Kishū dialect


The Kishū dialect is a dialect of Japanese spoken in Wakayama and southern Mie prefectures. It is also called the Wakayama dialect in Wakayama.
The Kishu dialect is a member of the Kansai dialect group and is spoken in the area corresponding to the former Kii Province.

Classification

Linguist Minoru Umegaki classified the Kishu dialect as a part of the Kansai dialect group of Western Japanese, more specifically the Southern Kansai dialect. It shares this subgroup with the dialects of southern Nara Prefecture and eastern Mie Prefecture. It has been noted for possessing many archaic and uncommon features present in its phonology, syntax and vocabulary that are even more pronounced than those of the central Kansai region dialects. This is believed to be due to the travel-hindering mountainous terrain of the area, as well as its historical isolation from any major routes that connected eastern and western Japan.

Sub-divisions

The Kishu dialect within Wakayama Prefecture can be further divided into the Kihoku, Kichu and Kinan sub-dialects, as proposed by Eichi Murauchi in 1982. The Kichu sub-dialect and in particular the dialect around Tanabe retain Nidan verb conjugation as well as an older Keihan-style pitch accent. In contrast, the dialect of Higashimuro within the Kinan sub-dialect and areas close to Mie Prefecture possess a Tarui-style pitch accent as well as a more unique local variation. The various sub-divisions of the dialect are shown below.
Kishu dialect in Wakayama Prefecture
Within Mie Prefecture, the dialect can be further divided into Kitamuro and Minamimuro sub-dialects, as shown below.
Kishu dialect in Mie Prefecture
The Kishu dialect possesses phonological traits that are common in Kansai dialects. For example, monomoraic words are lengthened to two mora and long u sounds are shortened. For example, omouta is said omota and akaunaru is pronounced akonaru.

Diphthong merging

merging occurs in certain parts of the Kishu dialect area. Predominantly in southern Wakayama Prefecture, the diphthong ai merges to a long a sound. E.g., mizukusai is pronounced mizukusaa. In the north-easterly parts of the dialect area, ai instead becomes a long e. E.g., nai is said nee. Among the coastal districts of the southern dialect area, ai is merged to a long i sound, so that the soft interrogative sentence-ending particle kai is pronounced as kii and nai is said nii. Across much of the dialect area, the diphthong ie is merged to a long e sound, producing pronunciations like meeru instead of mieru and keeru instead of kieru. The diphthongs oi and ui do not experience merging, however. In Wakayama Prefecture, unlike in standard Japanese, the diphthong ei is not always merged to a long e sound. For example, sensei has its final i clearly pronounced. This is shared with fairly distant dialects such some Izu Islands dialects and the Kyushu dialect group.

Consonants

The consonant sounds s, r and w may be omitted in the Kishu dialect. For example, the s in okoshita would be dropped to become okoita, the r in bakkari would be lost to become bakkai and the w in wata would be omitted and said ata. When occurring directly after a shi sound, a t may be replaced with an s sound, a trait scattered across the Kansai region in several pockets. For example, ashita would be said ashisa and hanashita would become hanaisa. Sporadic geminate consonant insertion in certain words can also be seen. For example, fukai is pronounced fukkai and hoka ni is said hokka ni.

Inter-pronunciation of ''za, da'' and ''ra''

Speakers of the Kishu dialect in Wakayama Prefecture are noted for extensive use of the so-called za-da-ra henkan, which refers to the frequent inter-pronunciation of the mora located in the za column, the da column the ra column. Most typically, words containing a mora from the za column will have that sound replaced with the corresponding mora in the da column, whilst words with a mora from the da column will in turn be replaced with the corresponding mora in the ra column, with the vice versa also possible but less common. The table below outlines this phenomenon, with the arrows indicating the direction of phonetic change.
Za columnDa columnRa columnExample
Za →← Da →← Ra Karada → kadara
Ji →← Di →← Ri -
Zu →← Dzu →← Ru -
Ze →← De →← Re Zenzen → denden
Zo →← Do →← Ro Douzou → doudou

Za-da-ra inter-pronouncing is common across the Kansai region but is considered most striking in the Kishu dialect. The origins of this phenomenon are thought to be that voiced s-starting mora are phonetically close to affricatives, which may then lose their fricative element to become plosive. E.g., za → dza → da. In turn, the plosive d''-starting sounds may have their plosive element weakened to become closer to an r sound. E.g., da → ra. All in all, this produces the following interaction:
  • za → → dza → → da → → ra''
The extent to which this occurs depends on the individual speaker, and is also influenced by whether a dialect speaker is speaking casually or more formally.

