Nagasaki dialect
The Nagasaki dialect is the name given to the dialect of Japanese spoken on the mainland part of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. It is a major dialect of the wider Hichiku group of Kyushu Japanese, with similarities to the Chikuzen and Kumamoto dialects, among others. It is one of the better known Hichiku dialects within Japan, with various historical proverbs that relate to its regional flavour.
Sub-dialects
There are several regional sub-dialects of the broader Nagasaki dialect, which are commonly divided into two main groups: Central-Southern and Northern. Of these, the Central-Southern dialect is further divided as shown below.Central-Southern 'sub-dialect- * Nagasaki – Nagasaki city.
- * Sonogi – Omura, Sonogi district and Saikai.
- * Isahaya – Isahaya city, Yagami and Toishi.
- * Shimabara – Unzen, Shimabara city and Minamishimabara.
Phonology
Diphthongs
The diphthongs ai, oi and ui experience merging in the Nagasaki dialect. For example, the dai- in daikon becomes jaa- to make jaakon, ototoi becomes ototee and suika is said shiika. Conversely, the diphthong ei is unaffected, so that tokei is pronounced the same as in standard Japanese. Like other Kyushu dialects, the long o'' sound derived from the diphthongs oo, ou or eu is pronounced uu. Examples of diphthong merging in the Nagasaki dialect are shown below.Long o becoming a long u:- * Kyou becomes ky
Consonants
Unlike other Kyushu dialects, the Nagasaki dialect does not distinguish between the yotsugana and zi, and zu and dzu. The consonants ga, gi, gu, ge and go lose their vowel sounds to become simply g / . There remain some sounds in the Nagasaki dialect spoken predominantly by older speakers which are not found in standard Japanese. These include she and je, which are now commonly pronounced as se and ze by younger speakers, as well as the labialized velar consonants kwa and gwa. The r-starting consonants, ri, ru, re and ro ) can also experience elision when found within a word, leading to the omission of the consonant sound. For example, are becomes ai.Nasalised ''n'' (ん) and geminate consonant (っ) insertion
In the Nagasaki dialect, ru-ending verbs may have their eponymous ending replaced with a geminate consonant. For example, kuru becomes ku- and kangaeru becomes kangayu-. Similarly to ru-ending verbs, the plain dialectal form of i- and na- adjectives may also have its ending changed to a geminate consonant. E.g., takaka becomes takka. Aside from when starting a word, n-starting consonants, ni, nu, ne, no ) and m-starting consonants, mi, mu, me め, mo ) often change to a nasalised n. For example, inu becomes in and tsumetai becomes tsuntaka.Phonology of the Shimabara sub-dialect
The sub-dialect of Shimabara possesses several notable phonological differences with the rest of the Nagasaki dialect area. Certain s-starting voiced consonants, ze, zo ) become pronounced with a leading d / instead, resulting in pronunciations closer to da, de and do. In addition, ri and ryo may be said as zi and dzo, respectively. i'' / may also be replaced by a u / sound so that tori becomes toru and awabi becomes awabu''.Pitch accent
The Central-Southern sub-dialect group of the Nagasaki dialect possesses a so-called ‘second-type’ pitch accent of the wider southwestern Kyushu-standard pitch accent. It shares this trait with Kagoshima Prefecture and the western part of Kumamoto Prefecture. This pitch accent has generally consistent rules which change based on the number of mora and type of word; second-type pitch accent distinguishes between two major noun types, ‘A’ and ‘B’. ‘A’-type nouns are generally pronounced with a higher pitch towards the start of the word. For example, kaze or katachi. This higher pitch never exceeds the second mora, regardless of the length of the word. In contrast, ‘B’-type nouns are pronounced with a higher pitch only on the final mora. For example, haru or kaminari. Pitch accent can change when particles are attached to the word. For ‘A’-type nouns, an extra particle could ‘extend’ the length of a two-mora noun so that it is usually non-accented second mora is stressed. For example, kaze becomes kaze when the particle ga is attached to. Similarly, ‘B’-type nouns can have the stress usually found on their final mora transferred to the addended particle instead. For example, haru becomes haru when ga is attached. Among younger speakers, ‘A’-type nouns can have the stress on their first mora transferred to the second mora when a particle is attached, so that kaze ga becomes kaze ga. Additionally, in regions close to Saga Prefecture and around Shimabara city, ‘A’-type nouns may not have their stress extended to the second mora when a particle is addended. E.g., kaze ga remains kaze ga. The table below shows some examples of pitch accent in the Central-Southern Nagasaki sub-dialect.| Noun type | Two-mora | Three-mora | Four-mora |
| A | Kaze Chi ga | Katachi Kaze ga | Kamaboko Katachi ga |
| B | Haru Te ga | Inochi Haru ga | Kaminari Inochi ga |
Unlike the Central-Southern sub-dialects, the Northern sub-dialect does not possess any discernible pitch accent, with all words pronounced flat.
