Northern Izu Archipelago dialects

The Northern Izu Islands dialects (Japanese: 北部伊豆諸島方言 hokubu izu shoto hogen) is a dialect group of Japanese spoken on the northernmost collection of islands in the Izu Archipelago, Japan. The most studied of these include the To-shima, Izu Oshima and Miyake-jima dialects. These dialects have many unique traits, and can differ considerably from island to island.

Classification

All Northern Izu Islands dialects are part of the Tokai-Tosan dialect group spoken across central Japan, and are most similar to the mainland, eastern Shizuoka dialect.

General features

The following are general phonetic and grammatical features of the Northern Izu Archipelago dialects, with exceptions and individual variations listed in the island-specific sections.

Phonology

The Northern Izu Archipelago dialects have a chūrin (中輪 ‘middle rim’) Tokyo standard pitch accent. The vowel sound /e/ is somewhat narrower than in traditional Tokyo dialects, and may lose its distinction with /i/ to become [i]. For example:

• eki (駅 train station) → <u>i</u>ki
• kebyō (仮病 feigning illness)→ k<u>i</u>byō
• fude (筆 writing brush) fud<u>i</u>
• tenki (天気 weather)→ t<u>i</u>nki
• sensei (先生 teacher) → sh<u>i</u>nshē

In some dialects, there is a /tu/ syllable. For example:

• tsurizao (釣り竿 fishing rod) → <u>tu</u>izao

Grammar

Northern Izu Archipelago dialects are classified under Eastern Japanese, with similar grammar structures to Shizuoka and West Kantō dialects, but also with a strong influence from the traditional Yokohama dialect. As aforementioned, however, the differences from island to island can be extreme. Below are some notable grammatical traits.

• The conclusive auxiliary verb is the characteristic Eastern Japanese -da (だ).
• The connective form of u-ending Godan verbs experience small tsu (っ) insertion, whilst su-ending Godan verbs experience i-euphony. (The North Izu dialects are the furthest east this trait is found)
• Bē (べ) (or bei (べい) on To-shima) is used for persuasion and volition. -U (-う) is also used for volition.
• For reasons, -kara (から) and -node (ので) are generally used, with exceptions on To-shima and Mikura-jima (listed below).

Izu Ōshima

• On Izu Ōshima, pitch accent is based on the chÅ«rin Tokyo standard but is not identical, rather a slight variation.
• The negative verb form is [-nai stem + nai (-ない)].
• For conjecture, zura (ずら) is used.
• The plain form of verbs appears as -n (-ん). For example) kuru (来る to come)→ kun (来ん), suru (する to do)→ shin (しん), neru (寝る to sleep)→ nen (寝ん).

Nii-jima

• In the older generation of Nii-jima, /e/ is lengthened.
• In the Nii-jima Honmura dialect, the phonemes /ti/ and /di/ are also observed.

Mikura-jima

• The negative verb form is [-nai stem + nee (ねぇ)].
• For conjecture, danbē (だんべぇ) and darō (だろう) are used.

Miyake-jima

• In Tsubota, /e/ tends to change to an [i], with a particularly strong tendency to do so on the syllables ke (け) and re (れ).
• The negative verb form is [-nai stem + nee (ねぇ) ].
• For conjecture, zura (ずら) and darō (だろう) are used.
• -nke (-んけ) is used as an equivalent to kara and node.

To-shima

• The vowels in /c<u>e</u>/ and /c<u>o</u>/ are pronounced close to an i and u, respectively.
• The diphthong /ei/ is not merged and is pronounced [ei], so that sensei (先生 teacher) is not sensē but sens<u>ei</u>.
• The negative verb form [nai-stem + n (ん) ] is used.
• For conjecture, dan’nō (だんのう) and darubei (だるべい) are used.
• -ni (-に) is used as an equivalent to kara and node.
• A distinction between the attributive and plain form of verbs can be seen. The attributive form ends with -o, whilst the plain form ends with a -u when particles like bei and na (な) are attached. For assertions, the verb ends with -o. For example:
• iru (いる to be)→ iro (いろ)
• neru (寝る to sleep)→ nero (寝ろ)
• suru (する to do)→ shiro (しろ)
• shite iru (している is doing)→ shitero (してろ)
• kaku (書く to write)→ kako (書こ).
• The Western Japanese past negative form -zatta (-ざった was not) is found.

References