''Yotsugana''

There is some debate over whether the yotsugana are distinguished in the Kishu dialect. Some have indicated that they are fully distinguished in the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture, with the existence of both ji and di and zu and dzu. Research from 1962 by Eiichi Murauchi, however, suggested that although this distinction once existed, it had already vanished from the dialect.

Pitch accent

The pitch accent of the Kishu dialect within Wakayama Prefecture is almost unanimously Keihan in style, with traditional characteristics even older than those of Kyoto, Kobe or Osaka remaining in the Tanabe area. In contrast, a stretch of land from Shingu in Wakayama as far as Kihoku in Mie Prefecture is renowned as having the most complex distribution of pitch accents in Japan. The different pitch accents found in the Kishu dialect and their areas of usage are shown below.
  • Keihan-style – Spoken across all of Wakayama Prefecture except for Shingu, Hongu and Kitayama. Within the Shingu area, everywhere south of Miwasaki also possesses a Keihan-style pitch accent. In certain areas including Nachikatsuura, words that usually have a rising pitch on their first mora in the Keihan-style pitch accent may lose this rise. For example, kaze ga would be pronounced kaze ga.
  • Tarui-style – Spoken in Hongu, with a similar version used in the central parts of Shingu.
  • Kumano-style – Spoken in the southern part of Owase, the coastal part of Kumano, Mihama, Kiho and Takada. According to Haruhiko Kindaichi, this pitch accent is in fact two separate accents: the Kinomoto-style and Atawa-style pitch accents. Yukihiro Yamaguchi instead classified this two as the same.
  • ‘Keihan-esque’-style – A pitch accent with similarities to the standard Keihan-style which is further divided into three sub-accents: the Nagashima-style spoken in Kihoku, the Owase-style spoken in the northern part of Owase and the Furue-style spoken in Furue, Owase.
  • Nairin Tokyo-style – A pitch accent related to the Tokyo-style spoken in southern Nara Prefecture that is spoken in the mountains of Kumano and Kitayama.

    Grammar

Verbs and ''i''-adjectives

Nidan conjugation of certain Ichidan verbs remains in the central parts of Wakayama Prefecture, particularly around Gobo and Tanabe, although which verbs are still considered Nidan varies depending on the area. There are also some verbs found in the Kishu dialect which do not exist in standard Japanese. For example, atakuru is used with the same meaning as ranbo suru and orayuru is an equivalent to sasaeru.
In and around Ito district and Hashimoto, ru-ending Ichidan verbs are conjugated as if they are Godan verbs. As an example, for the negative form of verbs, min becomes miran and taben becomes taberan.
Generally, the conjunctive form of i-adjectives experience the insertion of a u sound. E.g., akaku nai becomes akau nai. However, when the word stem contains an a vowel sound, for example takai, the mora within which the a sound is found may morph into either a long o or long a sound. In the case of takai, this would make the standard Japanese takaku nai become takou nai or takaa nai as opposed to takau nai.

Verbs of existence・Progressive and perfective aspects

In the coastal parts of Wakayama Prefecture as well as the plains alongside the Kinokawa River and in Minamimuro in Mie Prefecture, the verb aru is used for both living and non-living things, as opposed to iru for living things and aru for only non-living things. For example, sensei aru kai? as opposed to sensei iru kai or koko ni sensei wa nai. In the mountainous areas of Wakayama Prefecture, oru may be used in place of iru to indicate the existence of living things, and depending on the area, oru may also be used for non-living things. In recent years, however, usage of iru has been gradually spreading from the Kihoku area.
Like other West Japanese dialects, the Kishu dialect makes a distinction between the progressive aspects|progressive] and perfective aspect. Much like iru and aru in standard Japanese, it also makes use of aru and oru as modal verbs to express these aspects. Typically, in Western Japanese dialects the progressive aspect is formed from the -masu stem of a verb + oru, whilst the perfective aspect is formed from the -masu stem + te oru. For the progressive aspect, in Wakayama city and the districts of Kaiso and Naga, is most common, whilst in Ito district , and in Arida district are most common. In Mie Prefecture, the forms and are used in Minamimuro and Kitamuro, respectively. Although these forms are the most common, there also exist numerous other forms, as shown below using the example verb furu.
Progressive aspect in the Kishu dialect
-Wakayama city, Kaiso and Naka: futteru
-Ito district: futtoru
-Arida district: furiyaru
-Minamimuro: furiyaru / furiyaaru
-Kitamuro: furiyoru
Other forms: fucchaaru, fuccharu, futtaaru, futtaru, furaru, furyouru.
For the perfective aspect, in Wakayama city and the districts of Kaiso and Naka, is most used, whilst south of Hidaka district, is the most widespread. In Mie Prefecture, and are most common in Minamimuro and Kitamuro, respectively.
In recent years, the usage of has proliferated in the dialect, likely because of mass media and the increasing standardisation of Japanese.
Along the coastal parts of the Kinan region in Wakayama Prefecture, an archaic form that uses remains in use.

