The Iyo dialect has numerous characteristics that differentiate it from standard Japanese grammar. •
ya (や) replaces
da (だ) as the plain form attributive
copula, much like in the dialects of Hakata and Kansai •
ken (けん) replaces
kara (から) as in "because" :*
yaken (やけん) is used instead of
dakara (だから) •
oru (おる) replaces
iru (いる) as the verb "to be" for animate objects in casual usage :This leads to two alternate conjugations of the continuative form (～ている
-te iru): :*
-toru (～とる) is a contraction of
-te oru :*V-stem +
-yoru (～よる) is a slurring of
oru :
Example: "What are you doing?" (何してるの？
nani shiteru no? in standard Japanese) becomes either :*
nani shitoru no? (何しとるの？) or :*
nani shiyoru no? (何しよるの？) •
n (ん) as a contraction of sentence-final
no (の) :
Example: The second "What are you doing?" above,
nani shiyoru no? is often contracted to
nani shiyon? (何しよん？) or
nani shon? (何しょん？) •
ya and
wai (わい) can be emphatic sentence-final particles, like
yo (よ) • Negative potential forms ("can't
X") are sometimes expressed as
yō + V-neg. (
yō is an alternative form of 良く yoku which underwent the u-
onbin found in many western Japanese dialects, so more literally it is, "well/often don't
X") :
Example: "Can't do" (できない
dekinai in standard Japanese) becomes
yō sen (ようせん） ::"Can't go" (行けない
ikenai in standard Japanese) becomes
yō ikan （よう行かん) • Especially among the elderly,
kogai (こがい),
sogai (そがい), and
dogai (どがい) are used for "this (kind of~)", "that (kind of~)", and "which (kind of~)", respectively (
konna こんな,
sonna そんな,
donna どんな in standard Japanese). •
zonamoshi (ぞなもし) is the most famous sentence-final particle of Iyo dialect due to being used in
Botchan, a famous novel by
Natsume Sōseki, but the usage is now obsolete.
Regional variations These patterns are found mostly in the Nanyo (southern) region: •
ga (が) replaces
no (の) in some contexts: :*"Explanatory/inquisitive
no" — "What are you doing?" (何してるの？
nani shiteru no? in standard Japanese) becomes
nani shiteru ga? (何してるが？) ::In combination with the alternate form of the continuative mentioned above, this is usually rendered as
nani shiyoru ga? (何しよるが？) :*"Although
-noni" (～のに) — "But that's what you said!" (そう言ったのに！
sō itta noni! in standard Japanese) becomes
sō itta gani! (そう言ったがに！) • Especially in
Yawatahama,
-teya (てや) is an emphatic suffix, usually seen in
sōteya (そうてや), which is equivalent to
sōdayo (そうだよ) ::This is thought to be a contraction along the lines of
sō ya to itta ya →
sō yatte ya →
sōteya ==Vocabulary==