| Kagoshima Japanese | |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /ja/ or pronounced as /ja/ |
| Also Known As: | Satsugū, Satsuma |
| States: | Japan |
| Region: | Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture |
| Speakers: | ? |
| Familycolor: | Altaic |
| Fam1: | Japonic |
| Fam2: | Japanese |
| Fam3: | Kyūshū |
| Dia1: | Satsuma |
| Dia2: | Southern Satsuma |
| Dia3: | North-Western Satsuma |
| Dia4: | Ōsumi |
| Dia5: | Morokata |
| Dia6: | Koshikijima |
| Dia7: | Tanegashima |
| Dia8: | Yakushima |
| Dia9: | Tokara |
| Script: | Japanese, Latin |
| Map: | Satsugu_dialects.png |
| Mapcaption: | Satsugū dialect area (orange) |
| Isoexception: | dialect |
| Glotto: | sats1241 |
| Glottorefname: | Satsugū |
| Lingua: | 45-CAA-ah[1] |
The, often referred to as the, is a group of dialects or dialect continuum of the Japanese language spoken mainly within the area of the former Ōsumi and Satsuma provinces now incorporated into the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima. It may also be collectively referred to as the Satsuma dialect (Japanese: 薩摩方言 or Japanese: 薩摩弁), owing to both the prominence of the Satsuma Province and the region of the Satsuma Domain which spanned the former Japanese provinces of Satsuma, Ōsumi and the southwestern part of Hyūga. The Satsugū dialect is commonly cited for its mutual unintelligibility to even its neighboring Kyūshū variants,[2] [3] [4] prompting the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to classify it as a distinct language in the Japanesic branch in its Glottolog database.[5] It shares over three-quarters of the Standard Japanese vocabulary corpus[6] [7] [8] and some areal features of Kyūshū.
The boundaries of the Satsugū dialect are traditionally defined as the former region controlled by the Satsuma Domain, which primarily encompassed the main portion of the Kagoshima Prefecture, located in the southern part of Japan's Kyushu Island, and a small part of the Miyazaki Prefecture to the East. For precision, this area could be further separated into three distinct branches of the Satsugū dialect: the Satsuma dialect spoken in western Kagoshima, the Ōsumi dialect spoken in eastern Kagoshima, and the Morokata dialect spoken in the southwesternmost part of the Miyazaki Prefecture.[9]
However, the dialectal differences are much more localized making this three-way distinction superficial. Variations in pronunciation, words, expressions and grammatical constructions may occur between neighboring cities, towns and villages, with peripheral islands exhibiting greater divergence due to isolation. As such, Satsugū may be considered a dialect continuum, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. By this token, all major areas of the mainland - including Satsuma, Ōsumi, Morokata, and possibly also a small fraction of southern Kumamoto - may form a single, closely related dialect branch with no precise boundaries due to continuous contact between the regions. Conversely, the peripheral islands are easier to distinguish and seemingly form three distinct, but related clades associated with the proximity of the islands. These would be: the Koshikijima Islands to the West, the Ōsumi Islands directly to the South (such as Tanegashima, Yakushima, and Kuchinoerabu), and the Tokara Islands in the very far South. The variants spoken on the Amami Islands are not considered part of the Satsugū dialect, but are rather part of the Northern Ryukyuan language branch.[10]
Further subdivisions are possible for all areas, and a classification tree of the general Satsugū sub-dialects might look something like the following (areas in parentheses indicate approximate regions):
Historically, Satsuma had maintained an influential control over the trading routes that bounded the Kyūshū island to the Ryukyu Islands, Mainland Japan and by extension, the rest of the world. Its commercial importance to the rest of Japan was reflected in the adoption of such terms as Satsuma imo (sweet potato), Satsuma yaki (Satsuma styled pottery), and Satsuma jisho (Japanese-English dictionary).[11] Similar terms such as satsuma ware[12] and satsuma (orange)[13] were also, along with several words from the dialect itself such as soy (Satsugū: そい~しょい pronounced as /[soj~ɕoj]/),[14] [15] [16] later incorporated into the English language.
During the Edo period, the Sakoku Edict of 1635 led to the strict seclusion of Japan from the outside world.[17] However, the Satsuma Domain, which spanned the provinces of Satsuma, Ōsumi, and the southwestern part of Hyūga,[18] maintained trade relations with neighboring countries by using the Ryukyu Islands as a conduit, and by advocating that the islands distinctively formed an independent kingdom, even though in reality the Satsuma Domain had conquered the Ryūkyū Kingdom in 1609.[19] [20] The invasion of Ryukyu had assured Satsuma's place as one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan,[21] and would also set a precedent for Satsuma as a vital role in later overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate and initiating the Meiji Restoration.
In the Fall of 1729, a ship from Satsuma bound for the province of Osaka drifted off course and ended up landing at Cape Lopatka, in Russia.[22] Upon arrival, the crew were attacked by a group of cossacks led by Andreï Chtinnikov.[23] Out of seventeen members, only two survived: a trader named Soza, and the pilot's son and apprentice, Gonza. The two were sent across the country to the capital of Saint Petersburg, where they were received in audience by Empress Anna Ivanovna, and later baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. They went on afterwards to teach Japanese, and helped establish the first Japanese-language school in Russia.[24] Gonza, who was also fluent in Russian, wrote and edited a number of books about the Japanese language, using the Cyrillic alphabet to transliterate words. These transliterations provide not only the oldest record of the Satsugū dialect, but have also been cited for their comprehensive evidence of the history, phonology and variability of the Japanese language.
When Japan started slowly opening up to the rest of the world in the mid 19th century, Satsuma was one of the first domains to embrace Western culture and methods.[25] [26] However, tension quickly grew between the increasing invasiveness of Westerners in southern Japan. When the Namamugi Incident of September 14, 1862 occurred, political and ideological differences between the United Kingdom and Satsuma Province sparked outrage and quickly boiled into the Anglo-Satsuma War.[27] Satsuma would ultimately lose, leaving way to increasing dissatisfaction with the Tokugawan government. The Meiji government would then take its place after the Tokugawan government was overthrown in the Boshin War. However, corruption in the Meiji government, which it originally helped establish, would then give birth to the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Despite their numbers, the Satsuma Domain was rapidly overpowered, and its defeat eventually resulted in the end of its dominance in Japan's southern sphere.[28] The Satsugū dialect, which had a predominant role in samurai affairs and equally the police hierarchy system throughout Japan,[29] steadily declined in influence following this defeat.
In July 1871, the Japanese domain system was abolished.[30] The region of the Satsuma Domain mostly became part of the Kagoshima Prefecture, while a small portion of its northeastern region was incorporated into the Miyazaki Prefecture. The abolition of the domain system also brought forth standardized education.[31] However, as Kagoshima was already an uncontested part of mainland Japan, assimilation through education was not a priority as it had been in Okinawa. Though contrary to Okinawa, the Satsuma clan sought to preserve the uniqueness of its own dialect.[32] As such, the Satsugū dialect persisted.
When the United States later took control of Japan's South in World War II, Japanese officials tactically sought to exploit Kagoshima's more northern position, its advancement in shipping technology, and most notably the Satsugū dialect's mutual unintelligibility as a method of cryptographic communication between Japan and Germany. Dozens of international phone calls had been made using the Satsugū dialect, and despite being able to eavesdrop on the conversations being sent back and forth, the United States was unable to determine the language spoken. The use of the Satsugū dialect to further obfuscate communication during both the Second World War and possibly the period of the earlier Satsuma Domain has led to a popular belief that Satsugū was created as an artificial language and promoted for the purpose of being unintelligible in order to thwart enemy spies.[33] [34] [35] [36]
Like other Japanese regional dialects, the traditional dialects of Kagoshima are now being displaced by standard Japanese as a consequence of standardized education and centralized media, especially among the younger generation. As a result, many of the features that so characterize the dialects are now disappearing. In terms of phonology, for example, the palatalized variant of the vowel pronounced as //e// is now being phased out, as is the retention of the labialized consonants pronounced as //kʷ ɡʷ//. More prominently, many of the phonological processes, such as vowel coalescence and high vowel deletion, as well as most grammatical constructions and words that are unique to these dialects, are being completely uprooted by their standard forms.