Bound auxiliaries

Copulas

Aside from the common Kansai dialect copulas, ya and ja, de and jo are also used. Among these, ja is most typically used by older speakers in mountainous parts of the dialect area. Below are some examples of these copulas in use.
  • Sou da yo, aitsu ga kinou totta no da yo could become sou jo, aitsu kin’no totta n jo.
  • Kore wa watashi no hasami da. Kinou katta no da could become kore washi no hasami de. Kinou kouta n de.

    Negation

The bound auxiliaries -n, -hen, -sen, -yan and -ran are all used to express negation in the Kishu dialect, although -n is the most widely used. -yan is also found in the Mie and Nara dialects and is common across much of the Kishu dialect area, except for in more mountainous areas. -hen can attach in a wide variety of ways to the preceding verb, depending on verb type and nuance. For Godan verbs like kaku, it attaches to the -nai stem to produce kakahen or kakehen. For Ichidan verbs ending in -iru, the verb’s -masu stem can either change to an e sound, e.g., minai becomes meehen or have a ya inserted after the -masu stem and prior to -hen, e.g., minai becomes miyahen. For Ichidan verbs ending in -eru, the -masu stem has its sound either lengthened becomes deehen or like for -iru ending Ichidan verbs has a ya inserted prior to -hen. The irregular verb kuru is conjugated much the same as -iru ending Ichidan verbs. E.g., konai becomes either keehen or kiyahen. The irregular verb suru is also conjugated similarly, so that shinai becomes either seehen or shiyahen. -ran is most common in mountainous areas and around Ito district. It can be considered as a ‘Godan-isation’ of Ichidan verbs due to how it attaches. For example, tabenai becomes taberan.

Causative

For Godan verbs, the bound auxiliary -su attaches to the -nai stem, like in kakasu . For all other verb types, including irregular verbs, the auxiliary -yasu or -sasu is attached instead. For example, misaseru becomes either miyasu or misasu, kosaseru becomes either kiyasu or kosasu, and saseru becomes either shiyasu or sasu. In Ito district, the causative form of Ichidan verbs may be conjugated as if they are Godan verbs, with -su added to the end. For example, miyasu or misasu would instead be said mirasu. In areas which retain Nidan conjugation rules, the bound auxiliary endings -suru and -sasuru are used, attaching to the -nai stem of verbs. For example, kakasuru and misasuru.

Passive・Potential

There are various bound auxiliaries used to express the passive and potential forms used in the Kishu dialect, with notable differences depending on region. For Godan verbs, the ending -reru is attached to the -nai stem across most of the dialect area. For example, ikareru or can go ). For other verb types the endings -rareru and -yareru are used. For example, taberareru and tabeyareru or can eat ). The irregular verb kuru is conjugated to korareru, kirareru or kiyareru , whilst suru is conjugated to serareru, shirareru or sareru . In some cases, the r sound of the re in -rareru and -yareru may be dropped to form the alternative endings -eru , -raeru and -yaeru . In areas with Nidan verb conjugation rules, the auxiliaries -ruru and -raruru are also used. In comparison with the auxiliaries listed above, it is noted that conjugating a particular verb into an -eru verb is more commonly used as a means of expressing potential in the Kishu dialect. For example, ikeru. In addition, the prefix you can also be used to express potential. For example, you iku or you ''ikan. An older variant of you, ee, may also be found in some areas. In Shingu and south Minamimuro, the endings -eru and -ereru are also used, attaching to the -masu stem like in kieru or kiereru'' .

