosecutor and love interest of Michael Bluth on the Emmy-winning comedy "Arrested Development", from 2004 to 2005.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 2005, Louis-Dreyfus was cast in the title role of a new CBS sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine". The series and its concept were created by writer and producer of "Will & Grace", Kari Lizer. The series told the story of Christine Campbell, a single mother who manages to maintain a fantastic relationship with her ex-husband while running a women's gym. The series debuted on CBS in March 2006 to an audience of 15 million and was initially a ratings winner for the network.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus also garnered considerable critical acclaim for her performance on the show, with Brian Lowry of "Variety" stating that Louis-Dreyfus broke the so-called ""Seinfeld" curse [...] with one of the best conventional half-hours to come along in a while." Alessandra Stanley from "The New York Times" asserted that Louis-Dreyfus's performance on the series proved she is "one of the funniest women on network television." Louis-Dreyfus additionally earned the 2006 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the first season. Referring to the curse, she stated in her acceptance speech, "I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this, baby!" Throughout the course of the series, she received five consecutive Emmy Award nominations, three consecutive Satellite Award nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. In 2007, she also received two nominations for a People's Choice Award due to her return to popularity, thanks to the success of "Old Christine".


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In May 2006, Louis-Dreyfus hosted an episode of "Saturday Night Live", becoming the first female former cast member to return to the show in the hosting role. In the episode, she appeared with her "Seinfeld" co-stars Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld in her opening monologue, parodying the so-called "Seinfeld curse". After a successful reception from her 2006 episode, Louis-Dreyfus was invited again to host "SNL" on March 17, 2007, and again on April 17, 2016. Louis-Dreyfus reprised her role as Gloria in two "Simpsons" episodes: 2007's "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and 2008's "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes". In the fall of 2009, she appeared with the rest of the cast of "Seinfeld" in four episodes of the seventh season of Larry David's sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm". The reunion shows received much media attention, and the episode received strong ratings for the HBO series.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 2009, Louis-Dreyfus was granted the honorary award for Legacy of Laughter at the TV Land Awards. Previous winners had included Lucille Ball and Mike Myers. She was presented with the award by friend Amy Poehler. The following year, Louis-Dreyfus received the 2,407th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 4, 2010, for her remarkable contribution to the broadcast television industry as both an actress and a comedian. Originally, the star was set with Louis-Dreyfus's name spelled incorrectly. It was missing both the 'o' and the hyphen in her last name. The star was corrected and the misspelled portion was removed and presented to the actress. Celebrity guests at the event included past and current colleagues from throughout her career, including Clark Gregg, Larry David, Eric McCormack, and Jason Alexander.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: "Old Christine" was cancelled by CBS on May 18, 2010, after 5 years. After its disbandment from CBS, discussions were held with ABC for the show to be revived on the network, but these plans never came to fruition.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In the spring of 2010, Louis-Dreyfus guest-starred several times in the third season of the web series "Web Therapy", starring Lisa Kudrow. Louis-Dreyfus played the sister of the main character Fiona Wallice, who gives her therapy online. When the series made the transition to cable television on the Showtime network, Louis-Dreyfus's appearance from the web series was included in the second season, airing in July 2012.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In fall 2010, Louis-Dreyfus made a guest appearance on the live episode of the Emmy-winning comedy "30 Rock". She played Tina Fey's role of Liz Lemon in the cutaway shots. Louis-Dreyfus was among several "Saturday Night Live" alumni appearing in the episode, including Rachel Dratch, Bill Hader, and regulars Tracy Morgan and Fey herself. Louis-Dreyfus also starred in a "Women of SNL" special on November 1, 2010, on NBC.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In May and June 2011, Louis-Dreyfus teamed up with husband Brad Hall for her first short film, "Picture Paris". This was the first time the couple had collaborated since their early-2000s NBC comedy "Watching Ellie". Hall wrote and directed the film, while Louis-Dreyfus played the lead role of an ordinary woman with an extraordinary obsession with the city of Paris. The film premiered on January 29, 2012, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and has received considerable critical acclaim. It made its television premiere on HBO on December 17, 2012.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In early 2011, HBO confirmed that Louis-Dreyfus had been cast in the lead role of U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer in a new satirical comedy series titled "Veep". The series was commissioned for a first season of eight episodes. It was announced, in addition to her starring role, Louis-Dreyfus would also serve as a producer of the series. In preparation for her role, Louis-Dreyfus spoke with two former vice presidents, including Al Gore, senators, speechwriters, chiefs of staffs of various offices, and schedulers. Louis-Dreyfus has commended HBO for allowing the cast and crew to engage in a "protracted pre-production process", which included a six-week rehearsal period before filming began.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: The first season was filmed in the fall of 2011, in Baltimore, and the series premiered on April 22, 2012. The premiere episode was met with high praise from critics, particularly for Louis-Dreyfus's performance. "The Hollywood Reporter" asserted that the character of Selina Meyer was her "best post-Seinfeld role" to date and claimed that she gives "an Emmy-worthy effort", while the "Los Angeles Times" contended that the series demonstrates that she is "one of the medium's great comediennes." Following the success of the first season, Louis-Dreyfus was named by the "Huffington Post" as one of the funniest people of 2012, asserting that she is the "most magnetic and naturally funny woman on TV since Mary Tyler Moore."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: For her performance on "Veep", Louis-Dreyfus has received several accolades, most notably six consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series from 2012 to 2017. Her Emmy wins for "Veep", following previous wins for "Seinfeld" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine", resulted in her becoming the only woman to win an acting award for three separate comedy series. Her sixth win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016 surpassed the record previously held by Mary Tyler Moore and Candice Bergen for the most wins in that category. In 2017 her sixth consecutive win and eighth acting win overall made her the performer with the most Emmys for the same role in the same series (surpassing Candice Bergen and Don Knotts) and put her in a tie with Cloris Leachman for the most Emmys ever won by a performer. She was also nominated as one of the producers for "Veep" in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series category from 2012 to 2014, but the show lost to "Modern Family" on all three occasions. The show, however, won the top award from 2015 to 2017.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus has also received five Critics' Choice Television Award nominations, winning twice in 2013 and 2014, ten Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning twice in 2014 and 2017, and five Television Critics Association Award nominations, winning once in 2014. Her performance has additionally garnered her five Satellite Award nominations and five consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus lent her voice to the 2013 animated film "Planes", in the role of Rochelle. To date, the film has grossed well over $200 million at the box office worldwide. She also starred in the film "Enough Said", directed by Nicole Holofcener, which was released on September 18, 2013. This marked her debut as a lead actress in a full-length feature film. The film garnered rave reviews from film critics, ranking among the best-reviewed films of 2013. The website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 96% based on 152 reviews, many of them praising Louis-Dreyfus's performance. She received several Best Actress nominations for her role in the film at award ceremonies, including the Golden Globe Awards, Satellite Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the American Comedy Awards.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: On April 16, 2016, she hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the third time with musical guest Nick Jonas. During the episode's cold open, she reprised her role of Elaine Benes from "Seinfeld".