Despite this, many popular words and expressions continue to persist today, even among younger speakers. Examples pulled from a research survey include Japanese: 気張いやんせ "please do your best", Japanese: おやっとさあ "thank you for your work", Japanese: あにょ "older brother", Japanese: げんね "shy", and Japanese: がっつい "exactly", among numerous others.[37] The same research also revealed through interviews that, while people generally felt a positive vibe to hearing the traditional dialect spoken, those under the age of 40 expressed some difficulty understanding. One woman in her sixties was quoted saying: "There are now very few people who can use the true dialect".
Efforts to document the dialects or promote them through cultural means are few, though some notable dictionaries on the mainland Kagoshima dialect have been published, such as the,[38] while others can be accessed online. A few manga written in an admixture of the dialect and standard Japanese, such as [39] and [40] by have also been published.
See main article: article and Japanese phonology.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /[i]/ | pronounced as /[u]/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /[e̞~ʲe̞]/ | pronounced as /[o̞]/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /[a]/ |
All of the Kagoshima dialects contrast the following five vowels: pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //a//, pronounced as //o// and pronounced as //u//. In terms of pronunciation, the Kagoshima dialects pattern with other far-western Honshu and Kyushu dialects, wherein the close back vowel pronounced as //u// is slightly more rounded than in Tokyo Japanese.[41] Additionally, the mid front unrounded vowel pronounced as //e// differs from standard Japanese in that it retains the Late Middle Japanese variation between palatalized pronounced as /[ʲe̞]/ and unpalatalized pronounced as /[e̞]/. The palatalization may spread to the previous consonant, so that the syllables pronounced as //te se de ze// might vary between pronounced as /[te̞ se̞ de̞ ze̞]/ and pronounced as /[tɕe̞ ɕe̞ dʑe̞ ʑe̞]/. This is similar to the palatalization observed with the vowel pronounced as //i//: pronounced as /[tɕi ɕi dʑi ʑi]/. In Tanegashima, the mid back vowel pronounced as //o// still exhibits rounding in some words such as Japanese: 魚 io pronounced as /[iʷo]/ "fish" or Japanese: 塩 shio pronounced as /[ɕiʷo]/ "salt".[42]
Vowel length remains contrastive in all regional dialects, but is noticeably less prominent and sometimes ambiguous in the mainland as a result of a process of vowel length reduction. Should historically short, high vowels be shown to devoice rather than delete following sibilant consonants, then dialects of the mainland may effectively contrast the devoiced vowels pronounced as //i̥// and pronounced as //u̥// with their non-devoiced counterparts pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u//, which arose from historically long vowels.
In comparison to standard Japanese, co-occurring vowel sequences tend to fuse into a single vowel, giving rise to a complex system of vowel coalescence in all regional dialects. In the dialect of Takarajima exceptionally, the sequences pronounced as //ai//, pronounced as //ae// and pronounced as //oi// have not merged into pronounced as //eː// as in other regions, but have instead centralized to pronounced as //ë(ː)// and pronounced as //ï(ː)//.[43] The vowel pronounced as //ï(ː)// tends to result from a fusion of pronounced as //ai//, while pronounced as //ë(ː)// usually stems from the fusion of pronounced as //ae// or pronounced as //oi//. Neither of these two coalesced vowels trigger palatalization, consider, for example: pronounced as /[kjoːdïː]/ "siblings" (not pronounced as /
The basic consonant inventory of the Satsugū dialect is the same as that of standard Japanese.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Labio- velar | Velar | Glottal | Placeless | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /N/ | |||||
| Plosive | pronounced as /p b/ | pronounced as /t d/ | pronounced as /(kʷ ɡʷ)/ | pronounced as /k ɡ/ | pronounced as /Q/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /s z/ | pronounced as /h/ | pronounced as /H/ | |||||
| Flap | pronounced as /ɽ/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /w/ |
The plosive consonants pronounced as //t d n// are laminal denti-alveolar and the fricatives pronounced as //s z// are laminal alveolar. Before pronounced as //i// and palatalized pronounced as //e//, these sounds are alveolo-palatal (pronounced as /[t͡ɕ d͡ʑ n̠ʲ ɕ ʑ]/) and before pronounced as //u// they are alveolar (pronounced as /[t͡s d͡z n s z]/). In terms of the latter, the distinction between all four of the traditional syllables Japanese: [[ジ]] pronounced as //zi//, Japanese: [[ヂ]] pronounced as //di//, Japanese: [[ズ]] pronounced as //zu// and Japanese: [[ヅ]] pronounced as //du// is still preserved within the Kyūshū portion of Kagoshima.[44] [45] [46] Here, they are contrastively realized as pronounced as /[ʑi]/, pronounced as /[d͡ʑi]/, pronounced as /[zu]/ and pronounced as /[d͡zu]/. In respect to high vowel deletion, the pairs ヂ pronounced as /[d͡ʑi]/ and ヅ pronounced as /[d͡zu]/ act as obstruents rather than fricatives, as indicated through their underlying representations pronounced as //di// and pronounced as //du//. In parts of northern Koshikijima exceptionally, the sounds pronounced as /[t͡ɕ d͡ʑ]/ contrast with pronounced as /[tʲ dʲ]/: pronounced as /[utʲaː]/ "song.DAT" vs pronounced as /[utaː]/ "song.TOP" vs pronounced as /[ut͡ɕaː]/ "hit.TOP".[47]
The flap consonant pronounced as //ɽ // is generally an apical postalveolar flap with undefined laterality. In word medial and final position, pronounced as //ɽ // is frequently rendered as a glide (see sonorant gliding below). It may also be subject to fortition, merging into pronounced as //d// in initial position, while occasionally shifting to pronounced as //d// or pronounced as //t// in medial position, especially if preceded by a devoiced syllable. Examples of fortition include Japanese: 楽 pronounced as //ɽaku// → pronounced as //daQ// "ease", Japanese: 来年 pronounced as //ɽainen// → pronounced as //denen// "next year", Japanese: 面白い pronounced as //omosiɽoi// → pronounced as //omosite// "interesting; amusing", and Japanese: 料理 pronounced as //ɽjouɽi// → pronounced as //djui// (pronounced pronounced as /[d͡ʑuj]/) "cooking".
The fricative consonant pronounced as //h// is pronounced as a voiceless bilabial fricative pronounced as /[ɸ]/ before the vowel pronounced as //u//, and may vary from a voiceless palatal fricative pronounced as /[ç]/ to a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative pronounced as /[ɕ]/ before the vowel pronounced as //i//, effectively merging with pronounced as //s// in this position. Curiously, the sibilant consonant pronounced as //s// has a tendency to debuccalize to pronounced as //h// in word medial position before the low vowel pronounced as //a//, and more commonly before the high vowel pronounced as //i// in all positions. Examples of this include -han for -san (negative 'su' ending), kagohima for Kagoshima, gowahi for gowashi (copula), sahikabui for sashikabui "long time no see", etc.
