American English in Sujata Massey's
The Samurai's Daughter
Kristiina Tolvanen, 2007
FAST-US-1 (TRENPK2) Introduction to American English (Hopkins)
The FAST Area Studies Program
Department of Translation Studies, University of Tampere

This paper analyzes differences of expression and spelling between American and British English in Sujata Massey's novel The Samurai's Daughter from the viewpoint of American English. A brief introduction to the author and the novel is also provided.

The Author

The Samurai's Daughter was written by Sujata Massey. In her official web pages, Massey tells that she was born in Sussex, England, but moved to the USA with her parents when she was only five years old. Massey's father is Indian and her mother German. Because of her parents' origins Massey took many trips to Europe and Asia when she was young. Her multicultural family and traveling helped Massey to create a broad view of life, and familiarize herself with many different cultures. Unfortunately because of all this, she was never able to create a single cultural identity for herself. Massey deals with her feelings of alienation in her writing.

Massey's life has been very interesting. Growing up in the USA, Massey lived in three different states: Pennsylvania, Minnesota and California. She went to college in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated in 1986 from the Johns Hopkins University. Before starting her writing career she was a reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun, a newspaper which no longer exists. In 1991, after marrying a Navy medical officer, she moved to Japan and stayed there for two years. During those years she taught English, studied Japanese, and learned to know Japanese culture. She also began writing. Massey moved back to Baltimore in 1993 and published her first book The Salaryman's Wife in 1997. The novel introduced Rei Shimura's character to readers for the first time (Massey, Sujata).

To date Massey has published nine novels; the latest, Girl in a Box, came out August 2006. All are novels of suspense (Massey, Sujata). Her books have gained nominations and won prizes (Carter et al.). For every book she does a lot of research, and it shows in her work. At the moment she is writing her next novel. In between publishing her novels she has had time to adopt two Indian children, Pia and Neel. Now she is happily trying to balance family life and a successful writing career (Massey, Sujata).

The Story

The Samurai's Daughter continues a series of books written by Sujata Massey. It is her sixth novel. The main character in the series is Rei Shimura, a young Japanese American woman. San Francisco is her hometown, but for a few years already she has lived in Tokyo, Japan.

In the novel, Rei earns her living as an Asian antiques dealer; she is also working on a project of her family history. Her multicultural heritage and struggle to balance her life 'between two cultures' causes her some trouble. She never feels truly American, and while she loves living in Japan, her father's homeland, she is not quite able to fit in there either. This feeling of not belonging often seems to guide Rei's actions.

Hugh Glenninding, a successful lawyer who works at the international level, is Rei's boyfriend. Hugh is originally Scottish. Rei's parents Toshiro and Catherine Shimura, and the Japanese student Manami Okada, boarding in the Shimura household, are among the cast of characters in the novel. Rei's father is Japanese and her mother is American.

Rei is spending the holidays in San Francisco with her family, and Hugh flies in to join the festivities with them. Christmas is anything but peaceful while Hugh works, and a series of strange and more or less frightening things happen to the residents of the Shimura household.

Hugh is working on a class action suit aimed against large powerful Japanese corporations, which used Asian and American slave laborers during World War Two in an extremely cruel way. The past is a delicate and traumatic issue for all, and not everyone is happy about this sudden search for justice and attempt to find out the truth about what happened. This includes Rei's own father and Manami Okada.

Hugh interviews the former slave laborers with the help of an interpreter, Eric Gan, who turns out to be an old friend of Rei's. No trace of holiday spirit is left when Rei and Hugh are informed that the first witness for the class action whom Hugh has managed to interview has been found dead. Was it an unfortunate coincidence or something else?

After the eventful Christmas Rei flies back to Tokyo, and Hugh soon follows her. Rei finds herself getting extremely involved with the class action, and when another witness almost dies too, Hugh and Rei begin to realize how high the stakes are. Rei begins to have suspicions about Hugh's boss, Charles Sharp, and her old friend Eric Gan. She tries to find proof for her accusations but ends up getting arrested.

Because of her arrest Rei is asked to leave Japan. In the end it turns out that Rei is not completely wrong with her accusations, but the truth is far more shocking than anyone could have imagined.

The Language

Since The Samurai's Daughter is written in American English, the novel contains a lot of lexicon characteristic of this variety of English. The list below shows some vocabulary differences between American and British English. American English terms from the novel are given first, followed by the page numbers from the paperback version of The Samurai's Daughter published in 2004 by HarperCollins. The British English equivalents to the American terms then follow.

  • highway (12) — motorway
  • parking lot (13) — car park
  • lawyer (14) — solicitor
  • transmission (25) — gearbox
  • napkin (49) — serviette
  • stove (69) — cooker
  • bill (69) — bank note
  • apartment (95) — flat
  • subway (112) — tube or underground
  • license plate (121) — number plate
  • front desk (197) — reception
  • elevator (197) — lift
  • cart (273) — trolley
  • roommate (286) — flatmate
  • bathtub (294) — bath
  • nightgown (294) — nightdress

In addition to clear differences of vocabulary between American and British English, there are also spelling differences between these two varieties. The following are examples of these.

