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な is generally masculine speech, but in this case you can't replace it with ね for neutral speech of the same meaning. いいね is just 'it's nice', while いいな implies envy or hope. If they can't say いいな, what would they say instead?

Angelos
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2 Answers2

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The one, which implies envy or hope is often written いいなあ, or even いいなあ～ and is absolutely fine for girls. I would almost say, that (especially in the envy-usage) is more often used by girls than guys, but this is maybe not a problem of speech, but more a problem of displaying envy via speech.

But there also is a manly いいな, but it has a different meaning.

dinogeist
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    also should emphasize that male-female distinctions are finally disappearing in japanese. so the answer the question "can girls say X?" is almost certainly yes. "do girls say X?" is more appropriate. – MichaelChirico May 06 '15 at 12:41
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    @MichaelChirico, any support for the statement that male-female distinctions are disappearing? Just curious, since it doesn't seem obvious to me. – dainichi May 06 '15 at 22:46
  • I certainly remember being told that, but I can only speak from experience as I don't know any sources for this kind of thing. But in my experience it's not uncommon for men to end sentences in わ (e.g. 違うわ), for women to use 僕, etc. (both are things that classes suggested were highly gender-specific) – MichaelChirico May 06 '15 at 23:50
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    @MichaelChirico By the way, it helps if you distinguish the gender-neutral わ with flat or falling intonation from the feminine わ with rising intonation. I think the former わ is used by both genders and the latter わ is mostly used in fiction (as [役割語](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BD%B9%E5%89%B2%E8%AA%9E)). –  May 07 '15 at 00:26
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    @Michaeol: Textbook's explanation about gender difference in speech is inaccurate in the first place. Saying "male-female distinctions are finally disappearing in japanese" is not true. Pre-modern days, there are almost no differences. After migration to Tokyo, men sticked to their own (ore), women adopted Tokyo's (watashi), now most regidents are decendants of them. Around 100 years ago, a slangy speech became a fad among girls. After WW2, some linguists insisted (fabricated?) that's a tradition. Now, the influenced generation has been pushed. – user4092 May 07 '15 at 02:45
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    male-female distinctions are *not* disappearing in japanese. – oldergod May 07 '15 at 05:22
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In the first place, な is not originally masculine or so.

ね is a version of な when you talk to other people, in other words, when you talk to yourself, it's nothing for women to use it. It may sound rough only after you use な in talking to other people.

user4092
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