The labialized velar consonants pronounced as //kʷ// and pronounced as //ɡʷ// have limited use, contrasting pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ// almost solely before the vowel pronounced as //a//. For example, Japanese: 火事 pronounced as //kʷazi// "conflagration" contrasts Japanese: 家事 pronounced as //kazi// "housework". Nowadays, however, these sounds are in regression and younger speakers merge them with their non-labialized counterparts as in standard Japanese. So words like Japanese: 鍬 pronounced as //kʷa// "hoe", Japanese: 菓子 pronounced as //kʷasi// "sweets", Japanese: ぐゎんたれ pronounced as //ɡʷaNtaɽe// "useless" and Japanese: 観音 pronounced as //kʷaNnoN// "Goddess of Mercy" are now increasingly being pronounced pronounced as //ka//, pronounced as //kasi//, pronounced as //ɡaNtaɽe// and pronounced as //kaNnoN//. Though uncommon, other sequences such as pronounced as //kʷe//, pronounced as //ɡʷe//, pronounced as //kʷo// and pronounced as //ɡʷo// may occur through contraction of pronounced as //CuV// to pronounced as //CʷV//. For example, the imperative form of "eat", which is Japanese: 食え pronounced as //kue// in standard Japanese, becomes Japanese: 食ぇ pronounced as //kʷe// in the dialect,[48] which contrasts both Japanese: 崩え pronounced as //kue// "landslide" (pronounced pronounced as /[kuʲe̞]/) and Japanese: 貝 pronounced as //ke// "shellfish". They may also surface in a few onomatopoeic words, such as Japanese: ぐぉっぐぉっ pronounced as //ɡʷoQɡʷoQ// "woof woof". In parts of Southern Satsuma and Tanegashima, pronounced as //kʷ// may allophonically be realized as pronounced as /[p]/, so that pronounced as //kʷe// "eat." may be pronounced as pronounced as /[pe]/, and Tanegashima Japanese: 杭 pronounced as //kʷiː// "thorn" becomes pronounced as /[piː]/.[49]
The archiphonemes pronounced as //N// and pronounced as //Q// can also be represented by the uvular nasal pronounced as //ɴ// and the glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ//. Both of these phonemes derive from a single process consisting of deleting the point of articulation of a given syllable, both correspond to a full mora, and both undergo a variety of assimilatory processes.
As with standard Japanese, the place of articulation of the moraic nasal pronounced as //N//, which corresponds to a reduced nasal syllable, is determined by the following consonant. Contrary to standard Japanese, however, the moraic nasal may also surface in word-initial position, as in the expression Japanese: んだもしたん "wow!" or the word Japanese: んんま "horse".
Similarly, the moraic obstruent pronounced as //Q// corresponds to a reduced stop syllable. Contrary to the standard language, the moraic obstruent may occur word medially before any other sound except the moraic nasal. It may also occur in word-final position, which means that its phonetic realization cannot be immediately determined within the lexical unit. Like the moraic nasal, its place of articulation is mostly determined by the following consonant. Before other stops and fricatives, it assimilates, creating an effect of gemination. Before nasal syllables, the moraic obstruent may be realized, depending on the regional dialect, as a glottal stop pronounced as /[ʔ]/, so that pronounced as //kiQne// "fox" is pronounced pronounced as /[kiʔne]/. Other dialects exhibit gemination in this position, so that the latter is pronounced pronounced as /[kinne]/ instead. At the end of utterances and in isolation, the moraic obstruent is predictably realized as a glottal stop pronounced as /[ʔ]/, which may also suggest that a parallelism exists between the glottal stop in interjections and the moraic obstruent in standard Japanese itself.
In some regions of Kagoshima such as Uchinoura, a third archiphoneme pronounced as //H// is described.[50] pronounced as //H// is generally pronounced pronounced as //ç// and historically stems from a reduction of the syllables pronounced as //su//, pronounced as //si//, pronounced as //zu// and pronounced as //zi// in non-word initial position. For example, in Uchinoura, Japanese: 娘 pronounced as //musume// became pronounced as //muHme// "daughter", Japanese: 串焼き pronounced as //kusijaki// became pronounced as //kuHjaQ// "grilling on a skewer", and Japanese: 火事 pronounced as //kazi// became pronounced as //kaH// "conflagration".
Vowel coalescence or vowel fusion is a phonological process by which two consecutive vowels merge into a single one. For example, in most Japanese dialects including that of Tokyo, the sequence of pronounced as //a + i// results in the monophthong pronounced as //eː//: Japanese: 高い pronounced as //takai// → pronounced as //takeː// "tall".[51] Similarly, the Kagoshima dialects have also undergone a process of vowel coalescence. However, unlike dialects like that of Tokyo, the process is much more pervasive in Kagoshima, to the extent that nearly all vowel sequences exhibit some form of fusion.
For instance, vowel coalescence systematically occurs with the vowel pronounced as //a// followed by pronounced as //i//, so that Japanese: 灰 pronounced as //hai// "ash" and Japanese: 貝 pronounced as //kai// "shellfish" become pronounced as //heː// and pronounced as //keː// respectively. Likewise, pronounced as //o// followed by pronounced as //i// results in the pronounced as //eː//, so that Japanese: 来い pronounced as //koi// "come" is becomes pronounced as //keː// as well. A sentence such as Japanese: 貝を買いに来い pronounced as //kai o kai ni koi// "Come buy shellfish" would thus become pronounced as //keː(o) keː keː keː//, which, due to vowel length reduction, is pronounced entirely as Japanese: け(を)けけけ pronounced as /[ke(o) ke ke ke]/ in mainland Kagoshima.[52]
It also occurs with the vowel pronounced as //a// followed by pronounced as //u//, so that Japanese: 赤く pronounced as //aka(k)u// "(to become) red" and Japanese: 買う pronounced as //kau// "buy" become pronounced as //akoː// and pronounced as //koː// respectively. Other mergers include pronounced as //ui// → pronounced as //iː//, pronounced as //ou// → pronounced as //uː//, pronounced as //ei// → pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //eu// → pronounced as //uː//, among numerous others that can be summarized in the following table, where the y-axis denotes the first vowel and the x-axis the second:
| pronounced as /-a/ | pronounced as /-i/ | pronounced as /-u/ | pronounced as /-e/ | pronounced as /-o/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /a-/ | pronounced as /aː/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /oː/ | pronounced as /ai/, pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /aː/ | |
| pronounced as /i-/ | pronounced as /ja/ | pronounced as /iː/ | pronounced as /ju/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /jo/ | |
| pronounced as /u-/ | pronounced as /aː/ | pronounced as /iː/ | pronounced as /uː/ | pronounced as /ue/, pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /oː/ | |
| pronounced as /e-/ | pronounced as /ea/, pronounced as /ja/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /uː/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /jo/ | |
| pronounced as /o-/ | pronounced as /aː/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /oː/, pronounced as /uː/ | pronounced as /oe/ | pronounced as /oː/ |
Despite the extent of this sound change, the Kagoshima dialects are not devoid of co-occurring vowels due to other, subsequent sound changes that have taken place in the dialects. As an example, Japanese: こい pronounced as //koi// "this" exists and is not reduced to pronounced as /
In Kagoshima's mainland, the high vowels pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// are systematically dropped in word final position after a non-fricative consonant. The remaining consonant is syllabified into coda position, where it is reduced to a moraic obstruent pronounced as //Q// if oral, or a moraic nasal pronounced as //N// if nasal.[53] In the case of the palatal approximant pronounced as //j//, it is reduced to its corresponding high vowel pronounced as //i//.
