Kansai-ben
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Kansai-ben (Japanese: 関西弁, -ben "dialect") is a distinct group of related Japanese dialects found in the Kansai region of Japan. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben. Most people outside of the Kansai region equate Osaka-ben with Kansai-ben in general, mostly due to the former's extensive media exposure. Thus anyone habitually saying akan or honma to a Tokyoite is invariably going to be labelled as a Kansai-ben speaker and probably an Osakajin whether they are from Osaka or not.
The use of Kansai-ben is closely associated with comedy throughout most of non-Kansai Japan. This is due both to the prevalence of comedians from Osaka in Japanese media as compared to people from other cities and regions, and to the willingness of Osaka comedians to use their own dialect while on stage. Because of this association, speakers of Kansai-ben are often viewed as being more humorous or more witty than the average Tokyoite. Tokyo people even occasionally imitate Kansai-ben to provoke laughter or inject humor into a situation.
Historically, nearly every village in the Kansai area had a style of speech which differed somewhat from its neighbors; it was once possible for well-travelled people to identify the particular area from which a speaker came. Due to the increasing influence of the Tokyo and Kanto dialects over the last four hundred years, the intraregional differences have been declining across all of Kansai. However, citizens of each major city and prefecture still take some pride in their particular dialectical variations, and this has preserved a number of differences between each area in the region.
The primary dialects of Kansai-ben can be roughly divided into cities. There is Osaka-ben, the most famous and well known. Following it are Kyoto-ben, known for its indirectness and politeness, and Kobe-ben known for its -tō/-ton verb conjugation. Others include Nara-ben, Wakayama-ben, Shiga-ben, Mie-ben, and Hyogo-ben.
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General differences from Standard Japanese
Many words in Kansai-ben are produced by contractions of the Standard Japanese equivalent. Thus chigau "to be different, wrong" becomes chau, yoku "well" becomes you, and omoshiroi "interesting, funny" becomes omoroi, to name a few more common examples. Common contractions in Standard Japanese are replaced by specific Kansai-ben variations. The korya and sorya contractions of kore wa and sore wa heard in relaxed speech in Tokyo are instead kora and sora throughout the Kansai region.
Also, the final -i of adjectives are often dropped in casual Kansai-ben speech. In their place the last vowel is stretched out for a second mora, sometimes with a tonal change for emphasis. By this process omoroi "interesting, funny" becomes omoroo, and atsui "hot" becomes atsuu. This is analogous to the change of the final vowel+i combination to -ee in casual Standard Japanese, i.e. omoshiroi → omoshiree.
The Standard Japanese copula da is replaced by the Kansai-ben copula ya. The inflected forms maintain this difference, giving yaro for darō, yakara for dakara. However the mere replacement of da with ya is not a sufficient rule; although yattara for dattara is correct, yan is the replacement for janai. It should be noted that ya is only used informally, and desu is used for the polite copula. However informality is more prevalent in all Kansai-ben speech than it is in the standard language.
Long vowels in inflections of Standard Japanese are typically shortened in Kansai-ben. This is particularly noticeable in the volitional conjugation of verbs. For instance, ikō "let's go" is shorter in Kansai-ben as iko; shō, the contracted form of shiyō "let's do" in Standard Japanese, is simply sho in Kansai-ben. The common phrase of agreement, sō da "that's it", is said so ya in Kansai-ben.
Oddly, in direct opposition to the shortening of long vowels in inflections, Kansai-ben shows a recurring tendency to lengthen vowels at the end of monomoraic nouns. Common examples are kii for ki "tree", and too for to "door.
A frequent occurrence in Kansai-ben is the use of h in place of s in suffices and inflections. Some palatalization of s is apparent in most Kansai speakers, but it seems to have progressed further in morphological suffices than in core vocabulary. This process has produced the Kansai -han for Standard -san, -mahen for -masen, and -mahyo for -mashō, among other examples. In casual speech, the negative verb ending -nai is often replaced with further abbreviated -hen, as in ikahen "not going" instead of the standard ikanai.
The geminated consonants found in Standard Japanese verbal inflections are usually replaced with long vowels in Kansai-ben. Thus, for the verb iu "to say", its past tense in Standard Japanese itta "said" becomes yūta in Kansai-ben. This particular verb is a dead giveaway of a native Kansai-ben speaker, as most will unconciously say yūte instead of itte even when well practiced at speaking in Standard Japanese. Other examples of geminate replacement are waratta "laughed" becoming warōta, and moratta "received" becoming morōta or even mōta.
Sentence final particles
The sentence final particles (Japanese: 終助詞 shūjoshi) used in Kansai-ben differ widely from those used in Standard Japanese. The most prominent to a Tokyo-ben speaker is the use of wa by men. In Standard Japanese this is a softening or soft exclamatory particle which is used exclusively by women. In Kansai-ben however it functions in almost the exact same manner as yo does in Standard Japanese, and is as such used equally by both men and women in many different levels of conversation.