Conjecture

For affirmative conjecture, the auxiliaries -yarou, -jarou and -rashii are used. Unlike in standard Japanese, a past affirmative conjectural auxiliary also exists: -tsurou, which is primarily used in the mountainous regions of the dialect area.
For negative conjecture or volition, the auxiliary -mai is used. Its method of attachment to verbs varies, with examples including: iku mai, ikomai, ikamai and ikahemai. Since other expressions like -nyaro and -ntoko are also used, the lack of usage of -mai itself is also considered a cause of this variation.

Imperatives

In Wakayama, the expressions -nsu and -sansu are used to express an imperative or prohibition. For example, sensu na is an equivalent to suru na and misansee is used as an equivalent to minasai yo. In Tanabe and other areas, older women use -mattensu, -maitensu and -matten, which attach to the -masu stem of verbs. These are all believed to be derived from -mashite desu, with desu sometimes also being said as densu in Tanabe and other areas.

Polite speech

The Kishu dialect is noted for its lack of equivalent words to the polite speech seen in other dialects. Put simply, regardless of an old-young, upperclassman-lowerclassman or boss-employee relationship, those of lower rank not using polite speech to those of higher rank is understood as customary and is accepted. In fact, using polite speech is often considered rude. Even at a national scale, this is an uncommon trend, seen only in the Tosa dialect and a few others.
Due to their lack of intuition regarding polite speech, Kishu natives who move to other prefectures often report difficulty in conversing. Since the spread of compulsory education, and along with an increasing assimilation into other Kansai dialects, there has been an increasing number of Kishu dialect speakers who use both a ‘Standard Kansai dialect’ or their own native dialect depending on the situation.
On the other hand, the Kishu dialect does retain certain archaic honorific titles, with the most well-known being the second-person pronoun omae. Omae may also be pronounced as oman or omahan in the Kishu dialect to indicate a degree of familiarity. Even if pronounced as simply omae, this can carry either a neutral connotation like anata or the same, rougher connotation found in other dialects. As these diverse usages of omae are no longer present in standard Japanese, Kishu dialect speakers are often misunderstood by those from other prefectures when using oman, omahan and omae.

Particles

Case-marking, binding and adverbial particles

In the mountainous parts of central and southern Wakayama Prefecture, the particle n is used as an equivalent to the nominative case-marking particle ga. In southern Mie Prefecture, the particles ga and wa are either pronounced as ya and a, respectively, or merged with the noun to which they attach. For example, umi ga can become unmya and kutsu ga may become kuttsa. In this case, the distinction between ga and wa is lost phonetically. In Kumano, the accusative case-marking particle wo is also merged with the preceding noun. Another particle, i, is used instead of the direction-marking particle he. In Kihoku, Wakayama, the formula is used as an equivalent to the formula to make a comparative statement. On the other hand, save for only southern Mie, the particles hoka, haka and hocha are used as an equivalent to the standard Japanese particle shika.

Conjunctive particles

The particle saka or sakai is used as a resultative conjunction or node. Sakai is widely used across the Kansai region. In southern Mie, de, monde and yotte are also used.

Sentence-ending particles

Various particles may be used in the Kishu dialect to express volition and/or persuasion. Most common is the particle ra, which attaches to an o-morphed -nai stem of verbs, like in ikora. In the Muro region of Mie Prefecture, in addition to ra, rai is used as an attitudinal expression to express respect to those of higher status than oneself, and rare is used for those of equal or lower status. In Kihoku, Wakayama Prefecture, the particle sou is used to express volition or persuasion, e.g., tabeyosou. In some areas the particles sora or sorayo are used instead.
In Wakayama Prefecture, the particles noshi or noushi are used mainly by older female speakers as respectful sentence-ending particles. They are the most respectful sentence-ending particles in the dialect and may also be used independently as interjectory particles. Usage of these particles is found in north-central Wakayama Prefecture, centred around Wakayama city, and including the districts of Naka, Kaiso, Arida and Hidaka. Usage can also be found along the coastal region of Higashimuro in the south as well as along the Kumano River and the Minamimuro region of Mie Prefecture. The land in between these areas does not use these particles. There are a couple of phonological variations of noshi and noushi that may be also heard, including nora, noura and yoshi. Of these, yoshi is noted for having little to no respectful nuance. Whereas na is used with those of the same or lower status as oneself, the particle nou is used in many parts of Wakayama Prefecture to express a nuance of affection towards the listener. In Kitamuro, Mie Prefecture, however, na is considered more refined than nou.