Tosa dialect

The Tosa dialect is a dialect of Japanese spoken across most of Kochi Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku.

Classification

Shikoku dialects are divided into Western, Southern, and also occasionally Southwest. The Tosa dialect exists in a somewhat unique position due to being historically isolated from other prefectures because of the Shikoku Mountains.
Kochi Prefecture dialects are broadly divided into Western and Eastern-Central.

Western dialect - Shimanto, Tosashimizu, Sukumo, Otsuki, Mihara, Kuroshio, Shimanto, Yusuhara. Possesses a Tokyo standard pitch accent. Known as the 'Hata dialect’.
Eastern-Central dialect - All other areas in Kochi. Possesses a Keihan standard, or Tarui standard pitch accent. Known as the 'Tosa dialect’, and will be described in this article.

The coastal region from Muroto to Toyo has been influenced by the Tokushima Awa dialect and the Kinki dialects.

Phonology

The most notable phonetic traits of the Tosa dialect are as follows:

Virtually no silent vowels.
The diphthong ei is distinctly retained. For example: pronunciation of keisan in the Tosa dialect is keisan, as opposed to keesan in standard Japanese and Kansai dialects.
Among older speakers, a nasalised sound is inserted before g and d. Example: kagami → kangami.
Older speakers also differentiate between ji and di and zu and du . Ji is pronounced whilst di is pronounced, zu is pronounced whilst dzu is pronounced . In addition, tsu is sometimes pronounced tu.Shi sometimes becomes i . For example: doshita → doita, soshite → soite and ashita → aita.
In other Shikoku dialects and in the Kinki dialects, single-mora words tend to become lengthened like in te → tee or chi → chii, but this tendency is weaker in the Tosa dialect. Only third-class nouns such as ki and te are sometimes lengthened. However, mainly among the younger generation, increased interaction with other Shikoku dialects and the Kinki dialects through media has resulted in a continuing trend of lengthening all single-mora words.
Aside from northern Kochi, which has a Tarui standard pitch accent, a traditional Kyoto standard pitch accent is retained, much like in coastal Tokushima, in the city of Tanabe in Wakayama and in the central Kinki Region.

Grammar and Expressions

Grammatical Aspects

The Tosa dialect, like English, differentiates between perfect and progressive tenses. Perfect tense uses the Renyōkei form + chuu, choru, and chou, and progressive tense uses the Renyōkei form + yuu, yoru, and you.
For example, the question 「宿題やった?」 can be answered in the following ways without the use of adverbs.

Present progressive aspect:

「やりゆうき」
「（今）やっているよ」

Present perfect aspect:

「やっちゅうき」
「（もう）済ませているよ」

In the case of 「（し）よった」 yotta I was it is the past progressive aspect and for 「（し）ちょった」 chotta I had the past perfect aspect. The specification of perfect aspects is one of the characteristics of the dialects of western Japan.
With verbs such as 「死ぬ」 or 「消える」 where the change is instantaneous, the progressive aspect like 「死にゆう」 and 「消えゆう」 is used to express the sense of “...is about to...”. In the progressive aspect, the existential verb「ある」 expresses a specific duration of time.

Orders, Requests, and Prohibitives

Orders can be given using the Renyōkei form of verbs, which makes for a gentler expression than using the Meireikei form. 「や」 is often used, such as in 「行きや」 and 「見（ー）や」. 「-ておーせ・とーせ・とーぜ」 are used with subsidiary verbs like the formal「…してください」.
In cases such as「行かれん」（ikaren) which in standard Japanese is（行くな） and 「見られん」 which means the same as（見るな） in standard Japanese, the Mizenkei form of a verb plus 「れん・られん」 is used to indicate prohibition. This expression is also present in the Awa dialect and the Iyo dialect.

「いかんちや、せられん」
「ダメだよ、やっちゃダメ」

Additionally, the Renyōkei form of a verb can be used to express prohibition, such as in「行きな」 and 「見な」. This is also present in the Kansai dialect.

Conjecture

Expressions like「はれるろー」（晴れるだろう） and 「たかいろー」（高いだろう） are composed of the Shūshikei form of a conjugated word + 「ろー」 and are used to express conjecture. 「ろー」 originated as 「らむ」. Additionally, expressions like 「あっつろー」 or（あっただろう） in Standard Japanese and「たかかっつろー」 or（高かっただろう） in Standard Japanese use the Renyōkei form of a conjugated word + 「つろー」 and express conjecture in the perfect tense.
「-にかーらん」 correlates to 「-らしい」. It can also be used to express the comparison phrase “it’s like…”.

「あの店はラーメン屋に変わったにかあらん」
「あの店はラーメン屋に変わったらしい」
※This also includes the nuance of “no mistaking it”.