Information AboutKansai-ben |
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Technically Kansai-ben is not a single dialect, but a group of related dialects of the region. Each major city represents a particular dialect with thousands of years of history. Thus there are specific dialects such as Kyoto-ben, Kobe-ben, Nara-ben, Wakayama-ben, etc. Since Osaka is the largest city of the region, and since its speakers have gained the most media exposure in the last century, non-Kansai-ben Japanese speakers may associate the dialect of Osaka with the entire Kansai region. 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 Tokyo ite is invariably going to be labelled as a Kansai-ben speaker and probably an ''Osaka-jin'' whether they are from Osaka or not. This may grate on the nerves of a few speakers of non-Osakan Kansai dialects, but no particular effort is underway to correct the misassumption. Since Kansai-ben is the most common atypical dialect of Japanese, it has become a favorite with Japanese authors, Manga and Anime artists, and the like as the choice for representing a somewhat "different" character from the norm. 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. Kansai-ben is strongly associated with Manzai and comedy in general. Some believe this is because Yoshimoto Kogyo , one of the country's main comedy television production companies, is based in Osaka, and thus Kansai comedians are better promoted. 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. 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. These contractions follow the similar inflection rules as their standard forms, so that ''chau'' is politely said ''chaimasu'' in the same way as ''chigau'' is inflected to ''chigaimasu''. 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. Dropping of the final ''-i'' of adjectives are often done 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''. Dropping final ''-i'' is common throughout the entire history of Japanese language. It is also seen in old literature in Classical Japanese . To be accurate, the final -i is ''attached'' afterwards in the late history of the language. Dropping is seen in many dialects of Japanese including Tokyo-ben, the basis of Standard Japanese . Limited number of dialects including Standard Japanese lack this feature. 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''. It should be noted that ''ya'' is only used informally, and ''desu'' is used for the polite ( Keigo ) copula. Historically, extensive use of keigo was a feature of Kansai-ben while Kanto-ben, of which the Standard Japanese were made, formerly lacked it. Keigo in Standard Japanese was originally borrowed from Kansai-ben. However keigo is no longer considered a feature of the dialect since the Standard Japanese also have it. Even today keigo is used more often in Kansai-ben speech than in the other dialects except for the Standard Japanese, to which people switch in formal situations. 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 unconsciously 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 In some cases, Kansai-ben uses different words entirely. The verb ''hokasu'' corresponds to Standard Japanese ''suteru'' "to throw away", and ''meccha'' corresponds to the Standard ''chō'' "very". Some Japanese words gain entirely new meaning when used in Kansai-ben. 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. ''Baka'', which is used as "idiot" in most regions, becomes "complete fool" and a stronger insult than ''aho''. 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. Most Kansai-ben speakers cannot stand being called ''baka'' but don't mind being called ''aho''. List of common phrases Common phrases famous as Kansai dialect include:
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 throughout 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, bochi bochi 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, bochi bochi denna'' response. The latter phrase is also specific to Osaka, in particular the term ''bochi bochi''. This means essentially "so-so", i.e. getting better little by little or not getting any worse. Unlike ''mōkarimakka'', ''bochi bochi'' 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 ''bochi bochi ya nā'' is sure to astound and amuse listeners. Also, ''bochi bochi'' can be used in place of the Standard Japanese ''soro soro'', for instance ''bochi bochi 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 shiteharu no?"'' using the ''-haru'' conjugation for an informal question. The verb conjugation suffix ''-nahare'' can be used in place of the standard construction ''-nasai'' to indicate a request, compare to standard Japanese "-nasare" (archaic). 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
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