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 2020, Louis-Dreyfus headlined the comedy-drama "Downhill", opposite Will Ferrell. The film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released on February 14. Next, she voiced a suburban elf mother in Pixar's "Onward" opposite Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. The film was released on March 6, 2020.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In January 2020, Louis-Dreyfus signed a multi-year deal with Apple TV+. Under the deal, she will develop new projects for Apple TV+ as both an executive producer and star.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 2021, Louis-Dreyfus appeared in the Disney+ series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though she was originally intended to debut in the film "Black Widow" (where she appears in the post credit scene).


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus's maternal half-sister, Lauren Bowles, is also an actress. She also has two paternal half-sisters: Phoebe and Emma, the latter of whom died in August 2018. Robert Louis-Dreyfus, one of her cousins, was the former CEO of Adidas and owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: While at Northwestern, Louis-Dreyfus met future husband and "Saturday Night Live" comedian Brad Hall. They married in 1987 and have two sons together. Her older son is a singer-songwriter, who has performed on "The Tonight Show". In 2007, Louis-Dreyfus was invited back to Northwestern to receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus has stated that she holds much respect for "women who are not afraid of making themselves look bad or foolish to get a laugh", and cites her acting idols as Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman. Actress Tina Fey has stated that Louis-Dreyfus served as inspiration for her character Liz Lemon on the award-winning NBC comedy series "30 Rock".


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: On September 28, 2017, Louis-Dreyfus announced on Twitter her diagnosis of breast cancer, a diagnosis she received one day after receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in "Veep". She stated, "One in eight women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one. The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let's fight all cancers and make universal healthcare a reality." She announced on the October 18, 2018, episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that she was cancer-free.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus supported Al Gore's 2000 U.S. presidential bid, and also endorsed Barack Obama's bid for the presidency in 2008 and 2012. She appeared in a video that urged President Obama to reject the proposal of the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing that if the pipeline ever were to leak, it would cause mass pollution across the U.S. Additionally, she has voiced her concern for several environmental issues and has raised millions for Heal the Bay, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Trust for Public Land. She also worked for the successful passage of Proposition O, which allocated US$500 million for cleaning up the Los Angeles water supply.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In late October 2010, before the United States Senate election in California, Louis-Dreyfus starred in a humorous Barbara Boxer ad regarding energy policy.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: During the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Louis-Dreyfus announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for the United States presidential election of that year.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: In her acceptance speech at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards, she denounced President Donald Trump's executive order of travel ban as "un-American," and said, "My father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France."


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus emceed the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, endorsing Joe Biden. She has also published information regarding voting by mail and urged all Americans to vote.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus endorsed Representative Karen Bass in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election, in various social media posts.


title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

text: Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series seven times; once for her role on "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2006) and six consecutive wins for playing Selina Meyer on "Veep" (2012–17), as well as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series on one occasion for "Seinfeld" (1996). As of 2017, she holds the record for the most Primetime Emmy wins as an actor for the same role and is tied with Cloris Leachman for the most acting Primetime Emmy wins (with eight). She has also been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning one for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for her role as Elaine Benes on Seinfeld (1995). She has also been nominated for twenty-one Screen Actors Guild Awards and has won five for individual performance (nine all together) for her portrayals on Seinfeld (1997–98) and Veep (2014, 2017–18).


title: Eva Mendes

text: Eva de la Caridad Méndez (, ; born March 5, 1974), known professionally as Eva Mendes, is an American actress, model and fashion designer. Her acting career began in the late 1990s, with a series of roles in films such as "" (1998) and "" (2000).


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes's performance in "Training Day" (2001) marked a turning point in her career and led to parts in the commercially successful films "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003) and "Hitch" (2005). She starred in "Ghost Rider" (2007) and "The Spirit" (2008), both film adaptations of comics, and ventured into more dramatic territory with "We Own the Night" (2007), "" (2009), "Last Night" (2010), and "The Place Beyond the Pines" (2012). Her other films include "Out of Time" (2003), "The Women" (2008), "The Other Guys" (2010), and "Girl in Progress" (2012).


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes has appeared in several music videos for artists like Will Smith, and has also been an ambassador for brands, including Calvin Klein, Cartier, Reebok, Pantene shampoo, Morgan and Peek & Cloppenburg. She has designed for New York & Company and is the creative director of CIRCA Beauty, a makeup line sold at Walgreens. She has been in a relationship with Canadian actor Ryan Gosling since 2011, and they have two daughters.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes was born on March 5, 1974, in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez, and was raised by her mother in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, after her parents' divorce. Her mother worked at Mann's Chinese Theatre and later for an aerospace company, and her father ran a meat distribution business. Mendes had one older brother, Juan Carlos Méndez Jr. (1963–2016), who died from throat cancer. She also has an older sister, Janet, and a younger paternal half-brother, Carlos Alberto "Carlo" Méndez. She attended Hoover High School in Glendale, and later studied marketing at California State University, Northridge, but left college to pursue acting under Ivana Chubbuck.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes began her acting career after a talent manager saw her photo in a friend's portfolio. Her first film role was that of one in a group of young people who become lost in middle America in the direct-to-video horror film "". Mendes was disappointed in her performance and soon hired an acting coach. She subsequently took on the roles of a bridesmaid in the comedy "A Night at the Roxbury" (1998), with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, a housekeeper in the fantasy family film "My Brother the Pig" (1999), with Scarlett Johansson, and that of an ill-fated film student in the slasher film "" (2000).


