| Iyo dialect | |
| States: | Japan |
| Region: | Ehime |
| Speakers: | ? |
| Familycolor: | Altaic |
| Fam1: | Japonic |
| Fam2: | Japanese |
| Fam3: | Western Japanese |
| Fam4: | Shikoku |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Glotto: | iyob1237 |
| Glottorefname: | Iyo-ben |
| Ietf: | ja-u-sd-jp38 |
The of Japanese is spoken by people from Ehime Prefecture in Japan. The name is a remnant of the Ehime area's historical name, Iyo Province.
Accents vary somewhat by geography within the prefecture. The southern area is particularly influenced by the Kyūshū dialect, while the central and eastern districts have accents similar to Kansai dialect.
The Iyo dialect has numerous characteristics that differentiate it from standard Japanese grammar.
This leads to two alternate conjugations of the continuative form (～ている -te iru):
Example: "What are you doing?" (何してるの？ nani shiteru no? in standard Japanese) becomes either
Example: The second "What are you doing?" above, nani shiyoru no? is often contracted to nani shiyon? (何しよん？) or nani shon? (何しょん？)
Example: "Can't do" (できない dekinai in standard Japanese) becomes yō sen (ようせん）
"Can't go" (行けない ikenai in standard Japanese) becomes yō ikan （よう行かん)
These patterns are found mostly in the Nanyo (southern) region:
In combination with the alternate form of the continuative mentioned above, this is usually rendered as nani shiyoru ga? (何しよるが？)
This is thought to be a contraction along the lines of sō ya to itta ya → sō yatte ya → sōteya
Some of the vocabulary in the dialect is readily understandable by speakers of standard Japanese, but many items are so different as to cause significant confusion. An example often proffered by locals is kaku かく, "to move/carry". For instance, it might be used in the context of a classroom—"Move your desk" (机をかいて tsukue o kaite). This would be incomprehensible to a non-local; a speaker of standard Japanese would interpret this as either "draw a desk" or "scratch your desk".
| Iyo dialect | Standard Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| いぬ (inu) | 去る | to go away | |
| かく (kaku) | 担ぐ | to carry/to shoulder | |
| おらぶ (orabu) | 叫ぶ | to shout | |
| 行きし | 行く途中 | currently going/en route | |
| 帰りし | 帰る途中 | currently returning | |
| 帰ってこーわい | 帰ります | to go back/go home | |
| 行ってこーわい | 行ってきます | "I'm leaving" | |
| かまん (kaman) | 良い/構わない | good | |
| もげる(mogeru) | はずれる (hazureru) | to be disconnected | |
| つい (tsui) | 同じ/いっしょ (issho) | the same | |
| たいぎぃ (taigii) | しんどい/面倒くさい (shindoi) | tiring/bothersome | |
| ぬくい (nukui) | あたたかい (atatakai) | warm, mild | |
| むぐ (mugu) | むく (muku) | to peel, to skin |