| Standard Japanese | Underlying form | Surface realization | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //mimi// | pronounced as //miN// | pronounced as /[miɴ]/ | ear | |
| pronounced as //kamu// | pronounced as //kaN// | pronounced as /[kaɴ]/ | to bite | |
| pronounced as //inu// | pronounced as //iN// | pronounced as /[iɴ]/ | dog | |
| pronounced as //kubi// | pronounced as //kuQ// | pronounced as /[kuʔ]/ | neck | |
| pronounced as //kuɡi// | pronounced as //kuQ// | pronounced as /[kuʔ]/ | nail | |
| pronounced as //kutu// | pronounced as //kuQ// | pronounced as /[kuʔ]/ | shoes | |
| pronounced as //tuju// | pronounced as //tui// | pronounced as /[tsuj]/ | dew | |
| pronounced as //sjoju// | pronounced as //sjoi// | pronounced as /[soj~ɕoj]/ | soy sauce |
Word-medially, a syllable containing the high vowels pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// may also be reduced to its respective moraic equivalent if not already followed by a moraic obstruent or nasal. In this way, the town of Matsumoto is realized as pronounced as //maQmoto//, the village of Shikine as pronounced as //siQne//, the noun pronounced as //nebuto// skin boil as pronounced as //neQto// and the adjective pronounced as //setunai// painful as pronounced as //seQne//. The assimilatory processes of a given regional dialect are then applied, so that "skin boil" is pronounced pronounced as /[netto]/, and "painful" may become either pronounced as /[seʔne]/ or pronounced as /[senne]/. With regards to the latter, the difference may be marked in writing, so that for pronounced as //maQmoto//, the pronunciation pronounced as /[maʔmoto]/ is written as Japanese: まっもと, whereas pronounced as /[mammoto]/ is written as Japanese: まんもと .
A similar effect to high vowel deletion can be observed with sibilants. Namely, the high vowels pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //u// will be devoiced to pronounced as /[i̥]/ and pronounced as /[u̥]/ respectively following a sibilant consonant such as pronounced as //s// or pronounced as //h//, and may be deleted entirely especially in word-final position. This has an effect of weakening the syllables within which they are contained, causing them to have no effect on pitch in the same way as both the moraic nasal and obstruent do not. Devoicing or deletion of high vowels can also trigger devoicing of the fricative pronounced as //z//, so that Japanese: 火事 pronounced as //kʷazi// "conflagration" is pronounced pronounced as /[kʷaɕ(i̥)]/ or pronounced as /[kʷas(u̥)]/.[54] Occasionally, such syllables may dropped entirely, leaving behind an assimilatory trace like the moraic obstruent. For example, the name Kagoshima itself may be subject to this phenomenon, resulting in pronounced as /[kaɡoʔma]/ or pronounced as /[kaɡomma]/ instead of pronounced as /[kaɡoɕi̥ma]/. Conflictingly, however, the sibilant consonant pronounced as //s// followed by pronounced as //i// may instead merge with pronounced as //h// or be dropped entirely, leading to the added pronunciations pronounced as /[kaɡoçima]/ and pronounced as /[kaɡoima]/.
Sonorant gliding is a phonological process whereby the sonorant syllables pronounced as //ɽi//, pronounced as //ɽu// and pronounced as //ɽe// are reduced to the high vowel pronounced as //i// in word medial or final position. When followed by another vowel, the pronounced as //i// may turn into a palatal glide pronounced as //j//.
| Standard Japanese | Kagoshima | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //maru// | pronounced as //mai// | round | |
| pronounced as //mari// | pronounced as //mai// | ball | |
| pronounced as //mare// | pronounced as //mai// | rare | |
| pronounced as //oɽe// | pronounced as //oi// | I, me | |
| pronounced as //koɽe, soɽe, aɽe// | pronounced as //koi, soi, ai// | This, that, that over there | |
| pronounced as //kuɽuma// | pronounced as //kuima// | Car, vehicle | |
| pronounced as //aɽiɡatai// | pronounced as //aiɡate// | Grateful, thankful | |
| pronounced as //kakaɽi-au// | pronounced as //kakaijo// | To be involved in |
Note that, when it comes to the syllable pronounced as //ɽu//, this sound change is mostly limited to the nominal rather than verbal paradigm, where the flap becomes a moraic obstruent instead (e.g. pronounced as //kaɽu// → pronounced as //kaQ//).
Today, the dialects of mainland Satsuma and Ōsumi can be described as lacking compensatory vowel lengthening,[55] so that two vowels which coalesce into one will be short rather than long.
| Standard Japanese | Tokyo Japanese | Tanegashima | Satsuma-Ōsumi | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //dai.koN// | pronounced as /[dee.koN]/ | pronounced as //dee.koN// | pronounced as //de.koN// | Radish | |
| pronounced as //tai.ɡai// | pronounced as /[tee.ɡee]/ | pronounced as //tee.ɡe// | pronounced as //te.ɡe// | Usually |
However, it would be more accurate to say that the mainland dialects exhibited vowel length reduction, so that long vowels such as pronounced as //eː// later shortened to pronounced as //e//. This accounts for the reason as to why certain words such as Japanese: 昨日 pronounced as //kinu// "yesterday" or Japanese: 鳥居 pronounced as //toɽi// "torii", which are pronounced as //kinou// and pronounced as //toɽii// in standard Japanese, are not subject to high vowel deletion or sonorant gliding, while Japanese: 絹 pronounced as //kiN// "silk" and Japanese: 鳥 pronounced as //toi// "bird", which are pronounced as //kinu// and pronounced as //toɽi// in standard Japanese, are. It also accounts for the discrepancy between forms when particles are attached to words, such as こい pronounced as //koi// "this", which derives from the historical form pronounced as //koɽe//; versus Japanese: これ pronounced as //koɽe// "this.", which derives from pronounced as //koɽeː//, a fusion of pronounced as //koɽe// "this" and the dative particle pronounced as //i//.
Numerous other, less consistent changes have affected many of the regional dialects in Kagoshima. Some of these include:
The syllable structure of the Kagoshima dialects is more complex than that of standard Japanese and can minimally be represented by the formula (C2)(G)V2(P), where C2 represents a consonant or cluster of two consonants, G represents a glide, V2 represents a vowel or sequence of vowels and P represents any placeless consonant.
| Component | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Onset (optional) | Consonant2 | Any consonant or cluster of two consonants. Permissible clusters vary by region, but are largely limited to fricative-stop clusters such as pronounced as /[st]/ and pronounced as /[ɸt]/. | |
| Glide | Only the palatal glide pronounced as //j// falls in this category. | ||
| Nucleus (obligatory) | Vowel2 | Any vowel, long vowel or sequence of vowels. | |
| Coda (optional) | Placeless | Any placeless consonant, including pronounced as //Q//, pronounced as //N// and pronounced as //H//. |
The above formula accounts for nearly all permissible syllable structures, with only one exception which is that pronounced as //N// and pronounced as //NN// can constitute full syllables on their own, found primarily only in word-initial position.
The following table illustrates some of the different types of syllables that are allowed in the Kagoshima dialects.
| Syllable structure | Example word | |
|---|---|---|
| V | pronounced as //u// 大 "large, great" | |
| VV | pronounced as //ai// 蟻 "ant" | |
| CVV | pronounced as //soi// そい "that" | |
| CCV | pronounced as //hto// (pronounced as /[ɸto]/) 人 "person" | |
| CGV | pronounced as //kju// 今日 "today" | |
| CVP | pronounced as //kaH// 火事 "conflagration" | |
| CGVP | pronounced as //sjaN// 軍鶏 "game fowl" | |
| NN (+ CV) | pronounced as //NN.ma// 馬 "horse" |
See also: Japanese pitch accent.