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes appeared in the Steven Seagal action thriller "Exit Wounds" (2001), which made over US$73 million worldwide. According to Mendes, her voice was dubbed in the editing, with a producer telling her that she "didn’t sound intelligent enough". Her breakthrough came later in 2001 with her performance as the mistress of a corrupt cop in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller "Training Day", alongside Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. She described her role as "pivotal" in her career, stating that it motivated her to keep going as an actress, as she was "bored" doing "terrible cheesy horrible" films before she obtained it. "Training Day" was a box office hit, grossing US$104.5 million.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Her role in "Training Day" led to larger film parts and Mendes soon established herself as a Hollywood actress. While her sole film release in 2002 was the crime comedy "All About the Benjamins", in which she played the girlfriend of a con artist, Mendes had roles on four studio feature films released throughout 2003. "2 Fast 2 Furious" teamed her with Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson, portraying a United States Customs Service agent working undercover for a notorious Argentine drug lord. The film gave Mendes a much wider exposure, grossing over US$236 million globally. The Western action film "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" saw her star with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, as the daughter of a Mexican drug lord. While reviews for the film were mixed, it made US$98.1 million.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes reunited with Denzel Washington for the thriller "Out of Time", in which she played the soon-to-be ex-wife of a well-respected chief of police. The film was a moderate commercial success, and Roger Ebert, in his review for the film, described Mendes' role as a "curiously forgiving character, who feels little rancor for the straying [husband] and apparently still likes him; maybe there would have been more suspense if she were furious with him". Her last 2003 film was the comedy "Stuck on You", with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear, in which she played an aspiring actress.


title: Eva Mendes

text: She starred as the love interest of a professional dating consultant (Will Smith), in her next film, "Hitch" (2005), which made her one of the first minority actors to play the lead in a mainstream romantic comedy. "USA Today" described it as "her best screen role to date," and "Detroit Free Press" remarked: "Smith and Mendes are terrific together. He brings her game up so high you'd think she has had as many good parts as Smith." "Hitch" made US$368.1 million in its global theatrical run. In 2005, Mendes also starred in the little-seen films "The Wendell Baker Story" and "Guilty Hearts".


title: Eva Mendes

text: In the romantic comedy "Trust the Man" (2006), Mendes starred with David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, playing what "The A.V. Club" described as a "vapid sexpot". The much criticized "Ghost Rider" (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, featured Mendes as the love interest of the titular character (Nicolas Cage). The film fared well commercially, opening atop at the North American box office, with earnings of more than US$45 million; it eventually made over US$228 million worldwide. She starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg in the thriller "We Own the Night" (also 2007), as the girlfriend of an NYPD captain's brother. Critic Peter Travers found the film to be "defiantly, refreshingly unhip" and noted that "sizzle comes naturally" from Mendes. In 2007, she also starred in the films "Live!" and "Cleaner", both of which went unnoticed by audiences, and made an uncredited cameo appearance in the comedy "Knocked Up".


title: Eva Mendes

text: In 2008, Mendes took on the role of a perfume salesgirl in Saks Fifth Avenue in the all-female comedy "The Women", opposite Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Though a commercial success, "The Women" was panned by critics, with Mendes earning a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance. She also played the "femme fatale" Sand Saref in 2008's "The Spirit", based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name by Will Eisner. It received lackluster reviews from critics, who deemed it melodramatic, unoriginal, and sexist. Her only 2009 film release was the crime drama "", which reunited her with Nicolas Cage, playing a prostitute, and again, his love interest. While the film found a limited audience in theaters, it garnered acclaim, appearing on many top ten lists of the year.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes reunited with previous collaborators Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg for the action comedy "The Other Guys" (2010), in which she portrayed the wife of a mild-mannered forensic NYPD accountant (Ferrell). It was a commercial success, grossing US$170.4 million globally. In 2010, she also played the co-worker and the love interest of a committed man in Massy Tadjedin's romantic drama "Last Night", alongside Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington. While she was initially reluctant to star, worrying that the character would "lack originality" and was "too seductive", she agreed to play the role after meeting with Tadjedin; she said: "It was great to connect with a female director and talk about this woman and not objectify her as the other woman but give her a real true life and make her honest ... Thank God I did."


title: Eva Mendes

text: In 2011, Mendes appeared in an uncredited cameo in "Fast Five", reprising her role from "2 Fast 2 Furious". In 2012, she starred in the dramedy "Girl in Progress", as a single mom raising her fourteen-year-old daughter, and in the art fantasy drama "Holy Motors", as Kay M, a role originally written for Kate Moss. While "Girl in Progress" earned Mendes an ALMA Award nomination for Favorite Movie Actress, she described "Holy Motors" as "the coolest, most creative thing I've ever done".


title: Eva Mendes

text: In "The Place Beyond the Pines" (also 2012), a drama directed by Derek Cianfrance and alongside Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, Mendes portrayed the former lover of a motorcycle stuntman. The film was a moderate commercial success, and "Entertainment Weekly", in its review, described her performance as "quietly heartbreaking". She also visited Sierra Leone and was featured in the PBS documentary "", which aired in October 2012.


title: Eva Mendes

text: In 2013, Mendes appeared in the HBO comedy film "Clear History", as a formerly heavy-set woman, and in 2014, she starred as a cabaret show performer in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut "Lost River", which competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. This would be her last acting role until 2021, when she voiced a character in the animated series "Bluey" in the episode “Born Yesterday”.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' music video for "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" in 1996, Aerosmith's music video for "Hole in My Soul" in 1997, and Will Smith's music video for "Miami" in 1998. She also appeared in the music video for The Strokes' "The End Has No End" in 2004.