Another difference in sentence final particles which strikes the ear of the Tokyo-ben speaker is the nen particle. This is much the same as the Standard Japanese noda (noda > noya > neya >nen).
The emphatic particles zo and ze heard so often in the mouths of Tokyo men are nowhere to be heard in the Kansai region. Instead, the particle de is used, especially in the phrase akan de, equivalent to Tokyo's dame da. It probably arose from the same variation which gave rise to the Western Japan replacement of z- with d- in words such as denden for zenzen "never, not at all". However, despite the similarity with ze, the Kansai de does not carry nearly as heavy or rude a connotation, influenced by the lesser stress on formality and distance in the Kansai region.
Vocabulary
Perhaps one of the most popular Kansai-ben words, chau (cf Standard chigau "to be different") is universally used to indicate disagreement, to the point where it tends to replace iie "no" in every situation. When used to indicate simple disagreement it is often doubled, chau chau "nope, you're wrong". As it is a verb it is inflected to the polite form chaimasu when disagreeing in more formal situations. The person disagreed with can simply respond chaimahen wa to rebut.
Another widely recognized Kansai term is aho. Basically equivalent to the Standard baka "idiot, fool", aho is both a term of reproach and a term of endearment to the Kansai speaker. Where a Tokyo citizen would almost certainly object to being called baka, being called aho by a Kansai person is not necessarily much of an insult. Being called baka by a Kansai speaker is however a much more severe criticism than it would be by a Tokyo speaker.
Specific dialects
Since Kansai-ben is actually a group of related dialects, not all share the same vocabulary, pronunciation, or grammatical features. However, all have the characteristics described in the discussion of general differences above. Each dialect has its own specific features which are discussed individually here.
Osaka-ben
A number of terms which are considered by most Japanese to be characteristic of Kansai-ben are actually restricted to Osaka and its environs, not actually used througout the entire Kansai region. Perhaps the most famous is the term mōkarimakka, roughly translated as "How's business?", and derived from the verb mōkaru "to be profitable, to yield a profit". This is supposedly said as a greeting from one Osakan to another, and the appropriate answer is another Osaka phrase, mā, botchi botchi denna "Well, so-so, y'know". (The word denna is a contraction of desu na. The Tokyo contraction would be more likely ssu ne.)
The idea behind mōkarimakka is that supposedly Osakans are all engaged in some sort of mercantile activity, since Osaka was historically the center of the merchant culture throughout the Edo era and earlier. Certainly the phrase developed among shopkeepers, and today can be used to greet a business proprietor in a friendly and familiar way, but it was probably never a universal greeting and certainly is not today. It can however be used in a joking manner with any Osakan, and will at least result in a smile and a few laughs, along with the mā, botchi botchi denna response.
The latter phrase is also specific to Osaka, in particular the term botchi botchi. This means essentially "so-so", i.e. getting better little by little or not getting any worse. Unlike mōkarimakka, botchi botchi is used in many situations to indicate gradual improvement or lack of negative change. For the foreigner used to the repetitive question "Can you really understand Japanese?", responding with botchi botchi ya nā is sure to astound and amuse listeners. Also, botchi botchi can be used in place of the Standard Japanese soro soro, for instance botchi botchi iko ka "It's about time to be going".
Another Osaka-specific term is gottsui which can be equivalent to the Standard totemo as well as the adjective ookii. Used for emphasis, this has slowly been replaced by mutcha or metcha which is more widespread throughout the Kansai area, but is still used conversationally in the Osaka region. The final -i can be dropped as with adjectives. Used by a speaker who habitually uses metcha or mutcha, this term implies a greater emphasis. It can also be used alone to mean a large size, as in gottsui ki "huge tree".
Kyoto-ben
Kyoto-ben is characterized by its reliance on politeness and indirectness. The -haru conjugation of verbs, considered keigo throughout the rest of the Kansai region, is an essential form in casual speech in Kyoto. As in other parts of Kansai, -haru has a certain level of politeness above the base or informal form of the verb, and it falls somewhere between the informal and the -masu conjugations. However in Kyoto its position is much closer to the informal than it is to the polite, due to its widespread use. The Osaka phrase "Nani shiten nen?", equivalent to the standard "Nani shiteru no?", would in Kyoto be said "Nani shitaharu no?" using the -haru conjugation for an informal question.
Based on -haru, the verb conjugation suffix -nahare can be used in place of the standard construction -nasai to indicate a request.
In Kyoto-ben, the honorific suffix -san which in Standard Japanese is reserved for people (and other animate objects in children's speech) can be used for well-known inanimate locations as well.
The negative verb endings -hen and -mahen found throughout the Kansai region are pronounced -hin and -mahin in Kyoto.
References
- Palter, D.C. and Slotsve, Kaoru Horiuchi (1995). Kinki Japanese: The dialects and culture of the Kinki region. Boston: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-2017-1.
- Tse, Peter (1993). Kansai Japanese: The language of Osaka, Kyoto, and western Japan. Boston: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-1868-1.