Nanbu dialect


The Nanbu 'dialect' is a Japanese dialect spoken in an area corresponding to the former domains of Morioka and Hachinohe in northern Tohoku, governed by the Nanbu clan during the Edo period. It is classified as a Northern Tohoku dialect of the wider Tohoku dialect group.
The Nanbu dialect is spoken across an expansive area covering the eastern half of Aomori Prefecture, the northern and central parts of Iwate Prefecture and the northwestern corner of Akita Prefecture. There is considerable regional variation, owed to factors such as varying degrees of contact with other areas per region, usually dictated by natural barriers and proximity to busy ports. On account of its widespread area, definitions of the ‘Nanbu dialect’ can vary depending on prefecture and speaker, with narrower definitions referring only to the local variety as opposed to the dialect as a whole.

Spoken area and regional variation

Aomori Prefecture

As a former territory of the Tsugaru clan, the western half of Aomori is home to the Tsugaru dialect, a separate variety to the Nanbu dialect. The remainder of the prefecture was a part of the domains of Morioka and Hachinohe, ruled by the Nanbu clan. This division forms the broadest demarcation of dialects in Aomori Prefecture. There are three sub-dialects of the Nanbu dialect in Aomori, based on former district boundaries. These include:
Of these, the Shimokita dialect is the most individually distinct, sometimes being classified separately and thus narrowing the definition of the ‘Nanbu dialect’ to just the Kamikita and Sanpachi dialects. Whilst being foundationally Nanbu in most aspects, frequent contact with other regions as a result of shipping in the Mutsu Bay has left elements of the Tsugaru and Hokkaido dialects in its vocabulary, phonology, etc. Additionally, as the population of Shimokita became increasingly urbanised during the 20th century, the growing regional and cultural centre of Hachinohe and its surrounding areas even came to be ascribed its own dialect, the ‘Hachinohe dialect’.

Iwate Prefecture

Northern and central Iwate Prefecture were formerly a part of the Hachinohe and Morioka domains under the Nanbu clan. Southern Iwate, however, was a part of the Date clan-ruled Sendai and Ichinoseki domains. Consequently, dialects in Iwate Prefecture are separated into a Central-North dialect which stretches across the former Nanbu Domain area, and a Southern dialect that corresponds to the former Sendai Domain area. The Central-North dialect is a part of the Northern Tohoku dialect group, whilst the Southern dialect belongs to the Southern Tohoku dialect group. Reflecting the naming of the Central-North dialect in the former Nanbu clan territory as the ‘Nanbu dialect’, the Southern dialect of the Date clan territory is sometimes also called the ‘Date dialect’.
When sub-dividing the Central-North Nanbu dialect in Iwate Prefecture, the following three divisions are made.
  • Northern dialect - Areas bordering Akita and Aomori prefectures.
  • Central dialect - Inland region centred around Morioka.
  • Coastal dialect - Coastal region. Parts of the Southern dialect area are also included.

    Akita Prefecture

As a former territory of the Nanbu clan, the Kazuno Region in Akita Prefecture is classified as separate from other dialects in the prefecture.

Phonology

The Nanbu dialect shares various phonetic traits with other Northern Tohoku dialects. Although speakers of Tohoku dialects commonly do not distinguish between the sounds shi and su, chi and tsu and ji and zu, in the Coastal dialect of Iwate Prefecture a distinction is made. In this article, the characteristic Tohoku dialect nasalisation that occurs before voiced mora will be denoted with a n.
The Nanbu dialect has a gairin Tokyo standard pitch accent. Pitch rises on a single mora, like in atama ga, compared to atama ga in Tokyo. As a general rule, fourth- and fifth-class two-mora nouns have a rising first mora. In areas such as Morioka and central Iwate however, if the second mora of such words contains a wide vowel they may have a rising final mora, like in ito. In turn, this type of change does not occur in areas like Hachinohe or the Sanriku Kaigan coastal area.

Grammar and syntax

Inflection

Verbs

is essentially identical to standard Japanese, save for a few exceptions. For Godan verbs, the standard volitional form ~shiyo is replaced with be or be. For example, kako becomes kaku be. In Iwate Prefecture, certain archaic hypothetical forms remain in use. For example, kakeba can become either kagenba or the more antiquated kaganba. Likewise, okireba becomes ogirenba or the archaic ogiranba. In Ashiro and other parts of north-west Iwate and Aomori, the u-ending yodan verb kau changes to a ru-ending. The plain form of the irregular verb suru can be either shi, su, suru or shiru, although shi and su tend to be most common. The negative form of suru, shinai, may become either shinea or sanea, whilst the hypothetical form sureba typically becomes senba . Lastly, the imperative form of suru, shiro, becomes se''.