title: Eva Mendes

text: In 2005, Mendes was employed by Revlon as an international spokesperson, and participated in their campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research. In December 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) used a nude photo of Mendes for their anti-fur campaign. Mendes was a spokesmodel for the 2008 Campari calendar. She also appeared nude in a 2008 print advertisement for Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume, an ad that United States network executives found too risqué for broadcasting.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes has been a spokesperson for Calvin Klein, Magnum, and the chocolate milk brand Cocio. She also promoted Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance, Reebok shoes, and Pantene shampoo. In 2011, Mendes appeared in a Peek & Cloppenburg clothing catalog.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes has a line of bed linens and dinnerware that is sold at Macy's. In February 2013, she partnered with New York & Co. to launch her own fashion line, Eva by Eva Mendes. She is also the creative director of the makeup brand CIRCA Beauty, which launched exclusively at Walgreens in 2015.


title: Eva Mendes

text: In 2010, Mendes sang "Pimps Don't Cry," a song featured in "The Other Guys," and also performed a duet with CeeLo Green with the same song. In 2011, she recorded a version of "The Windmills of Your Mind". She also featured in the single "Miami" sung by Will Smith which was released in 1998.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Many media outlets have cited her as one of the world's most beautiful Latin women, and she has been often considered a sex symbol. She once embraced that status, saying it was "partially self-created ... I think at times I play up my sexiness. And there's times where I don't", though she does not let it interfere with her film work: "I like it when it doesn't limit my career. It's a part of my life, but on a secondary plane". Nevertheless, her professional trajectory throughout the 2000s tended to gravitate towards parts that relied heavily on her looks. She has not appeared in a film since 2014.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes ranked 54th, 12th, 7th, 7th, and 11th in "Maxim" magazine's Hot 100 issue in 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010 respectively, and appeared several times on the cover. She also ranked 80th, 23rd and 44th in "FHM" magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" supplement in 2004, 2005, 2006. She was voted number four in the 2008 edition, and number one in the 2009 edition, of AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women. "People" also named her one of 2011's Most Beautiful at Every Age.


title: Eva Mendes

text: In September 2011 she began dating Ryan Gosling, shortly after they filmed "The Place Beyond the Pines" together. They have two daughters born in 2014 and 2016.


title: Eva Mendes

text: Mendes is a pescatarian for both ethical and health reasons. She also practices Transcendental Meditation.


title: Japanese language

text: Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), there was a massive influx of Sino-Japanese vocabulary into the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese. Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords. The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with relatively simple phonotactics, a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment. Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person. Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics, with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned.


title: Japanese language

text: The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters, known as , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: ( or , 'simple characters') and ( or , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( ) is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals, but also traditional Chinese numerals.


title: Japanese language

text: Proto-Japonic, the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages, is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period), replacing the languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language. Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese, or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects.


title: Japanese language

text: The Chinese writing system was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese, although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the "Kojiki", dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, "kanbun", and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period, the Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana, which uses "kanji" for their phonetic as well as semantic values.


title: Japanese language

text: Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct syllables. Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of "kanji" for each of the syllables now pronounced (ki), (hi), (mi), (ke), (he), (me), (ko), (so), (to), (no), (mo), (yo) and (ro). (The "Kojiki" has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo and mo apparently was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of syllables shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese, though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for , which merges with before the end of the period.


title: Japanese language

text: Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle "tsu" (superseded by modern "no") is preserved in words such as "matsuge" ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern "mieru" ("to be visible") and "kikoeru" ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix -"yu(ru)" ("kikoyu" → "kikoyuru" (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → "kikoeru" (all verbs with the "shimo-nidan" conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese)); and the genitive particle "ga" remains in intentionally archaic speech.


title: Japanese language

text: Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period, from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese, which remained in common use until the early 20th century.


title: Japanese language

text: During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords. These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels, palatal consonants (e.g. "kya") and labial consonant clusters (e.g. "kwa"), and closed syllables. This had the effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language.


title: Japanese language

text: Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period, respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the "Arte da Lingoa de Iapam"). Among other sound changes, the sequence merges to , in contrast with ; is reintroduced from Chinese; and merges with . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending -"te" begins to reduce onto the verb (e.g. "yonde" for earlier "yomite"), the -k- in the final syllable of adjectives drops out ("shiroi" for earlier "shiroki"); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. "hayaku" > "hayau" > "hayɔɔ", where modern Japanese just has "hayaku", though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting "o-hayō gozaimasu" "good morning"; this ending is also seen in "o-medetō" "congratulations", from "medetaku").


title: Japanese language

text: Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include "pan" ("bread") and "tabako" ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese.


title: Japanese language

text: Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese, the "de facto" standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect, especially that of Kyoto. However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languagessuch as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technologyfor example, "pasokon" (short for "personal computer"), "intānetto" ("internet"), and "kamera" ("camera"). Due to the large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between and , and and , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords.


title: Japanese language

text: Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been spoken outside. Before and during World War II, through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea, as well as partial occupation of China, the Philippines, and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil, with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than the 1.2 million of the United States) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru, Argentina, Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry), the United States (notably Hawaii, where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao region and Laguna province).