One of the most oft-studied aspects of the Kagoshima dialect is its prosodic system. With the exception of a few areas such as Tanegashima, the system is described as a two-pattern pitch accent in which phrasal units may be either accented or unaccented. In accented units (also called "Type A" tone-bearing units[57]), all syllables bear a low tonal pitch ("L") except for the penultimate syllable, which bears a high pitch ("H"). In unaccented units (also called "Type B" tone-bearing units), all syllables bear a low pitch until the final syllable, at which point the pitch rises to a high pitch.
| Accented | Unaccented | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 syllable | (H)L Japanese: 気 pronounced as /ki/ or pronounced as /i/ "spirit" | H Japanese: 木 pronounced as // "tree" | |
| 2 syllables | HL Japanese: 鼻 pronounced as /na/ "nose" | LH Japanese: 花 pronounced as /ha/ "flower" | |
| 3 syllables | LHL Japanese: 長め pronounced as /name/ "longish" | LLH Japanese: 眺め pronounced as /naga/ "scene" |
Although the type of pitch accent is lexically determined, it is more specifically determined by the first element in a syntactic phrase and will apply to that entire phrase. This effectively means that the placement of the high tone in accented or unaccented units will shift rightwards to the penultimate or final syllable of the phrase when other morphemes, auxiliaries or grammatical particles such as Japanese: が are appended at the end.[59] [60]
| Accented | Unaccented | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 → 2 syllables | HL 気が pronounced as /ga/ "spirit " | LH 木が pronounced as /ki/ "tree " | |
| 2 → 3 syllables | LHL 鼻が pronounced as /haga/ "nose " | LLH 花が pronounced as /hana/ "flower " | |
| 3 → 4 syllables | LLHL 長めが pronounced as /nagaga/ "longish " | LLLH 眺めが pronounced as /nagame/ "scene " |
Because the accent pattern is always determined by the first element of the phrasal unit, prefixes will alter the accent type of the word to which they attach. For example, Japanese: 寺 "temple" and Japanese: 酒 are normally accented, but when the honorific prefix Japanese: お o- is added, they shift to an unaccented pattern: Japanese: お寺 and Japanese: お酒 .
Note that the high tone falls on the syllable rather than the mora, so tone placement remains unaffected by moraic obstruents, moraic nasals, fricatives resulting from devoicing, long vowels and diphthongs.
| Accented | Unaccented | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Moraic Nasal | Japanese: 頑固 "stubbornness" pronounced as //ɡʷaNko// → pronounced as /ko/ | Japanese: お盆 "Obon Festival" pronounced as //oboN// → pronounced as /o/ | |
| Moraic Obstruent | Japanese: 勝手 "one's convenience" pronounced as //kaQte// → pronounced as /te/ | Japanese: ぼた餅 "adzuki-bean mochi" pronounced as //botamoQ// → pronounced as /bota/ | |
| Devoiced fricative | Japanese: ガラス "glass" pronounced as //ɡaras(u)// → pronounced as /ras(u)/ | Japanese: 烏 "crow" pronounced as //karas(u)// → pronounced as /ka/ | |
| Vowel | Japanese: 車 "car" pronounced as //kuima// → pronounced as /ma/ | Japanese: 素通い "passing through" pronounced as //sudooi// → pronounced as /su/ |
The Makurazaki dialect, spoken in and around Makurazaki City, is described as a two-pattern pitch accent system very similar to that of the Kagoshima accent. In this dialect, accented units bear a high tone on all syllables except the penultimate syllable, which bears a low pitch. In unaccented units, all syllables have a high pitch except the final syllable, which bears a middle pitch ("M").
| Accented | Unaccented | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 syllable | H Japanese: 日 pronounced as // "day" | M Japanese: 火 pronounced as // "fire" | |
| 2 syllables | LH Japanese: 鼻 pronounced as /ha/ "nose" | HM Japanese: 花 pronounced as // "flower" | |
| 3 syllables | HLH Japanese: 桜 pronounced as /ku/ "cherry blossom" | HHM Japanese: 男 pronounced as // "man" | |
| 4 syllables | HHLH Japanese: 横糸 pronounced as /i/ "weft" | HHHM Japanese: 朝顔 pronounced as // "morning glory" |
Like mainland Kagoshima, the accent type is determined by the first element in the phrasal unit and the pitch will shift accordingly as other morphemes are added. For example, pronounced as // "flower" has a high-middle (HM) pitch in isolation, but when the particle Japanese: が is appended, it becomes pronounced as // "flower " with a high-high-middle pitch (HHM).
The prosodic system of Koshikijima, like that of mainland Kagoshima, is characterized as a two-pattern pitch accent. It differs, however, in the placement of the accent. In this system, the primary high tone falls on a mora and is always preceded by a low-pitched syllable. Any other syllables preceding the low one will automatically bear a high tone.[61]
Similar to the Kagoshima Accent, the high tone is assigned to the very last mora in an unaccented unit. In an accented unit, the high tone falls on the penultimate mora and falls back down on the last mora. Tone placement will also shift accordingly when morphemes and the such are appended to the unit.
| Accented | Unaccented | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 syllables | H*L Japanese: 飴 pronounced as /me/ "candy" | LH* Japanese: 雨 pronounced as /a/ "rain" | |
| 3 syllables | LH*L Japanese: 魚 pronounced as /sana/ "fish" | HLH* Japanese: 命 pronounced as /no/ "life" | |
| 5 syllables | HHLH*L Japanese: 飴祭り pronounced as /mari/ "candy festival" | HHHLH* Japanese: 雨祭り pronounced as /tsu/ "rain festival" |
If, in an accented unit, the final low tone falls on a moraic consonant such as pronounced as //N//, the second mora of a long vowel, or the second vowel of a diphthong, any syllable that follows will also bear a low tone.[62] Otherwise, if the final low tone falls on a consonant-vowel syllable, any syllable that is added will shift the entire tone placement.
| Colloquial | Japanese: 獣 pronounced as /dan/ "wild animal" | Japanese: 獣が pronounced as /danga/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-colloquial | Japanese: 獣 pronounced as /dano/ "wild animal" | Japanese: 獣が pronounced as /moga/ |
When multiple phrasal units are combined together, the second peak containing the primary high tone will become low in all units except the last one. Thus, for example, when the verbal phrase Japanese: 見えた "was seen" is combined with the nominalized phrase Japanese: 獣が "wild animal", the accent pattern becomes: Japanese: 獣が見えた "a wild animal was seen". Likewise, when it is combined with the colloquial form, the pattern becomes: .
The standard Japanese plain copula Japanese: だ is replaced by the Satsugū dialectal variation Japanese: じゃ, which has further developed into や in some parts of the Satsuma Peninsula, most notably the capital city, Kagoshima. Historically, these forms arose from a contraction of the classical construction Japanese: である .[63] Accordingly, the copula borrows its conjugational pattern from the existential verb Japanese: ある, which is dialectally pronounced as Japanese: あっ or Japanese: あい, as seen below:
| Satsugū | Tokyo Japanese | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese: じゃっど | Copula (to be) | ||
| Japanese: じゃっどん | However, though | ||
| Japanese: じゃっどかい | Is that so? | ||
| Japanese: じゃん | Negative copula | ||
| Japanese: じゃっどね | Copula + emphasis | ||
| Copula + assertion | |||
| Japanese: じゃっど | Copula (explanation) with noun | ||
| Japanese: じゃっどや | Copula (question) | ||
| Japanese: んじゃっど | Copula (explanation) with verb | ||
| Japanese: じゃろね | Seems, I think, I guess | ||
| Japanese: じゃっで | Because of... the reason is... | ||
| Japanese: じゃっでん | However, but | ||
| Japanese: じゃった | Copula (past) |
In very formal contexts, the honorific verb Japanese: ごわす or Japanese: ござす, and their variants Japanese: ごわんす and Japanese: ござんす, may be used instead. For the most part, their usage overlaps that of the standard form Japanese: ございます . Compare, for example, the standard formulation Japanese: ようございます to the Satsugū variant Japanese: よかとごわす "it is alright"; or Japanese: 本でございます to Japanese: 本ごわす [64] "it is a book". Note that while similar, the honorific copula or is not normally preceded by the connecting particle Japanese: で .[65] Therefore, such forms as Japanese: でごわす * may be considered calques on their standard counterpart.
