Awaji dialect

The , also called , is a dialect of Japanese spoken on Awaji Island (which comprises the cities of Sumoto, Minamiawaji, and Awaji) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture. According to the introduction of "Comprehensive Study of the Kinki Region," a publication of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), titled "Subgroupings of the Kinki Dialects", the Awaji Dialect straddles the Central (typified by the pronunciation of the mora /se/ as [ɕe], use of the copula "=ja", a distinction between the perfect and progressive aspects, and a migration of the monograde verb classes to the quadrigrade class) and Western Kansai dialect regions. The dialect shares many features with the dialects of the cities of Osaka, Kobe, and Wakayama, which is shares the Osaka Bay with, as well as with that of Tokushima Prefecture, which exercised control (as Awa Province) over Awaji Island during the feudal period. On the other hand, it bears little resemblance to the Banshū dialect, spoken right across the Akashi Strait from the island.
Classification.
Tasuaki Negita in "A Study of the Awaji Dialect" (1986, ) divides the Awaji dialect into Northern, Central, and Southern varieties, grouping the Northern Awaji dialect with that of the area of the former Kawachi and Yamato Provinces, Central Awaji with that of Izumi Province and Wakayama City, and Southern Awaji with that of Tokushima City.
Yamamoto Toshiharu and Yuriko Iino in "The Dialects of Hyōgo: Their Distribution and Classification" (published in The Bulletin of Mukogawa Women's University, Vol. 10, 1962) instead divide the dialect into Northern Awaji, Sumoto, and Southern Awaji, and further subdivide Northern Awaji into Eastern and Northern sub-varieties.
Intonation and pitch accent.
The entire island uses a Keihan type (wordtone and accent) pitch accent system. Especially among the elderly and people living in remote areas, the traditional Keihan system (which has disappeared in Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and most of the rest of the Kansai Region) is still to be found.
 noted in "Three Major Dialects of the Inland Sea Region" (part of "Japanese Dialects of the Shōwa Period") that the vicinity of the former (now part of the Hokudan-chō Tsuna-gun area of Awaji City) had a H-L-H type intonation (e.g., "dokomade it-temo" ("wherever go.") would be pronounced "dókòmádè ìttémò"). Eiichi Murauchi tells us that one Mrs. Koi, an elderly women from (now part of the Higashiura-chō Tsuna-gun area of Awaji City) had "kíkìbín" ("heel") and "kátàkúmà" ("piggyback ride") for standard Japanese "kibisu" and "kataguruma", respectively, and Yoshiyuki Hattori observed in 1965 an elderly woman from the Kusumoto area (now also part of Higashiura-chō Tsuna-gun) who had "tsúbàkúrò" ("swallow") for standard "tsubame". In general, north of (part of the Ichinomiya-chō Tsuna-gun area of Awaji City) and (part of Tsuna-chō Tsuna-gun area of Awaji City), the prosodic system includes examples not only like these, which can be found throughout the country, but a somewhat different system, found nowhere else in Hyōgo Prefecture.
Pronunciation.
Awaji dialect speakers, like many other speakers of rural Kansai dialects, exhibit alternations between the phonemes /d/, /z/, and /r/, between /m/ and /b/, and /b/ and /w/. Other features shared in common with such dialects include diphthong assimilation, excrescence at a compound boundary, alternations between voiced and voiceless consonants, and various euphonic changes.
To give an example of variant forms, the Sumoto variety has "igok-" ("move"), "sabuk-" ("cold"), "osshe-" ("teach"), "kaaraa" ("roof tile"), and "ebesu" ("provincial") for standard "ugok-", "samuk-", "oshie-", "kawara", and "ebisu", respectively.
In the of Sumoto, however, a very distinctive variety of Awaji dialect, termed Yura-ben (meaning "Yura dialect"), is spoken, characterized by rapid speech and frequent sound assimilations and omissions, making it very difficult to understand (in the rest of island, only the assimilation of the diphthong /ai/ to /æː/ is common).
According to the "Linguistic Atlas of Japan" (a publication of NINJAL's Regional Linguistics Laboratory), elderly people in some sections of the former towns of Midori and Nandan (now both part of Minamiawaji City) still preserved the distinction between /kw/ and /k/ and /gw/ and /g/, lost in most of the rest of the country. In addition, the map indicates a preservation of the medieval pronunciation of the mora /se/ as [ɕe] in some parts of Nandan's .
In most Kansai dialects, when a mora other than the first of a word consisting of a consonant and a high vowel is followed immediately by a vowel or semivowel (whether word-internally or -externally), the consonant changes to one of the moraic phonemes /Q/ or /N/, the high vowel is deleted, and the vowel or semivowel becomes /j/; the resulting sequence of /QCj/ or /NCj/ may then be subject to further changes due to the regular process of palatalization common to all Japanese dialects. This process is exemplified by the famous realization "sunmyos=shat-tara assha=de nisshakas=shuki=ni" ("If you want to get to Sumiyoshi, catch the Nishi-Akashi-bound [train] at Ashiya," lit. "Sumiyoshi= Ashiya= Nishi-Akashi==") for underlying *"sumiyoshi=yat-tara ashiya=de nishiakashi=yuki=ni". In the Awaji dialect, however, this change can also affect the first mora of a word, resulting in forms like "ssar-" ("sit") and "ssho" ("salt") for standard "suwar-" and "shio", respectively, and thus making the dialect a rare example of a Japanese variety that allows initial geminates.
Grammar.
Awaji dialect has the following features:
Conjugation.
The "-ba" of the provisional form fuses with the base of the verb; for example, "kak-ya" ("write.") for standard "kake-ba". Also, the r-row quadrigrade nonpast ending "-r-u" and the monograde nonpast ending "-ru" change to either /Q/ or /N/ when followed by some uninflected words and a few special verbs, giving forms like "hashiz=zo" ("run-=") and "a-n=no=ka" ("exist.==") for standard "hashir-u=zo" ("run.=") and "ar-u=no=ka".
Speakers of the Awaji dialect are often lambasted for not using respectful language. It has been said of the regional character of Sumoto, that since social status and socioeconomic levels do not vary much, respectful language is scarce, that people from Awaji are often heard to speak unreservedly to each other in the interest of fostering frankness among intimates, and that the use of such language may come off as cold or distant. But the Awaji dialect certainly does not lack respectful forms intrinsically. Although the dialect has its own rich inventory of such expressions, due to the diffusion of respectful forms from Standard Japanese on the island, they are in the process of disappearing.
Other types of respectful language.
In polite language, the forms "a-z=ze" ("exist.=") and "a-k=kana" ("exist.=") are preferred to "a-z=zo" and "a-k=ka" ("exist.=") for standard "ar-u=yo" and "ar-u=ka", respectively. Also, the choice of the honorific prefix "go=" or "o=" is governed by the same rules as in the standard language, so "kigen=ya e-e=ka" ("Are [you] in a good mood?", lit. "mood= good.=") becomes "go=kigen=ya o=yoroshi-i=kana" (lit. "=mood= =good-="), for standard "kigen=wa i-i=ka" and "go=kigen=wa o=yoroshi-i=kana", respectively.
Of course, when in Standard Japanese a speaker would attach the suffix "-san" to a person's name, in Awaji dialect the suffix "-han" is used instead, just as in the Osaka dialect.
Vocabulary.
Influence from surroundings.
The variations of the island's regions are such that it is difficult to talk of a single, unified Awaji dialect. The lineages of Kobe and Osaka, Kii, Awa are mixed together in the vocabulary and grammar of the dialect. To take the standard "mi-na-i" ("see.") as an example, the Kobe/Osaka forms "mii-hen" and "mi-yahen" are found in the vicinity of the former Tsuna District and in the and sections of Sumoto City, the Kii forms "mi-n" and "mi-yan" are found in Sumoto's Yura and Nada neighborhoods, the neighborhood of the Nandan-chō Mihara-gun section of Minamiawaji City, and on Nushima, and the Awa form "mi-yasen" (all "see.") is found in the rest of the former Mihara District and within the original boundaries of the City of Sumoto, and there are even areas of Sumoto and southern Goshiki where the Kobe/Osaka and Awa forms are found in free variation. One place where the vocabulary is relatively average or even meager is the island's largest city, Sumoto, in the so-called "Sumoto Dialect" spoken within the old boundaries of the city. Conversely, it is within the very same city, in the Yura neighborhood, where what may be the island's most characteristic variety, the aforementioned Yura Dialect, is spoken.
In most Kansai dialects, the word "aho" ("idiot") is seen for standard "baka", and the Awaji dialect is no exception, but in Hokudan one also find "chage" (realized [tɕaŋe]) with the same meaning. The form "kichanak-" ("dirty") is common for standard "kitanak-", and particularly in northern region the form "chanak-" or the alternative word "yosowashik-" are also found.　The dialects of Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe, Wakayama, and Okayama have retained the word "senchi" ("restroom"), replaced in the standard language by "benjo", and in Awaji this has become "sencha"; the dialects of Sumoto's Yura and Nada sections also have the forms "hako" and "nbako".
Throughout Hokudan and in parts of Higashiura expressions reminiscent of those of the , such as "yo-o ki-ta=noo ware" ("welcome," lit. "good. come.= you") and "sonna koto s-uk=ka re" ("don't do that," lit. "that sort of thing do.= you") for standard "yok-u ki-ta=nee, omae=wa" (lit. "good. come.=, you=") and "sonna koto s-uru=kai, omae=wa" ("that sort of thing do.=, you="), respectively, can be seen.
The reason that Awaji shares forms and vocabulary with such geographically distant regions as Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi is that from ancient times a bilateral trade of goods and culture flourished, and the activities of the Nojima and Mihara fisherman (groups that once inhabited the island and that are mentioned in the earliest chronicles of Japan), who moved between Naniwa and Yamato, is noted in the historical record. As for the connection to Awa, the island was during the Edo Period ruled over by the Tokushima Domain.
A dialect at the center of the Inland Sea.
As the Seto Inland Sea has from time immemorial served to connect Kyushu and the Kinai by sea, it has played a very important role in Japanese history. New words from the capital area leaving Honshu for the West first had to stop over in Awaji. Through absorbing all of this new vocabulary so quickly, the island, along with others in its vicinity such as Shōdo and and in the Naruto Strait, constituted a remarkable dialect sprachbund (an area where dialects share linguistic features, in this case vocabulary, because of extensive contact despite not necessarily being closely related). For standard "takenoko-gasa" (a type of conical hat made from weaving together bamboo sheaths, lit. "bamboo shoot.hat"), we find words such as "taiko-gasa" and "taiko-bachi" disseminated throughout the Seto, and the word "chinchiro" ("pinecone") for standard "matsukasa", pervasive in mainland Kansai, has also spread to Awaji and the islands in the open sea around the Naruto.
Under the influence of this state of affairs, Awaji Island has had a strong tendency to be isolated on the periphery. Examples of vocabulary items found only on the island are "hotoke=no uma" ("praying mantis," lit. "buddha. horse"), for standard "kamakiri" ("praying mantis"), "hi=ater-i ame" ("sunshower," lit. "sun=expose. rain") for standard "hi=der-i ame" (lit. "sun=shine. rain"), and "hidari=ete" ("left-handed," lit. "left=forte") for standard "hidari=kik-i" (lit. "left=effective."). In addition to these Awaji-specific forms, the dialect also has forms found in other places, such as "iari" ("ant") for standard "ari", also found in Kyushu, and even as new words develop or are taken in from elsewhere, there is a still a tendency to preserve the old forms.