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the "de facto" national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard: , meaning "standard Japanese", or , "common language". The meanings of the two terms are almost the same. "Hyōjungo" or "kyōtsūgo" is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote). "Hyōjungo" is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It is the version of Japanese discussed in this article.


title: Japanese language

text: Formerly, standard was different from . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. "Bungo" was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then "kōgo" gradually extended its influence and the two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. "Bungo" still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in "bungo", although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). "Kōgo" is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although "bungo" grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect.


title: Japanese language

text: The 1982 state constitution of Angaur, Palau, names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of the state. However, the results of the 2005 census show that in April 2005 there were no usual or legal residents of Angaur aged 5 or older who spoke Japanese at home at all.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent, inflectional morphology, vocabulary, and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is uncommon.


title: Japanese language

text: In terms of mutual intelligibility, a survey in 1967 found the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tohoku dialects) to students from Greater Tokyo are the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture). The survey is based on recordings of 12- to 20- second long, of 135 to 244 phonemes, which 42 students listened and translated word-by-word. The listeners are all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region.


title: Japanese language

text: There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island whose dialects are descended from the Eastern dialect of Old Japanese. Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers.


title: Japanese language

text: The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (politically part of Kagoshima), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider the Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time. Most likely being the spoken form of Classical Japanese language, a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period, but began decline during the late Meiji period. The Ryūkyūan languages are spoken by a decreasing number of elderly people so UNESCO classified it as endangered, because they could become extinct by 2050. Young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand the Ryukyuan languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryukyuan languages. It is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands.


title: Japanese language

text: Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education, mass media, and an increase of mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese is a member of the Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is often called a language isolate.


title: Japanese language

text: According to Martine Irma Robbeets, Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in the world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu, Korean, Chinese, Tibeto-Burman, Uralic, Altaic (or Ural-Altaic), Mon–Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian. At the fringe, some linguists have suggested a link to Indo-European languages, including Greek, and to Lepcha. Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or the proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages, especially Austronesian. None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support.


title: Japanese language

text: Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as a distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighbouring languages.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron) in rōmaji, a repeated vowel character in hiragana, or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana. is compressed rather than protruded, or simply unrounded.


title: Japanese language

text: Some Japanese consonants have several allophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence was palatalized and realized phonetically as , approximately "chi" ; however, now and are distinct, as evidenced by words like "tī" "Western-style tea" and "chii" "social status".


title: Japanese language

text: The "r" of the Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant. The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects.


title: Japanese language

text: The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant, a glide and either the first part of a geminate consonant (/, represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda (/, represented as N).


title: Japanese language

text: The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as the two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese also includes a pitch accent, which is not represented in syllabic writing; for example ("chopsticks") and ("bridge") are both spelled ("hashi"), and are only differentiated by the tone contour.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb. Unlike many Indo-European languages, the only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions.


title: Japanese language

text: The basic sentence structure is topic–comment. For example, "Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu" (). "kochira" ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by the particle "wa". The verb "de aru" ("desu" is a contraction of its polite form "de arimasu") is a copula, commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, "Tanaka-san desu" is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages, is often called a topic-prominent language, which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence "Zō wa hana ga nagai" () literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is "zō" "elephant", and the subject is "hana" "nose".


title: Japanese language

text: In Japanese, the subject or object of a sentence need not be stated if it is obvious from context. As a result of this grammatical permissiveness, there is a tendency to gravitate towards brevity; Japanese speakers tend to omit pronouns on the theory they are inferred from the previous sentence, and are therefore understood. In the context of the above example, "hana-ga nagai" would mean "[their] noses are long," while "nagai" by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: "Yatta!" () "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below), a single adjective can be a complete sentence: "Urayamashii!" () "[I'm] jealous [of it]!".


title: Japanese language

text: While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate the out-group gives a benefit to the in-group; and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, "oshiete moratta" () (literally, "explained" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, "oshiete ageta" () (literally, "explained" with a benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English:


title: Japanese language

text: This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as "kimi" "you" ( "lord"), "anata" "you" ( "that side, yonder"), and "boku" "I" ( "servant"). This is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish "usted" (contracted from "vuestra merced", "your [(flattering majestic) plural] grace") or Portuguese "o senhor". Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom.


title: Japanese language

text: The choice of words used as pronouns is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as "watashi" ( "private") or "watakushi" (also ), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word "ore" ( "oneself", "myself") or "boku". Similarly, different words such as "anata", "kimi", and "omae" (, more formally "the one before me") may refer to a listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it is appropriate to use "sensei" (, teacher), but inappropriate to use "anata". This is because "anata" is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun "hon" () may refer to a single book or several books; "hito" () can mean "person" or "people", and "ki" () can be "tree" or "trees". Where number is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. , "hitobito", usually written with an iteration mark as ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus "Tanaka-san" usually means "Mx Tanaka". Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through the addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as "-tachi", but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as "Tanaka-san-tachi" may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as "hitobito" "people" and "wareware" "we/us", while the word "tomodachi" "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form.


title: Japanese language

text: Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the "-te iru" form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect, similar to the suffix "ing" in English. For others that represent a change of state, the "-te iru" form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, "kite iru" means "They have come (and are still here)", but "tabete iru" means "They are eating".


title: Japanese language

text: Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have the same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle "-ka" is added. For example, "ii desu" () "It is OK" becomes "ii desu-ka" () "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle "-no" () is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: "Dōshite konai-no?" "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning the topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: "Kore wa?" "(What about) this?"; "O-namae wa?" () "(What's your) name?".


title: Japanese language

text: Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, "Pan o taberu" () "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes "Pan o tabenai" () "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are "i"-adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. "Pan o tabenakatta" () "I did not eat bread".


title: Japanese language

text: The so-called "-te" verb form is used for a variety of purposes: either progressive or perfect aspect (see above); combining verbs in a temporal sequence ("Asagohan o tabete sugu dekakeru" "I'll eat breakfast and leave at once"), simple commands, conditional statements and permissions ("Dekakete-mo ii?" "May I go out?"), etc.


title: Japanese language

text: The word "da" (plain), "desu" (polite) is the copula verb. It corresponds approximately to the English "be", but often takes on other roles, including a marker for tense, when the verb is conjugated into its past form "datta" (plain), "deshita" (polite). This comes into use because only "i"-adjectives and verbs can carry tense in Japanese. Two additional common verbs are used to indicate existence ("there is") or, in some contexts, property: "aru" (negative "nai") and "iru" (negative "inai"), for inanimate and animate things, respectively. For example, "Neko ga iru" "There's a cat", "Ii kangae-ga nai" "[I] haven't got a good idea".