See main article: article and Japanese adjectives.
A common feature among Western Kyūshū dialects is the difference in their adjective endings. Adjectival verbs, or true adjectives, end with the generic inflection rather than in their attributive and predicative forms. Eastern Kyūshū dialects, however, follow the same pattern as Standard Japanese, using the inflectional ending . Positioned somewhat in the middle of this boundary, the Satsugū dialect makes use of both types of endings.[66] For example, the adjectives "cold" and "exhausted" may surface as and, or and (variants: and) depending on the speaker and region. The ending will normally coalesce with the vowel of the preceding syllable (e.g. pronounced as //a// + pronounced as //i// → pronounced as //e//), so that "delicious" and "shy" become and respectively.
The majority of Kagoshima's surrounding island dialects, however, tend to favor the generic inflection, which may occasionally be voiced into in southern parts of the Satsuma Peninsula, the Koshikijima Islands, Kuchinoerabujima and in northern Tanegashima. These peripheral dialects also tend to observe compensatory vowel lengthening when making use of the ending, so that the coalesced vowels will be long rather than short, thus resulting in and for "delicious" and "shy".
| ending | ending | Standard Japanese | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| good | ||||
| painful | ||||
| delicious | ||||
| hot | ||||
| bad | ||||
| big | ||||
| sly | ||||
| heavy | ||||
| light | ||||
| strong | ||||
| cute | ||||
| cold | ||||
| loud, noisy, annoying | ||||
| pitiful, pathetic | ||||
| shy, embarrassed |
The ending historically derives from a contraction of the adverbial or infinitive ending followed by the conjugated form of the copular verb, from which the rest of the adjectival paradigm derives.[67] [68] As such, the ending inflects mostly in the same way as the ending. It differs primarily in the negative form where the final in is also turned into a, reflecting the basic inflectional form of the adjective. The ending also differs in the hypothetical form, where it becomes instead of (compare to "if it's cold"). In relation to standard Japanese, both and adjectives distinguish themselves in the participle form. Here, the participle form surfaces as Japanese: っせえ for the standard くて form.[69]
| adjective | i adjective | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | Japanese: ぬっ'''か''' | Japanese: ぬき('''い''') | ||
| neg. | Japanese: ぬ(っ)'''くなか''' | Japanese: ぬき'''くね''' | ||
| past | Japanese: ぬっ'''かった''' | Japanese: ぬき'''かった''' | ||
| neg. | Japanese: ぬ(っ)'''くなかった''' | Japanese: ぬき'''くなかった''' | ||
| imperfective | Japanese: ぬっ'''かろ''' | Japanese: ぬき'''かろ''' | ||
| hypothetical | Japanese: ぬっ'''かれば''' | Japanese: ぬき'''ければ''' | ||
| participle | Japanese: ぬっか'''っせえ''' | Japanese: ぬき'''っせえ''' | ||
Adjectival nouns, also called nominal adjectives or -adjectives, comprise a set of nouns that functionally act as adjectives by combining themselves with the copula. The copula is subsequently inflected for aspect and tense, becoming in its common attributive form. For example, means "a rude person".[70]
| Mainland Kagoshima | Standard Japanese | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| useless, hopeless | |||
| trouble, bother, worry | |||
| bashful, shy, timid | |||
| worry, concern, aid, help | |||
| impolite |
See main article: article.
With regards to adverbs, the same phonological process which reduced the Late Middle Japanese terminal and attributive endings (-shi and -ki, respectively) to -i, also reduced the ending -ku to simply -u, yielding such forms as hayō (contraction of hayau) for hayaku "quickly". This change was once commonplace throughout Japan, however the adverbial form -ku was reintroduced through Standard Japanese as it was still preserved in some Eastern dialects. Even so, the -u ending persists in various honorifics (such as arigatō and omedetō) as a result of borrowing from the Kansai dialect, which was still regarded as a dialect of prestige well after it was no longer considered the standard language. Elsewhere, the -u ending remains a staple of Western Japanese and rural dialects. This includes the Satsugū dialect, where this ending still thrives today:
| Root | Coalesced form (-u) | Standard Japanese (-ku) | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satsuma-Ōsumi | Tanegashima | ||||
| pronounced as //haja// | pronounced as //hajo// | pronounced as //hajoː// | pronounced as //hajaku// | quickly | |
| pronounced as //oso// | pronounced as //oso// | pronounced as //osoː// | pronounced as //osoku// | slowly | |
| pronounced as //kanasi// | pronounced as //kanasju// | pronounced as //kanasjuː// | pronounced as //kanasiku// | sadly, sorrowfully | |
| pronounced as //usu// | pronounced as //usu// | pronounced as //usuː// | pronounced as //usuku// | lightly, weakly | |
In addition to these characteristic adjectival adverbs, there are also many non-standard nominal and onomatopoeic adverbs unique to the dialects of Kagoshima. A few examples include:
| Satsugū[71] [72] | Standard Japanese | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| , | generally, fairly, considerably | ||
| mostly, almost | |||
| ,, | considerably, moderately, suitably | ||
| ,,,,,, | , | very, really, exceedingly | |
| immediately, instantly, soon | |||
| in a short time, a little, somewhat | |||
| , | anytime, always, whenever | ||
| , | one way or another | ||
| by all means, no matter what, surely | |||
| ,, | , | really, truly | |
| gradually, slowly | |||
| sometimes, at times |
See main article: article and Particles of the Kagoshima dialects. Particles (Japanese: 助詞 Japanese: joshi) used in the dialects of Kagoshima share many features common to other dialects spoken in Kyūshū, with some being unique to the Satsugū dialect, and others corresponding the Standard Japanese and Kyūshū variants. Like standard Japanese particles, they act as suffixes, prepositions or words immediately following the noun, verb, adjective or phrase that they modify, and are used to indicate the relationship between the various elements of a sentence.[73] [74]
Unlike central Japanese dialects, particles in the Kagoshima dialects are bound clitics, as they have the effect of resyllabifying the last word they attach to. So, for example, the standard forms Japanese: 本を Japanese: hon o "book ", Japanese: 書きを Japanese: kaki o "writing " and Japanese: まりを Japanese: mari o "ball " would be realized as pronounced as //honno//, pronounced as //kakjo// and pronounced as //majo// (← pronounced as //maɽjo//) in most of northern and central Kagoshima, and pronounced as //hoNnu//, pronounced as //kakju/~/kaku// and pronounced as //maju// (← pronounced as //maɽju//) in parts of Kagoshima's southern mainland.[75]
Resyllabification has also led to the reanalysis of some particles in a few dialects. For instance, the topic particle Japanese: (w)a has been completely superseded by the form Japanese: na in Izumi,[76] which in most mainland dialects is merely a variant of Japanese: (w)a after a moraic nasal.
| General meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese: a | Japanese: wa | Marks the topic | |
| Japanese: do | Japanese: yo, zo, ze | Marks an assertion | |
| Japanese: don, batten | Japanese: demo, keredomo | Marks an adverse or opposition statement | |
| Japanese: don, doma, bakkai | Japanese: bakari, gurai | Marks approximation | |
| Japanese: ga, no | Japanese: no | Marks possession | |
| Japanese: gii, zui | Japanese: made | Marks a time or place as a limit | |
| Japanese: i | Japanese: ni, e | Marks a location, direction, indirect object or agent of a passive sentence | |
| Japanese: o, oba | Japanese: o | Marks the direct object | |
| Japanese: shiko | Japanese: dake, hodo, shika | Marks an extent or limit | |
| Japanese: to, taa | Japanese: no, no wa, mono wa | Marks a nominalized phrase | |
| Japanese: yokka | Japanese: yori | Marks provenance |
For a full in-depth list of the particles found in this dialect, including examples, see the article Particles of the Kagoshima dialects.