Grammar
Verbs
The inflection of verbs differs considerably between the Nagasaki dialect and standard Japanese. The table below shows the differences in conjugation between Standard Japanese and the Nagasaki dialect for the Ichidan verb ukeru.| Form | Standard Japanese | Nagasaki dialect |
| Plain/dictionary | Ukeru | Ukuru |
| Negative | Ukenai | Uken |
| Uke- | Uke- | |
| Hypothetical | Ukereba | Ukureba |
| Imperative | Ukero | Ukero |
Traditionally, for the volitional and persuasive form, Ichidan verbs with an -iru ending are conjugated with a palatalised -u sound. For example, okiru is conjugated to okyuu as opposed to okiyou . Likewise, some former Nidan verbs such as deru are palatalised or zuu instead of deyou ). A more recent conjugation pattern has also emerged in which Ichidan and former Nidan verbs are conjugated as if they are Godan verbs. E.g., okirou and dero.
The te- and past tense form of certain verbs experience euphony in the Nagasaki dialect. These include verbs ending in -u'', -bu and -mu, as well as those ending in -su. For the former three, a u sound is inserted as shown in the examples below.U-ending verb example: kau
- *
- *
For polite speech, the Nagasaki dialect makes use of the bound auxiliary -masu, albeit often with geminate consonant insertion. For example, shirimasen may be said as shirimassen. Like standard Japanese, speakers of the Nagasaki dialect may contract the hypothetical form of verbs. For example, kakeba may be said kakya and sureba, surya''.
Adjectives
Like other Hichiku dialects, the Nagasaki dialect possesses several notable differences regarding i-adjectives when compared to standard Japanese. For the plain and attributive form, the eponymous ending -i is replaced with ka. For example, akai becomes akaka and shiroi becomes shiroka. The connective -ku is contracted to -u, leading to conjugations such as younaka . The continuative form, -kute, is changed to -shite, so that yokute is said youshite. Unlike standard Japanese, which simply addends darou to the end of all adjective types to express conjecture, i''-adjectives in the Nagasaki dialect can be conjugated. -rou is added to the plain form to create expressions such as yokarou or shirokarou. Alternatively, an equivalent to darou, jarou, can be directly added to the end of the adjective like in yokajarou or shirokajarou. For the hypothetical form, -kereba is changed to -kareba, which may be contracted to -karya. For example: yokareba / yokarya. For expressing conjecture about the state of something, -sshasuru is used. For example, ureshigaru becomes uresshasuru. Lastly, -sa may be added to the stem of i-adjectives to express exclamation. For example, umasaa!.Like i''-adjectives, na-adjectives often have ka attached in place of a copula for their plain and attributive forms. For example, genki da becomes genki ka. Some na-adjectives may have na inserted in addition to ka, producing forms such as hen na ka .