Examples of how -or is used in American English instead of -our.

  • favorite (6) — favourite
  • neighbor (11) — neighbour
  • behavior (27) — behaviour
  • honor (57) — honour

Examples of how American English uses -er instead of -re.

  • center (10)-centre
  • maneuver (15) — manoeuvre

Loss of consonant.

  • program (24) — programme
  • traveling (53) — travelling

Using -z instead of -s.

  • apologize (43) — apologise
  • recognize (98) — recognise
  • realize (114) — realise

Other

  • gray (57) — grey

Because all the characters in the novel are fairly well educated, they speak English in a neutral way; no slang expressions are used. However, because some characters come from different cultures, they sometimes do not speak American English. Hugh, for example, is Scottish. However, because of his occupation and presumably his level of education, he does not use Scottish dialectal expressions. He prefers British English vocabulary. The differences between Hugh's British expressions and those of the American English-speaking characters are often illustrated in the text as other examples of the difficulty of "living between two cultures."

An intriguing example is a heated discussion between Eric Gan and Hugh. During the discussion Eric says that if Hugh's boss Charles Sharp knew what Hugh was doing he would be "pissed as hell." Hugh pretends not to understand this expression, and asks innocently if Eric means that Charles "drinks" (78). The word "pissed" means "angry" in American English, whereas in British English it describes a person who is drunk.

Another example is Rei's father, who is trying to use the saying "beans have been spilled", but accidentally says that "beans have fallen". Rei respects her father so much that she dares not to correct him (79). To spill the beans means to reveal secret information.

Cultural References

Sujata Massey is excellent in mixing up different cultures, and so The Samurais's Daughter operates on many levels in addition to the American perspective. The novel contains elements of British English, Japan and Japanese. The book is mainly written in American English, but Massey has added details from the characters' background to the way they speak and dress. This makes them seem more real, and creates atmosphere for the story.

The novel contains two kinds of references to American culture. There are numerous very specific references to places and institutions in the San Francisco area, and also general references to American culture. A selection of these is presented below. The first three refer to American culture in general; the rest are connected with San Francisco.

  1. Rei's father asks her: "But you did take an Eastern religions class at Berkeley, yes?" (2). The name Berkeley refers to The University of California campus in Berkeley, California (Berkeley).
  2. Rei is picking up Hugh from the airport and wonders if the INS inspectors will give him any trouble (9). According to the United States Department of Justice web page, INS is short for Immigration and Naturalization Service, formerly part of the Department of Justice. Now it has changed name to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
  3. Going for cocktails causes Rei some wardrobe problems, but finally she decides to wear a Commander Salamander dress (25). Commander Salamander is a youth and music-oriented clothing store in Georgetown, Washington D.C. (Ginyard).
  4. Rei's mother tells her on the phone that Hugh was orinally supposed to stay at the Mark Hopkins, and Rei is devastated when she hears that her mother has cancelled the reservation (7). According to the web page InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco, The Mark Hopkins has long been one of San Francisco's finest hotels.
  5. Eager to get to know the city, Hugh is asking Rei questions about places like Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf and The Golden Gate Bridge (12). Coit Tower is one of the many tourist attractions in San Francisco. The tower is situated on Telegraph Hill, and offers an excellent view over the whole city (Malloy). Fisherman's Wharf is a San Francisco neighborhood located by the sea, very popular among tourists visiting the city (Joplin). The Golden Gate Bridge of course is the well-known bridge across the entrance to San Francisco bay and harbor.
  6. When Hugh sees Rei's home in Pacific Heights for the first time he is dumbfounded (15). Pacific Heights is a classy, expensive neighborhood in San Francisco with large, beautiful houses (Goldman et al.).
  7. Hugh and Rei are shopping for food in a place called the Real Food Company (26). The company's web pages reveal that it operates in San Francisco area, where it has three shops, all selling food grown in the most sustainable way possible.

One question arises from all these examples: do native readers really understand all the references to American culture in Massey's books? For a non-native reader almost all of them would have been left unknown without serious research.

Is Sujata Massey An American Author?

Even though Sujata Massey was not born in the U.S., and her parents came from other countries, she has definitely managed to absorb American culture. Her ability to write novels fluently in American English and her way of referring to American culture are both proof of that.

Works Cited

Other References Used But Not Cited

  • Cobuild Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Fifth edition. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.
  • Drew, Aaron. American-English/English-American Translation Guide. Consulted 15 November 2007.
  • Rekiaro, Ilkka, and Douglas Robinson. Gummeruksen englanti suomi englanti sanakirja. Third edition. Jyväskylä: Gummerus, 1999.

Top — US-1 'Second' Papers Index — US-1 'First' Papers Index — US-1 Class Schedule

Last Updated 22 November 2010