What's the difference in usage and nuance between やはり and やっぱり?

Question

I know that we say にっぽん instead of にほん when we want to inject a little national pride into the word, but I've never had a good understanding of the difference in meaning/nuance/usage between やはり and やっぱり.

I would guess that there is some variation in some combination of politeness, formality, familiarity etc, but I haven't had enough experiences with them to pin down where they sit on that graph.

score 16 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '11 at 13:08

16

やはり is more formal (e.g. appropriate for superiors & business). People say やっぱり all the time, including in business.

Written scholarly works would most certainly use やはり. Shibuya gals would most certainly use やっぱり. There's a wide range in between.

answered Jun 02 '11 at 13:08

makdad

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+1 During very formal speeches, for instance at conferences, the speaker does not use やっぱり, always やはり. – Nicolas Raoul Jun 03 '11 at 01:50
This should be the accepted answer. – InvalidBrainException Sep 19 '17 at 12:59

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 14 '16 at 05:43

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やっぱり「矢っ張り」 is a bit stronger in sense than やはり「矢張り」, but most of the time, it is a personal preference.

There are some more versions of やはり like

やっぱし、やっぺし、やっぴし、and also やっぱ is widely used.

edited Feb 14 '16 at 05:43

chocolate

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answered Jun 02 '11 at 13:08

YOU

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Wasn't aware of the stronger sense. That would make sense why I don't hear やっぱり used to superiors. – makdad Jun 02 '11 at 13:09
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「やっぺし」「やっぴし」って・・・? 若者言葉ですか、それとも方言ですかね・・・。 – chocolate Feb 14 '16 at 05:46
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やっぴしは近世語のようです。やっぺしは東北方言（？）で、たぶんこれは「やるべし」の転なので、どちらも意味が違うと思いますね。 – broccoli forest Feb 15 '16 at 09:04

What's the difference in usage and nuance between やはり and やっぱり?

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