Bound auxiliaries
Copula and negative form
The Nagasaki dialect makes use of the copulas ja and ya. In practice, however, they rarely appear in these forms, appearing instead as conjugated versions. For example, the past tense and yatta or hypothetical and yarou forms. There is also a marked disparity in usage of ja and ya between older and younger speakers, with older speakers preferring jatta and jarou and younger speakers tending towards yatta and yarou. In place of ja and ya, the sentence-ending particles bai and tai are also commonly used as declaratives.For the present tense negative, n is attached to the -nai stem. For example, ikanai becomes ikan. Aside from the attachment of n'', certain Ichidan verbs may be conjugated akin to Godan verbs, so that okinai may not be conjugated in the Nagasaki dialect as okin but as okiran. For the past tense negative, -njatta or -nyatta is attached to the -nai stem. For example, ikanakatta becomes ikanjatta or ikanyatta. In Hirado and the Kitamatsu area, -jatta is added to the -nai'' stem instead.
Progressive and perfective aspects
Like other Kyushu dialects, the Nagasaki dialect makes a distinction between the progressive aspects|progressive] and perfective aspects. Generally, -yoru is used to express a progressive state whilst -toru is used for completed actions. However, in some parts of the dialect area -choru may be used in place of -toru, and in the Isahaya sub-dialect -oru is sometimes used for the progressive aspect instead of -yoru. The table below shows how these auxiliaries attach to the Godan verb furu.| Nagasaki dialect | Standard Japanese | |
| Progressive aspect ‘It is raining’ | Furiyoru Furioru | Futteiru |
| Perfective aspect ‘It has rained’ | Futtoru Fucchoru | Futteiru |
Conjecture and hearsay
In addition to jarou and yarou, verbs and i-adjectives can also have their form changed to express conjecture in the Nagasaki dialect. For i-adjectives, -rou is attached to the plain form like in nakarou = nai darou. For verbs, -u is often attached to the -nai stem and palatalised, then dai is added to the end. For example, hareru darou becomes haryuu dai. Around Nagasaki city, dai is not added, so that the form above is simply haryuu. When expressing conjecture regarding the state of something or its likeness, the bound auxiliaries goto, gotoaru and gotaru are used. For expressing hearsay about something, the bound auxiliary rashika and the particle gena are used.Potential
The Nagasaki dialect makes a distinction between so-called ‘ability potential’ and ‘situational potential’. Ability potential refers to someone or something being able or unable to do something due to their internal ability. For example, a child cannot ride a bike because they are too small. In contrast, situational potential places the condition for potential to do something on an external locus. For example, a man cannot eat a fish because it has gone off. For ability potential, the bound auxiliaries -kiru and yuru are attached to the -masu stem of Godan verbs and some Nidan verbs, respectively. Whilst -yuru is widespread across Kyushu, -kiru is found exclusively in Nagasaki and Saga Prefectures. For situational potential, the bound auxiliaries -ruru and -raruru are attached to the -nai stem of certain Nidan verbs. Exclusively in the dialect of Nagasaki city, -dasan may also be used to express inability by attaching to the -masu stem of verbs. The example sentences below show uses of the potential bound auxiliaries mentioned above.Ability potential:- * Mada chiisai node jitensha ni norenai
- * Kono gohan wa kusatteiru kara taberarenai yo.
- * Machi e ikou to omotteita ga, isogashikute ikenakatta.