title: Japanese language

text: The verb "to do" ("suru", polite form "shimasu") is often used to make verbs from nouns ("ryōri suru" "to cook", "benkyō suru" "to study", etc.) and has been productive in creating modern slang words. Japanese also has a huge number of compound verbs to express concepts that are described in English using a verb and an adverbial particle (e.g. "tobidasu" "to fly out, to flee," from "tobu" "to fly, to jump" + "dasu" "to put out, to emit").


title: Japanese language

text: The "rentaishi" in Modern Japanese are few in number, and unlike the other words, are limited to directly modifying nouns. They never predicate sentences. Examples include "ookina" "big", "kono" "this", "iwayuru" "so-called" and "taishita" "amazing".


title: Japanese language

text: The grammatical function of nouns is indicated by postpositions, also called particles. These include for example:


title: Japanese language

text: Note: The subtle difference between wa and ga in Japanese cannot be derived from the English language as such, because the distinction between sentence topic and subject is not made there. While "wa" indicates the topic, which the rest of the sentence describes or acts upon, it carries the implication that the subject indicated by "wa" is not unique, or may be part of a larger group.


title: Japanese language

text: "Ikeda-san wa yonjū-ni sai da." "As for Mx Ikeda, they are forty-two years old." Others in the group may also be of that age.


title: Japanese language

text: "Ikeda-san ga yonjū-ni sai da." "It is Mx Ikeda who is forty-two years old." This is a reply to an implicit or explicit question, such as "who in this group is forty-two years old?"


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. This reflects the hierarchical nature of Japanese society.


title: Japanese language

text: The Japanese language can express differing levels in social status. The differences in social position are determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favour tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other person might use a plainer form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until they are teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. "See uchi-soto".


title: Japanese language

text: Whereas "teineigo" () (polite language) is commonly an inflectional system, "sonkeigo" () (respectful language) and "kenjōgo" () (humble language) often employ many special honorific and humble alternate verbs: "iku" "go" becomes "ikimasu" in polite form, but is replaced by "irassharu" in honorific speech and "ukagau" or "mairu" in humble speech.


title: Japanese language

text: The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and their group. For example, the "-san" suffix ("Mr" "Mrs.", "Miss", or "Mx") is an example of honorific language. It is not used to talk about oneself or when talking about someone from one's company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's in-group. When speaking directly to one's superior in one's company or when speaking with other employees within one's company about a superior, a Japanese person will use vocabulary and inflections of the honorific register to refer to the in-group superior and their speech and actions. When speaking to a person from another company (i.e., a member of an out-group), however, a Japanese person will use the plain or the humble register to refer to the speech and actions of their own in-group superiors. In short, the register used in Japanese to refer to the person, speech, or actions of any particular individual varies depending on the relationship (either in-group or out-group) between the speaker and listener, as well as depending on the relative status of the speaker, listener, and third-person referents.


title: Japanese language

text: Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made polite by the addition of "o-" or "go-" as a prefix. "o-" is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas "go-" is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word, and is included even in regular speech, such as "gohan" 'cooked rice; meal.' Such a construction often indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word "tomodachi" 'friend,' would become "o-tomodachi" when referring to the friend of someone of higher status (though mothers often use this form to refer to their children's friends). On the other hand, a polite speaker may sometimes refer to "mizu" 'water' as "o-mizu" in order to show politeness.


title: Japanese language

text: Most Japanese people employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but if a relationship becomes more intimate, they no longer use them. This occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender.


title: Japanese language

text: There are three main sources of words in the Japanese language, the "yamato kotoba" () or "wago" (), "kango" (), and "gairaigo" ().


title: Japanese language

text: The original language of Japan, or at least the original language of a certain population that was ancestral to a significant portion of the historical and present Japanese nation, was the so-called "yamato kotoba" ( or infrequently , i.e. "Yamato words"), which in scholarly contexts is sometimes referred to as "wago" ( or rarely , i.e. the "Wa language"). In addition to words from this original language, present-day Japanese includes a number of words that were either borrowed from Chinese or constructed from Chinese roots following Chinese patterns. These words, known as "kango" (), entered the language from the 5th century onwards via contact with Chinese culture. According to the Japanese dictionary, "kango" comprise 49.1% of the total vocabulary, "wago" make up 33.8%, other foreign words or "gairaigo" () account for 8.8%, and the remaining 8.3% constitute hybridized words or "konshugo" () that draw elements from more than one language.


title: Japanese language

text: There are also a great number of words of mimetic origin in Japanese, with Japanese having a rich collection of sound symbolism, both onomatopoeia for physical sounds, and more abstract words. A small number of words have come into Japanese from the Ainu language. "Tonakai" (reindeer), "rakko" (sea otter) and "shishamo" (smelt, a type of fish) are well-known examples of words of Ainu origin.


title: Japanese language

text: Words of different origins occupy different registers in Japanese. Like Latin-derived words in English, "kango" words are typically perceived as somewhat formal or academic compared to equivalent Yamato words. Indeed, it is generally fair to say that an English word derived from Latin/French roots typically corresponds to a Sino-Japanese word in Japanese, whereas an Anglo-Saxon word would best be translated by a Yamato equivalent.


title: Japanese language

text: Incorporating vocabulary from European languages, "gairaigo", began with borrowings from Portuguese in the 16th century, followed by words from Dutch during Japan's long isolation of the Edo period. With the Meiji Restoration and the reopening of Japan in the 19th century, borrowing occurred from German, French, and English. Today most borrowings are from English.


title: Japanese language

text: In the Meiji era, the Japanese also coined many neologisms using Chinese roots and morphology to translate European concepts; these are known as wasei kango (Japanese-made Chinese words). Many of these were then imported into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese via their kanji in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, , and are words derived from Chinese roots that were first created and used by the Japanese, and only later borrowed into Chinese and other East Asian languages. As a result, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese share a large common corpus of vocabulary in the same way many Greek- and Latin-derived words – both inherited or borrowed into European languages, or modern coinages from Greek or Latin roots – are shared among modern European languages – see classical compound.