See main article: article and Japanese pronouns. Pronouns in the Satsugū dialect display considerable variation from their standard counterparts. The table below lists the most common pronouns as they occur in their basic forms. When followed by particles beginning with a vowel or a glide, affected pronouns will be resyllabified in the coda according to the phonological patterns of the local dialect. In most of mainland Kagoshima, for instance, when the pronouns Japanese: oi "I" and Japanese: ohan "you" are followed by the topic particle Japanese: a, they become Japanese: oya and Japanese: ohanna respectively. Similarly, in Tanegashima, when the pronoun Japanese: waga "oneself" is followed by the topic particle Japanese: wa, it becomes Japanese: wagoo.
| Romaji | Hiragana | Kanji | Formality | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reflexive pronoun | |||||
| Japanese: waga | Japanese: わが | Japanese: 我 | formal | Often used in the sense of the standard term Japanese: 自分 Japanese: jibun, roughly meaning "oneself", "yourself" or "myself". | |
| First-person pronouns | |||||
| Japanese: oi | Japanese: おい | Japanese: 俺 | formal, informal | Though it derives from Japanese: おれ Japanese: ore, the pronoun Japanese: おい Japanese: oi is commonly used by both men and women of all ages in Kagoshima. The shortened form Japanese: お Japanese: o is also used in a few regions. | |
| Japanese: atai | Japanese: あたい | Japanese: 私 | formal | More common among women; the form Japanese: あて Japanese: ate is sometimes used. Derives from Japanese: わたし Japanese: watashi. | |
| Japanese: don | Japanese: どん | Japanese: 共 | Used chiefly in Tanegashima; variants include Japanese: ども Japanese: domo, Japanese: どむ Japanese: domu and Japanese: どんが Japanese: donga. | ||
| Japanese: wan | Japanese: わん | Japanese: 我ん | Used chiefly in Nakanoshima.[77] Possibly borrowed from the Amami dialects where this form is common. Note that the form Japanese: wantachi, also used in Tanegashima along with the variants Japanese: wanchi and Japanese: wandomo, is a plural second-person pronoun meaning "you (pl)" (cf. the pronoun Japanese: wai below).[78] | ||
| Second-person pronouns | |||||
| Japanese: ohan | Japanese: おはん | formal | The honorific prefix Japanese: o- is sometimes omitted, making it more informal. | ||
| Japanese: omai | Japanese: おまい | Japanese: お前 | informal | A variant of Japanese: おまえ Japanese: omae. | |
| Japanese: wai | Japanese: わい | Japanese: 我 | formal | Derives from the historical form Japanese: われ Japanese: ware. The shortened form Japanese: わ Japanese: wa is sometimes used. | |
| Japanese: omansa(a) | Japanese: おまんさ(あ) | Japanese: お前様 | very formal | Related to the standard form Japanese: おまえさま Japanese: omaesama which is now considered archaic. | |
| Japanese: nn | Japanese: んん | Japanese: 己 or Japanese: 汝 | Considered somewhat archaic and abasing. The form derives from a reduction of the historical pronoun Japanese: うぬ Japanese: unu, meaning "you" or "thou". Sometimes used in the sense of the standard term Japanese: 自分 Japanese: jibun, roughly meaning "oneself", "yourself" or "myself".[79] | ||
| Japanese: oze, oje | Japanese: おぜ, おじぇ | formal, informal | Used chiefly in Tanegashima. | ||
| Japanese: akko | Japanese: あっこ | Used chiefly in northern Koshikijima.[80] In this dialect, it is considered slightly more polite than the pronoun Japanese: わい Japanese: wai. | |||
| Japanese: nan | Japanese: なん | Japanese: 汝ん | Used chiefly in Nakanoshima. Possibly borrowed from the Amami dialects where this form is common. | ||
| Third-person pronouns | |||||
| Japanese: ai | Japanese: あい | Japanese: 彼 | Derives from the form Japanese: あれ Japanese: are, which itself stems from the older form Japanese: かれ Japanese: kare, still used in standard Japanese. As a deictic pronoun, it follows the morphological pattern of demonstratives. Thus, Japanese: あい Japanese: ai becomes Japanese: あん Japanese: an in its possessive form. | ||
| Japanese: anta | Japanese: あんた | Japanese: 彼方 | Though it ultimately derives from Japanese: anata, the form Japanese: anta is here used as a third person pronoun and does not carry the pejorative nuance it does in mainland Japan. The related forms Japanese: こんた Japanese: konta and Japanese: そんた Japanese: sonta are also occasionally used, and differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker. | ||
| Japanese: anshi | Japanese: あんし | Japanese: 彼人, 彼ん人, 彼衆, 彼ん衆 | From the demonstrative Japanese: あん Japanese: an and the person suffix Japanese: し Japanese: -shi; equivalent to the standard term あの人 Japanese: ano hito. The related forms Japanese: こんし Japanese: konshi and Japanese: そんし Japanese: sonshi are also sometimes used, and differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker. | ||
| Japanese: anossama, anossa(a) | Japanese: あのっさま, あのっさ(あ) | Japanese: あのっ様 | very formal | The related variants Japanese: このっさま Japanese: konossama, Japanese: このっさ(あ) Japanese: konossa(a), Japanese: そのっさま Japanese: sonossama and Japanese: そのっさ(あ) Japanese: sonossa(a) are also sometimes used. Like the above, these differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker. | |
In mainland Kagoshima, the two suffixes Japanese: どん Japanese: -don and Japanese: たっ Japanese: -taʔ are commonly appended to the pronouns above in order to indicate plurality: Japanese: おい Japanese: oi "I" → Japanese: おいどん Japanese: oidon "we", Japanese: おはん Japanese: ohan "you" → Japanese: おはんたっ Japanese: ohantaʔ "you (pl)". The suffix Japanese: -don historically derives from the ending Japanese: 共 Japanese: domo, as revealed when topicalized as Japanese: どま Japanese: -doma. More rarely, it may also be topicalized as Japanese: だ Japanese: -da, as in Japanese: おいだ Japanese: oida "we." or Japanese: わいだ Japanese: waida "you (pl).".[81] Due to its pervasive use in the Satsuma region, the ending Japanese: domo may have come to be associated with the speech of samurais, and thus carries a slight condescending or humble connotation in standard Japanese. The suffix Japanese: -taʔ originates from Japanese: 達 Japanese: -tachi, and may be topicalized as Japanese: たちゃ Japanese: -tacha. Elsewhere in Kagoshima's peripheral islands, the forms differ only slightly. In the Satsunan islands, the ending Japanese: 共 Japanese: -domo is most common, and may be topicalized as Japanese: domaa in Tanegashima. The ending Japanese: -tachi appears to be favored in the Tokara Islands and may be clipped as Japanese: -(t)chi in Tanegashima, resulting in such forms as Japanese: wanchi or Japanese: wagatchi for "you (pl)".