Polite speech
The Nagasaki dialect makes use of various bound auxiliaries to express politeness, with some variation across the dialect area. Across most of Nagasaki, -naru and -nasaru are attached to the -masu stem of verbs whilst -su and -ru are attached to the -nai stem of Godan verbs and the irregular verb suru. Meanwhile, -rasu and -raru are used for all other verb types. The city of Oomura and its surrounding area shares usage of the polite bound auxiliary -nasu with the Kumamoto dialect, whilst two additional polite bound auxiliaries, -sharu and -nsharu, are commonly used in the Isahaya sub-dialect.Particles
Case-marking, adverbial, and binding particles
The Nagasaki dialect possesses a number of particles that are not found in standard Japanese, with many of them shared with other Hichiku dialects. The nominative case-marking particle is replaced by no or n, whilst to is used in place of the explanatory and soft interrogative particle no. Furthermore, the accusative case-marking particle wo is replaced by ba. There are numerous particles used to indicate direction, including san, shan and same. Ni itself is commonly abbreviated to i, which often merges with the preceding word. To describe the goal of an action, the particle gya is widely used. The particle kara is used to express a method or means of doing something. The adverbial particle wa, used to indicate a new topic, is changed to na when following a nasal n sound. For example, hon wa becomes hon’na ''. The following sentences provide examples of the particles listed above in everyday conversation.Sensei ga irasshatta → Sensei no korashita Hana no kirei na no wo katte kita yo → Hanan kireka to ba koute kita bai Kore wa dare no? → Koi dai n to? Gakkou ni → Gakkei Mi ni iku → Mi gya iku Basu de iku → Basu kara iku''Conjunctive particles and related phrases
Across most of the Nagasaki dialect area, the reason-expressing resultative conjunctive particle kara is replaced by ken or kee. To express a greater degree of emphasis, the particles kenka and kenga may also be used. In the Northern sub-dialect, the Shimabara sub-dialect, as well as in the coastal parts of the Sonogi dialect area, sen or shen are also used. The phrases sori ken and soi ken are used as equivalents to sou da kara.The adversative resultative conjunctive particle keredomo has a variety of equivalents in the Nagasaki dialect depending on area. Most common are the particles batten, batte and their more emphatic counterparts battenka and battenga. In the Isahaya, Sonogi and northern Shimabara sub-dialects, don and jon are also used. The phrases sojjon, soru batten, soi batten and sogan batten are all used as equivalents to the phrase sou da kedo.
There are a wide variety of particles used to express resultative hypotheticals in the Nagasaki dialect, with usage depending on area. These particles are outlined below.Gi, gin and ginta : spoken in and around Sasebo.Ginya : spoken in the eastern part of the Sonogi sub-dialect area.Gitto : spoken in the Isahaya sub-dialect.Gira : spoken in the northern part of the Shimabara Peninsula.Girya : spoken in the southern part of the Shimabara Peninsula.
In the Sonogi area, the conjunctive phrases aiba and naiba are commonly used as equivalents to the phrase sore nara.
For adversative hypotheticals, the particles ten and taccha are used.
Sentence-ending and interjectory particles
The particles bai and tai are used in place of the copulas ja and ya, attaching directly to nouns. Bai is often used for affirming one's own subjective conclusions about something and also as a soft explanatory particle, whereas tai is used for self-evident, objectively true facts or situations. There are several variations of the standard bai and tai particles, including bana, ban and baita for the former and taa and tan for the latter.The particles i and de are used following the volitional form of verbs to express an added element of emphasis or persuasion. E.g., ikou yo becomes ikou i and yameyou yo becomes yamyuu de.
Like standard Japanese, the Nagasaki dialect makes frequent use of the sentence-ending particles na, no and ne, with ne used frequently by younger speakers. The interjectory particle sa is also commonly used. Among female speakers, the particles he and tohe are also widely used.
In the eastern part of the Sonogi sub-dialect area, the sentence-ending particle zan acts as an equivalent to all three of the sentence-ending particles zo, yo and ne. In the bay area of western Sonogi as well as in the Kitamatsu region, zai is also used with the same meaning.
The particle nai is commonly used as an affirmative response marker in the Northern sub-dialect. Female speakers in the Nagasaki city area use haisaa with the same meaning as nai.
There are several regional variations of the interrogative case-marking particle ka. In the Isahaya area, kan is often heard, whilst kanashi or kanaashi is used in northern Shimabara and kanai is said in southern Shimabara.
The Isahaya area features several commonly used sentence-ending particles which are used to denote a degree of politeness. These are: nata or nataa, and nomai. Nata and nataa are derivations of the phrase naa anata and nomai is derived from the phrase naa omae.