How do Japanese make language sound old (e. g. in historical dramas)?

Question

When English speakers try to make a text sound old (like in historical dramas), they for example use "thou" together with the "-st" verb ending.

What's the equivalent in Japanese, i.e. what kind of old fashioned grammar and vocabulary are used in works of historical fiction, irrespective of whether they are actually accurate?

What immediately comes to my mind is the use of が instead of の, as well as old-fashioned personal pronouns like [身]{み}. Furthermore, usage of ござる seems to be a characteristic of ninja-like speech.

Answer 1

The words and phrases vary by time, by occasion, and even by class. Just top of the mind, even the simplest words like “I” and “you” can be expressed in dozens of different ways in old-style Japanese, according to the status of the speaker, situations, by profession, by sex, and by time.

For instance in Edo-era “I” was expressed as

• [俺]{おれ}、[儂]{わし}、[手前]{てまえ}、[奴枯]{やつがれ}、こちとら

  in commoners class.

• 身ども、[拙者]{せっしゃ}、それがし, [吾輩]{わがはい}、[乃公]{だいこう}

  in Samurai class.

• [予]{よ}

  in Noble’s class.

"You" was expressed as

• お前、[手前]{てめえ}、うぬ

  in commoners class.

• [貴様]{きさま}、[貴殿]{きでん}、お[主]{ぬし}、ご[同輩]{どうはい}

  in Samurai class,

• そなた、そこ[許]{もと}、[汝]{なんじ}、おのれ

  in the noble’s class.

One instance shows all the rest. I don’t think there is a universal way and simplistic method to express things in old style. You need to learn expressions one by one by reading /studying classic Japanese literature of each period.

Answer 2

• Using archaic personal pronouns: For example, それがし and 拙者 are the two typical samurai-sh first person pronouns widely used by fictional samurai/ninja characters. And 汝 is a common and pompous pronoun which may be used in place of "thou". You can easily find the list of such pronouns elsewhere.
• Using archaic vocabulary: There is a dedicated dictionary for archaic Japanese words. If you seriously simulate old Japanese, almost no one would be able to understand it. But picking one or two archaic words might add the desired atmosphere.
• Using archaic grammar: You know that in modern Japanese, た is to form the past tense or perfect aspect, よう is to express a volition, etc. In archaic Japanese, these were quite different. For example, 彷徨った can be rendered into 彷徨える, 行こう into 行かん, and so on, to make them sound archaic. You may typically see these in modern works of fantasy. Unfortunately it's more complicated than simple "you are → thou art" transformation, but here's a starter.

Note that the Japanese language is full of stereotypical "role expressions", so even in fiction, old noble people, samurai and ordinary people speak quite differently.

Answer 3

There are already good answers, so I’d like to just introduce a couple of easy words that make a sentence sound old.

　

「る」

If る is added after ます, the sentence becomes old-fashioned. For example,

「聞こえます。」 - modern

「聞こえまする。」 - old

“(I) hear (it).”

and

「致しかねます。」 - modern

「致しかねまする。」 - old

“(I) couldn’t do (something).”

　

「ぬ」

Using ぬ in a negative sentence also sounds old-fashioned. For example,

「そうは思わない。」 - modern

「そうは思わぬ。」 - old

“(I) don’t think so.”

and

「存じません。」 - modern

「存じませぬ。」 - old

“(I) don’t know.”

This kind of ぬ was actually used a lot by various class of people in old periods, and it’s easy for today’s people to understand the old-fashioned taste and the meaning, so ぬ-sentences commonly appear in almost all of Japanese historical fictions.

Answer 4

左様な頼み事に拙者如きが答ゑぬのも忝い。然れど野暮用の為之にて御免仕る。

そのような頼み事に私のようなものが答えないことは申し訳ない。しかし用事があるため、ここで失礼します。