title: Japanese language

text: In the past few decades, "wasei-eigo" ("made-in-Japan English") has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such as "wanpatān" (< "one" + "pattern", "to be in a rut", "to have a one-track mind") and "sukinshippu" (< "skin" + "-ship", "physical contact"), although coined by compounding English roots, are nonsensical in most non-Japanese contexts; exceptions exist in nearby languages such as Korean however, which often use words such as "skinship" and "rimokon" (remote control) in the same way as in Japanese.


title: Japanese language

text: The popularity of many Japanese cultural exports has made some native Japanese words familiar in English, including "emoji", "futon, haiku, judo, kamikaze, karaoke, karate, ninja, origami, rickshaw" (from "jinrikisha"), "samurai, sayonara, Sudoku, sumo, sushi, tofu, tsunami, tycoon". See list of English words of Japanese origin for more.


title: Japanese language

text: Literacy was introduced to Japan in the form of the Chinese writing system, by way of Baekje before the 5th century. Using this language, the Japanese king Bu presented a petition to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in AD 478. After the ruin of Baekje, Japan invited scholars from China to learn more of the Chinese writing system. Japanese emperors gave an official rank to Chinese scholars (/) and spread the use of Chinese characters from the 7th century to the 8th century.


title: Japanese language

text: At first, the Japanese wrote in Classical Chinese, with Japanese names represented by characters used for their meanings and not their sounds. Later, during the 7th century AD, the Chinese-sounding phoneme principle was used to write pure Japanese poetry and prose, but some Japanese words were still written with characters for their meaning and not the original Chinese sound. This is when the history of Japanese as a written language begins in its own right. By this time, the Japanese language was already very distinct from the Ryukyuan languages.


title: Japanese language

text: An example of this mixed style is the Kojiki, which was written in AD 712. Japanese writers then started to use Chinese characters to write Japanese in a style known as "man'yōgana", a syllabic script which used Chinese characters for their sounds in order to transcribe the words of Japanese speech syllable by syllable.


title: Japanese language

text: Over time, a writing system evolved. Chinese characters (kanji) were used to write either words borrowed from Chinese, or Japanese words with the same or similar meanings. Chinese characters were also used to write grammatical elements, were simplified, and eventually became two syllabic scripts: hiragana and katakana which were developed based on Manyogana. Some scholars claim that Manyogana originated from Baekje, but this hypothesis is denied by mainstream Japanese scholars.


title: Japanese language

text: Hiragana and katakana were first simplified from kanji, and hiragana, emerging somewhere around the 9th century, was mainly used by women. Hiragana was seen as an informal language, whereas katakana and kanji were considered more formal and was typically used by men and in official settings. However, because of hiragana's accessibility, more and more people began using it. Eventually, by the 10th century, hiragana was used by everyone.


title: Japanese language

text: Modern Japanese is written in a mixture of three main systems: kanji, characters of Chinese origin used to represent both Chinese loanwords into Japanese and a number of native Japanese morphemes; and two syllabaries: hiragana and katakana. The Latin script (or romaji in Japanese) is used to a certain extent, such as for imported acronyms and to transcribe Japanese names and in other instances where non-Japanese speakers need to know how to pronounce a word (such as "ramen" at a restaurant). Arabic numerals are much more common than the kanji when used in counting, but kanji numerals are still used in compounds, such as "tōitsu" ("unification").


title: Japanese language

text: Historically, attempts to limit the number of kanji in use commenced in the mid-19th century, but did not become a matter of government intervention until after Japan's defeat in the Second World War. During the period of post-war occupation (and influenced by the views of some U.S. officials), various schemes including the complete abolition of kanji and exclusive use of rōmaji were considered. The "jōyō kanji" ("common use kanji", originally called "tōyō kanji" [kanji for general use]) scheme arose as a compromise solution.


title: Japanese language

text: Japanese students begin to learn kanji from their first year at elementary school. A guideline created by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the list of "kyōiku kanji" ("education kanji", a subset of "jōyō kanji"), specifies the 1,006 simple characters a child is to learn by the end of sixth grade. Children continue to study another 1,130 characters in junior high school, covering in total 2,136 "jōyō kanji". The official list of "jōyō kanji" was revised several times, but the total number of officially sanctioned characters remained largely unchanged.


title: Japanese language

text: As for kanji for personal names, the circumstances are somewhat complicated. "Jōyō kanji" and "jinmeiyō kanji" (an appendix of additional characters for names) are approved for registering personal names. Names containing unapproved characters are denied registration. However, as with the list of "jōyō kanji", criteria for inclusion were often arbitrary and led to many common and popular characters being disapproved for use. Under popular pressure and following a court decision holding the exclusion of common characters unlawful, the list of "jinmeiyō kanji" was substantially extended from 92 in 1951 (the year it was first decreed) to 983 in 2004. Furthermore, families whose names are not on these lists were permitted to continue using the older forms.


title: Japanese language

text: "Hiragana" are used for words without kanji representation, for words no longer written in kanji, for replacement of rare kanji that may be unfamiliar to intended readers, and also following kanji to show conjugational endings. Because of the way verbs (and adjectives) in Japanese are conjugated, kanji alone cannot fully convey Japanese tense and mood, as kanji cannot be subject to variation when written without losing their meaning. For this reason, hiragana are appended to kanji to show verb and adjective conjugations. Hiragana used in this way are called okurigana. Hiragana can also be written in a superscript called furigana above or beside a kanji to show the proper reading. This is done to facilitate learning, as well as to clarify particularly old or obscure (or sometimes invented) readings.


title: Japanese language

text: "Katakana", like hiragana, constitute a syllabary; katakana are primarily used to write foreign words, plant and animal names, and for emphasis. For example, "Australia" has been adapted as "Ōsutoraria" (), and "supermarket" has been adapted and shortened into "sūpā" ().


title: Japanese language

text: Depending on the speakers’ gender, different linguistic features might be used. The typical lect used by females is called and the one used by males is called . "Josiego" and "danseigo" are different in various ways, including first-person pronouns (such as "watashi" or "atashi" for women and for men) and sentence-final particles (such as , , or for "joseigo", or , , or for "danseigo"). In addition to these specific differences, expressions and pitch can also be different. For example, "joseigo" is more gentle, polite, refined, indirect, modest, and exclamatory, and often accompanied by raised pitch.