In the mainland, the suffix Japanese: どん Japanese: -don also carries a second function: it can be used as an honorific as opposed to a plural-marking suffix. It is worth noting, however, that the honorific suffix stems from the historical form Japanese: 殿 Japanese: dono, now used in standard Japanese almost uniquely in business correspondences. In Kagoshima, the usage of the honorific suffix Japanese: -don corresponds very closely to that of the standard Japanese honorifics Japanese: 様 Japanese: sama and Japanese: さん Japanese: san. For instance, Japanese: -don can be used in a very pompous manner with the first-person pronoun, resulting in Japanese: おいどん Japanese: oidon "I/my esteemed self", which is equivalent to standard Japanese Japanese: 俺様 Japanese: oresama. Other examples of honorific usage include Japanese: 母どん Japanese: kakadon "mom" (standard: Japanese: お母さん Japanese: okaasan), Japanese: 親父どん Japanese: oyaddon "dad" (standard: Japanese: お父さん Japanese: otōsan) and Japanese: 日どん Japanese: hidon "sun" (standard: Japanese: お日様 Japanese: ohisama). The suffix is also used in terms of address in a similar way to Japanese: -san in Japanese, so Japanese: 大迫どん Japanese: Osako-don would be equivalent to Japanese: 大迫さん Japanese: Ōsako-san in standard Japanese or "Mr./Ms. Ōsako" in English. Now more and more, however, this usage is being phased out in favor of its standard Japanese counterparts.
The honorific suffix Japanese: 様 Japanese: -sama is also used in a limited number of expressions, along with its more common mainland variant Japanese: さ(あ) Japanese: -sa(a). For example, Japanese: あのっさあ Japanese: anossaa or Japanese: あのっさま Japanese: anossama are honorific pronouns used to refer to a third person, while Japanese: 天道様 Japanese: tendosa is another honorific term used to refer to the sun,[82] and Japanese: 神様 Japanese: kansaa is an honorific referring to gods or deities.[83] Under the influence of mainland Japanese and in certain regions like Nakanoshima, the variants Japanese: さん Japanese: -san and Japanese: はん Japanese: -han are used, especially with terms of kinship. Some examples from Nakanoshima include: Japanese: おっとはん Japanese: ottohan "dad", Japanese: おっかはん Japanese: okkahan "mom" and Japanese: あんさん Japanese: ansan "older brother".
this one | that one | that one over there | which one? | ||
(of) this | (of) that | (of) that over there | (of) what? | ||
like this in this manner | like that in that manner | like that over there in that (other) manner | what sort of? how? in what manner? | ||
here | there | * over there | where? | ||
to this extent, only this much | to that extent, only that much | to that extent, only that much | to what extent? how much? |
* irregular formation; variants include, and
As with Standard Japanese, demonstratives also occur in the (proximal), (mesial), and (distal) series, with the corresponding interrogative form as .
The pronoun series is created using the suffix, which is a reduced form of the standard suffix . Particles attached to this form may cause the underlying historical form to resurface. For example, when the dative particle (standard) is attached, the forms become,, and, since sonorant gliding (i.e. pronounced as //ɽe// → pronounced as //i//) fails to trigger when the vowel stems from a historically long vowel or diphthong (i.e. pronounced as //ɽei// → pronounced as /
The determiner suffix surfaces as for the standard ending . Thus, "this book" would be expressed as Japanese: こん本 . The determiner series also serves to replace the standard Japanese person series by compounding onto it the noun (or in Tanegashima), roughly meaning "person", creating the forms,, and more rarely .[84] [85] Tanegashima also appears to make use of the determiner series followed by the suffix 共 to indicate plurality, so would effectively mean "these people" or "these guys".
The kind and manner series, which are and in standard Japanese, are grouped together under the (before a verb) and (before a noun) series, which may be elided to and in casual speech. In parts of the Koshikijima Islands, the latter may be pronounced as or .[86] In other parts, namely the Southern Satsuma Peninsula, these forms are replaced by compounding the determiner suffix with the noun followed by the directional suffix if used before a verb, thus creating the forms,, and . The preceding compound is equivalent to that of the standard form, as in,, etc.
The place suffix remains the same as standard Japanese. However, the directional series, preserved in the expression "here and there" (standard),[87] is more commonly replaced by appending the directional particle (standard and) to the place series, resulting in the form due to vowel coalescence. In Tanegashima uniquely, this form is instead expressed by tagging on the directional particle to the pronominal series, resulting in,,, and .[88] The directional ending is also in use in a number of areas, giving,,, .[89]
And lastly, the Satsugū dialect also makes use of an extra series that describes limits using the suffix, which is roughly the equivalent of the standard Japanese construction + or . So "only that much" in standard Japanese would become in the dialect.[90] To express approximation, as in "only about that much", the particle Japanese: ばっかい may be added to form . The interrogative form is commonly used to ask about prices: "how much is it?" (standard).
See main article: article and Kagoshima verb conjugations.
The verbal morphology of the Kagoshima dialects is heavily marked by its divergent phonological processes. Vowels can, for instance, coalesce, devoice, or be deleted entirely depending on the preceding sound. For example, the standard form Japanese: 書く "write" becomes Japanese: 書っ in the dialects of the mainland as a result of high vowel deletion. In addition to such changes, noticeable morphological differences exist between the standard language and the dialects. For example, the Kagoshima dialects pattern more closely with Western Japanese and Kyushu dialects, using the negative ending as opposed to .[91] So the form Japanese: 書かん "not write" is used instead of the standard equivalent Japanese: 書かない . Other examples include the use of the form instead of in the imperfective and participle forms of verbs ending with the vowel stem, or the auxiliary Japanese: おる (Japanese: おっ) instead of Japanese: いる for the progressive form.[92] More specific to regions of Kyushu, the dialects continue to use the form for verbs that would end in in standard Japanese, as in Japanese: 見ゆる (Japanese: 見ゆっ) "to be seen" instead of Japanese: 見える,[93] and they also use the auxiliary verb where standard Japanese uses the ending to express desire, as in Japanese: 食ぉごたっ "want to eat" as opposed to the standard forms Japanese: 食いたい or Japanese: 食べたい .
Other noticeable differences specific to Kagoshima include its significant array of honorifics. For example, the polite auxiliary verbs Japanese: もす (or Japanese: もうす in Tanegashima) and Japanese: もんす, sometimes written as Japanese: 申す and Japanese: 申んす respectively, are used instead of the standard ending Japanese: ます . Compare Japanese: 食もいもす to Japanese: 食べます "(polite) eat". The endings Japanese: す and Japanese: んす are also sometimes used to replace to stem of verbs ending in in order to add an extra degree of politeness. As a result, multiple variants of the same verb may exist: Japanese: やる, Japanese: やす and Japanese: やんす are all formal auxiliaries used in imperative constructions, as in Japanese: 食もいやんせ "please eat". And, while the form Japanese: やいもす exists, the forms Japanese: やしもす and Japanese: やんしもす are not used, suggesting that Japanese: す and Japanese: んす may be reduced forms of the auxiliary verbs Japanese: もす and Japanese: もんす . Related differences include or instead of the standard form for politely requesting that someones does something for the speaker.
Many other differences also exist, especially at the lexical level. Examples in mainland Kagoshima include instead of "to play", instead of "to die", instead of "to do one's best", or (or) instead of "to walk around", instead of "to walk", and so on.
Japanese dialects spoken north of Kagoshima:
Japonic languages spoken directly south of the Kagoshima dialect boundaries:
Influential dialects: