Saga dialect
Saga dialect | |
---|---|
Native to | Japan |
Region | Saga Prefecture |
Japonic
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | saga1265 |
IETF | ja-u-sd-jp41 |
TheSaga dialect(Tá hạ biện,Saga-ben)is adialectof theJapanese languagewidely spoken inSaga Prefectureand some other areas, such asIsahaya.It is influenced byKyushu dialectandHichiku dialect.Saga-ben is further divided by accents centered on individual towns.
The Saga dialect, like most dialects of rural Kyushu, can be nearly unintelligible to people who are accustomed to standard Japanese. A popular urban legend has it that two Saga-ben speakers met up inTokyoand bystanders mistook their dialect forChinese.
Characteristics
[edit]Many of Saga's dialectical properties are variants, in particles or conjugations, of standard Japanese.
- Words are often repeated twice.
- The sentence-ending particle "よ" (yo) becomes "ばい" (bai) or "たい" (tai).
- The contrastive conjunction "ばってん" (batten) (somewhat equivalent toEnglish's "however" ) replaces standard Japanese equivalents.
- The operative particle "を" (o) is replaced with "ば".
- Ex.: Giấy vệ sinh ば thư いた=Wrote [a] letter.
- The particle "が" (ga), when referring to other people, is replaced with "の" (no).
- Ex.: Hắc quân の thư いた=Kuro-kunwrote [it].
- Traditional masu-formkeigois replaced by the suffix "~しんさつ" (shinsatsu), "~しんさる" (shinsaru), "~しよんさつ" (shonsatsu), or "~しよんさる" (shonsaru).
- Ex.: Giấy vệ sinh をかきよんさった=Wrote [polite] [a] letter.
- The direction particles "に" (ni) and "へ" (he) are replaced with "さい" (sai).
- Ex.: Trường học さい hành く=Go to school.
- The explanatory "の" is replaced by "と" (to).
- Ex.: Giấy vệ sinh を thư いたと? = Wrote [a] letter [explanation request].
- The continuative conjugation "~ている" (teiru)becomes "とっ".
- Ex.: Thư いとっ=[Someone is] writing.
- In the passive conjugation of a verb, "れ" (re) is taken out and "る" (ru) becomes a long vowel, or doubles the next consonant.
- Ex.: Thư かれる (writing; passive voice) becomes replaced with thư かるう or thư かるっ.
- I-adjectiveshave their "い" (I)s replaced with "か" (ka)s.
- Ex.: cold(Hàn い)becomes hàn か.
- Na-adjectivessometimes have a か added on, reminiscent of the above characteristic. This seems to happen more in the south.
- Ex.: じょうず (joozu) becomes じょうずか (joozuka).
- Pronunciation is similar toHakata dialectin the following: "sa, shi, su, se, so" become "sha, shii, shu, she, sho". In addition, Saga-ben also has the unique pronunciations of "za, zu, ze, da, ga," and "na" rendered as "ja, ju, je, ja, gya," and "nya", respectively.
- "~ない" (nai) conjugations become "ん" (n) the "ない" adjective itself becomes "なか" (naka)). This reflects the negative archaic/rude conjugation in standard Japanese. For example, whereas thực べん would be rude in eastern Japan, in Saga-ben it is standard.
- Ex.: Phân からない becomes phân からん
- The Saga-ben version of hảo きじゃない is either hảo かん or hảo きじゃなか
- I-adjectives' "い" s become "さ" (sa) in when the speaker wants to add strong emphasis.
- I-adjectives' continuative form's "く" (ku) becomes a modifying "う" (u) that elongates and possibly changes the vowel of the character before it.
- Ex.:interesting (continuative)(おもしろく (omoshiroku))becomes "おもしろう" (omoshiroo); fun (continuative)(Lặc しく)becomes lặc しゅう.
これ, それ, あれ, どれ (kore, sore, are, dore) Series
[edit]TheDemonstrative seriesis uniquely pronounced in Saga-dialect.
- The normal これ, それ, あれ, どれ series in Japanese (this, that,yon,and which respectively) has its れ sounds replaced with い. Yêm also follows this pattern, and becomes おい (oi). Indeed, many words follow this pattern; even ai becomes だい (dai).
- The related words どう (doo), こう (koo), and そう (soo) become どがん (dogan), そがん (sogan), and こがん (kogan), respectively. An even more rustic conjugation set of these words is どぎゃん (dogyan), そぎゃん (sogyan), and こぎゃん (kogyan).
Vocabulary
[edit]Saga-ben contains much characteristic vocabulary. Examples are included (with standard Japanese, where applicable) in the following table:
Saga-ben | Standard Japanese | English gloss |
---|---|---|
おばっちゃん (o-batchan) | おば-ちゃん (o-bachan) | granny |
いわじいにゃ (iwajiinya) | Ngôn わない の よ | I'm not saying |
きんしゃ (kinsha) | Tới る | Come |
あばかん (abakan) | - | Too small, and cannot be fit into |
がばい (gabai) | すごく(sugoku) | Terribly; extremely |
~ごた (gota) | の ようだ (noyooda) | It's that way |
うーか (uuka) | Nhiều い | Many |
うすか (usuka) | Sợ い | Scary |
くさい (kusai) | だ!;だよ! (da!; dayo) | (copula; affirmative particle) |
しぎー の する (shigiinosuru) | しびれる (shibireru) | Fall asleep (of a limb) |
じゃーた (Jaata) | Ra した | came out |
すらごと (suragoto) | Hư (uso) | Falsehood |
とっとっと (tottotto) | Lấy っている の | taken/reserved (w/explanation particle) |
~とけ (toke) | な の に (nanoni) | despite~ |
ふうけもん (fuukemon) | バカ | idiot |
みたんなか (mitannaka) | みっともない (mittomonai) | shameful; extremely |
きゃーないた (kyaanaita) | Mệt れた | tired |
ぎゃーけした (gyaakeshita) | Phong tà をひった | caught a cold |
~やろー (yaroo) | 〜なんでしょう;〜だろ (tandeshoo; daro) | I guess; probably (rhetorical) |
~やん (yan) | 〜じゃん (jan) | isn't it (affirmative). |
えいくろった (eikurotta) | Túy っ払った | inebriated |
ひやがいーめし (hiyagaiimeshi) | Ngày thực | lunch |
いっちょん (itchon) | Toàn く | completely |
やぐらしい (yagurashii) | うるさい (urusaii) | annoying |
あちゃこちゃ (achakocha) | あちこち (achikochi) | here and there |
そいぎんた (soiginta) | さよなら/さようなら (sayonara/sayounara) | goodbye |
Cultural references
[edit]- Saga-ben was heavily spoken in the 2006 film, and now television series, "Gabai bā-chan" (lit. fantastic grandma). The title itself is in Saga-ben.
- The protagonist ofZombie Land SagaMinamoto Sakura speaks in Saga-ben, specifically theKaratsuvariant.
- In the Japanese dub ofYuri on Ice,many of the characters who live in Kyushu speak Saga-ben.