Adjectives

Examples of i-adjectives having their inflection affected by diphthong merging can be seen in the Nanbu dialect. For example, the diphthong ai merges to a ɛ, so that the plain form of takai becomes tageh. In some areas, the connective form is also affected, resulting in tagehguneh and tagehgatta . In areas where diphthong merging does not occur on the connective form, tagakuneh and tagagatta are used instead. Unlike in the Tsugaru dialect, which uses -kuteatta for the past tense form of adjectives, the Nanbu dialect shares the standard Japanese inflection -katta. The particle be can attach to i-adjectives either directly onto the plain form = akai daro ) or onto the archaic -gari inflection. -Ba attaches directly onto the hypothetical form of adjectives, like in suzushinba. In Aomori, the inflection style may also be used.
Depending on area, the attributive form of na-adjectives can be either -na like in shizuga na mori, or -da such as in shizuga da mori. For the hypothetical form, -ndara, like in shizugandara, is used in Aomori whilst the form -ndaranba, such as in shizugandaranba is used in Iwate. -ndaranba can also be said as -ndanba.

Particles

Several forms exist for expressing possibility in the Nanbu dialect. The first is similar to the standard form, the second is to attach ni-ii or ni-ee to the plain form of verbs, like in yomu ni-ii and the third is to attach -eru to the -nai stem, such as in yomaeru. To express causation, -seru attaches to the -nai stem of verbs, like in kagaseru . To express a ‘self-occurring’ action, -saru is attached to the -nai stem of verbs.
As also mentioned above, the volition and conjecture-expressing particle be can be found in the Nanbu dialect, and attaches to the plain form of verbs and adjectives. For example, ogirube. For Ichidan verbs, be sometimes attaches to the stem form, whilst for i-adjectives be can also attach to the -karu form. For conjecture, gotta = furu daro ) is sometimes used, with yonta, mitta and yotta also used in Aomori. Gotta is unique to the Nanbu dialect, and is not used in neighbouring dialects like the Akita or Tsugaru dialect.
For past tense, in Iwate Prefecture -tatta is used to reminiscently express something personally experienced or observed. In contrast, -takke is used for past facts heard through hearsay.

Case-marking particles・Binding particles

The nominative case-marking particle ga and binding particle wa are normally omitted in the Nanbu dialect. The accusative particle o is also commonly omitted, but in cases of emphasis ba and goto are sometimes used. Sa is commonly used as an equivalent to  ni in standard Japanese.

Conjunctions

For resultatives that express reason, in the Nanbu Region of Aomori suke/shike is mainly used, whilst sute/shite and hende are used in Shimokita and San’nohe, respectively. Suke/shike and sute/shite are variant forms of sakai in the Kinki dialects. Aside from the predominantly used kara, in northern Iwate honte, hede and sukee are also used, whilst dasu is used in central areas.
For adversatives equivalent to keredo, domo is used predominantly from North-Central Iwate to the Aomori Nanbu Region, whilst tate, tatte, bate and batte are used in Shimokita. Domo is widely used in Northern Tohoku dialects, whilst batte is shared with the Tsugaru dialect and tatte is unique to Shimokita.
For hypothetical resultatives, in addition to -ba, dara and gottara are sometimes attached to the plain form of verbs and adjectives.
omae mo kagu-, ore mo kagu = omae mo kaku no naraba watashi mo kaku.

Sentence-ending expressions

The sentence-ending and interjectory particle na is used in Iwate by both sexes. In North-Central Iwate, women use nahan to express closeness with the listener, whilst the polite expression nassu is used by both men and women. The particles na and ne are used in Aomori, becoming polite if su or shi is attached to them. Nesu is used in inland parts of the Nanbu Region in Aomori, with a tendency to change to nehsu, whilst nasu is found from the coastal area around Hachinohe to Iwate Prefecture. A variant form of nasu, nasa is used by women in Hachinohe, whilst nisu or nusu is said in Shimokita.