title: Japanese language

text: In the 1990s, the traditional feminine speech patterns and stereotyped behaviors were challenged, and a popular culture of “naughty” teenage girls emerged, called , sometimes referenced in English-language materials as “kogal”. Their mischievous behaviors, deviant language usage, the particular make-up called , and the fashion became objects of focus in the mainstream media. Although kogal slang was not appreciated by older generations, these girls kept creating novel terms and expressions. Kogal culture changed Japanese norms of gender and the Japanese language as well.


title: Japanese language

text: Many major universities throughout the world provide Japanese language courses, and a number of secondary and even primary schools worldwide offer courses in the language. This is a significant increase from before World War II; in 1940, only 65 Americans not of Japanese descent were able to read, write and understand the language.


title: Japanese language

text: International interest in the Japanese language dates from the 19th century but has become more prevalent following Japan's economic bubble of the 1980s and the global popularity of Japanese popular culture (such as anime and video games) since the 1990s. As of 2015, more than 3.6 million people studied the language worldwide, primarily in East and Southeast Asia. Nearly one million Chinese, 745,000 Indonesians, 556,000 South Koreans and 357,000 Australians studied Japanese in lower and higher educational institutions. Between 2012 and 2015, considerable growth of learners originated in Australia (20.5%), Thailand (34.1%), Vietnam (38.7%) and the Philippines (54.4%).


title: Japanese language

text: The Japanese government provides standardized tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which features five levels of exams. The JLPT is offered twice a year.


title: Ray Liotta

text: Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams" (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" (1990). He was a Primetime Emmy Award winning actor and received nominations for a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta first gained attention for his role as Ray Sinclair in the Jonathan Demme film "Something Wild" (1986), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture nomination. He continued to star in films such as "Unlawful Entry" (1992), "No Escape" (1994), "Cop Land" (1997), "Hannibal" (2001), "Blow" (2001), "Narc" (2002), "John Q" (2002), "Identity" (2003), "Killing Them Softly" (2012), "The Place Beyond the Pines" (2012), "Kill the Messenger" (2014), "Marriage Story" (2019), "Sopranos" prequel theatrical film "The Many Saints of Newark" (2021), and posthumously", Cocaine Bear" (2023).


title: Ray Liotta

text: He was also known for his television work in "ER" for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He starred as Frank Sinatra in the television film "The Rat Pack" (1998) and Lorca and Tom Mitchell in "Texas Rising" (2015) for which he earned Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He starred in the drama series "Shades of Blue" (2016–2018) with Jennifer Lopez and had a prominent voice acting role as Tommy Vercetti in the video game "" (2002).


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 18, 1954. Having been abandoned at an orphanage, he was adopted at the age of six months by township clerk Mary (née Edgar) and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta. His adoptive parents were of Italian and Scottish descent. Alfred was a personnel director and president of a local Democratic Party club. His adoptive parents each unsuccessfully ran for local political office; he recalled attending parades to hand out flyers for his father's run.


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta had a sister, Linda, who was also adopted. He said that he knew he was adopted as a young child, and presented a show-and-tell report on it for kindergarten. He hired a private detective to locate his biological mother in the 2000s, from whom he learned that he was mostly of Scottish descent. He had one biological sister, one biological half-brother, and five biological half-sisters.


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta grew up in a Roman Catholic household in Union, New Jersey, although his family was not especially religious. They attended church and he received first communion and was confirmed, but the family did not pray much. He occasionally used prayer in his daily life, telling an interviewer, "... if I'm in a fix I'll pray ... if I'm feeling uncomfortable about something I'll say "Our Father's" and "Hail Marys" to this day." In 1973, he graduated from Union High School and was later named to the Union High School Hall of Fame.


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta attended the University of Miami, where he studied acting and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1978. He performed in musicals, including "Cabaret", "Dames at Sea", "Oklahoma", and "The Sound of Music", at the University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.


title: Ray Liotta

text: After college, Liotta moved to New York City. He got a job as a bartender at the Shubert Organization and landed an agent within six months. One of his earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera "Another World", on which he appeared from 1978 to 1981. He left the show and moved to Los Angeles. He made his film debut in 1983's "The Lonely Lady". His first major acting role was "Something Wild" (1986), for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination, this nomination being for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. In 1989, Liotta portrayed the ghost of baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in the fantasy/drama film "Field of Dreams".


title: Ray Liotta

text: In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's universally praised and commercially successful Academy Award winning film "Goodfellas". In 1992, he starred as a psychopathic cop in the thriller "Unlawful Entry". He appeared in a leading role in the science-fiction/action film "No Escape". In 1996, he starred in the sci-fi/thriller "Unforgettable". Liotta earned critical praise for his turn in James Mangold's 1997 film "Cop Land", and he received critical praise in 1998 for his performance as a compulsive gambler in "Phoenix".


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta portrayed singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie "The Rat Pack" (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination). He starred as himself in the sitcom "Just Shoot Me" in December 2001. In October 2002 he provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City". He appeared in the television drama "ER" in 2004, playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death".


title: Ray Liotta

text: The "ER" role earned Liotta an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Liotta later spoofed himself and his Emmy win in "Bee Movie"). Liotta starred in the 2006 CBS television series "Smith", which was pulled from the schedule after three episodes. In 2012 Liotta appeared as himself in a purely vocal role for the "What a Croc!" episode of the Disney Channel comedy series "Phineas & Ferb".


title: Ray Liotta

text: Liotta played the Justice Department official Paul Krendler in the 2001 film "Hannibal" opposite Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. Also in 2001, he played the father of drug dealer George Jung in the film "Blow". In 2002 he appeared as Detective Lieutenant Henry Oak in the Joe Carnahan-directed film "Narc", a role that led to an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination for Best Supporting Male.