The Kansai dialect (Shinjitai: 関西弁, Kyūjitai: 關西辯 Kansai-ben) is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term, it is called Kinki dialect (近畿方言 Kinki Hōgen); Kansai is also known as "Kinki", hence the alternative term. They are typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, which is referred to specifically as Osaka-ben. It is characterized as being both more melodic and harsher by speakers of the standard language.[1]
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Since Osaka is the largest city in the region and its speakers gained the most media exposure over the last century, non-Kansai-ben speakers tend to associate the dialect of Osaka with the entire Kansai region. However, technically, Kansai-ben is not a single dialect but a group of related dialects in the region. Each major city and prefecture has a particular dialect, and residents take some pride in their particular dialectical variations.
The common Kansai-ben is spoken in Keihanshin and its surroundings, a radius of about 50 km around the Osaka-Kyoto area.[2] Dialects of other areas such as Kii Peninsula and northern Kansai have different features, some archaic, from the common Kansai-ben. Tajima and Tango (except Maizuru) dialects in northwest Kansai are too different to be regarded as Kansai-ben and are thus usually included in Chūgoku dialect. The dialects in Shikoku and the Hokuriku region also share many similarities with the Kansai dialects, but are classified separately.
Kansai-ben has over a thousand years of history. When the Kansai region centered on the ancient Imperial capital of Kyoto was the center of Japan, an archaic form of Kansai-ben was the de facto standard Japanese. Classical Japanese literature was written in archaic Kansai-ben and Kansai-ben had a gradual influence on all of the nation including Edo (now Tokyo). When political and military center of Japan was moved to Edo under the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Kantō region grew in prominence, Edo-ben took the place of Kansai-ben. With Meiji Restoration and the transfer of the imperial capital from Kyoto to Tokyo, Kansai-ben was fixed the position as a non-standard local dialect.
As the Tokyo-ben was adopted with the advent of a national education standard in Japan, some features and intraregional differences of Kansai-ben have diminished and changed. However, Kansai is the second most populated urban region in Japan after Kantō, with a population of about 20 million, so Kansai-ben is still the most widely known and influential non-standard Japanese dialect. Kansai-ben's vocabulary is sometimes introduced into other dialects and standard Japanese. Many Kansai people are attached to their own speech and have strong regional rivalry against Tokyo.[3]
Since the Taishō period, the manzai form of Japanese comedy has been developed in Osaka, and a large number of Osaka-based comedians have appeared in Japanese media with Osaka-ben (See also Yoshimoto Kogyo). Because of such associations, Kansai speakers are often viewed as being more amusing or wittier than average other dialects' speakers. Tokyo people even occasionally imitate Kansai-ben to provoke laughter or inject humor.[4]
In phonological terms, Kansai-ben is characterized by strong vowels and contrasted with Tokyo-ben, characterized by its strong consonants, but the basis of the phonemes is similar.
Kansai-ben has five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ as does standard Japanese. However, /u/ is nearer to [u] than it is in Tokyo.
Vowel reduction frequently occurs in Standard Japanese, but it is rare in Kansai-ben. For example, the polite copula desu is pronounced nearly as des in standard Japanese, but Kansai speakers pronounce it distinctly as desu or even desuu. In some dialects such as the informal Tokyo speech, /ai, ae, oi/ and /ui/ often fuse into /ee/ and /ii/ like akee, sugee and samii instead of akai ("red"), sugoi ("great") and samui ("cold"), but these transformations are also rare in Kansai-ben. Kansai-ben shows a recurring tendency to lengthen vowels at the end of monomoraic nouns. Common examples are kii for ki ("tree"), too for to ("door") and mee for me ("eye").
Oddly, long vowels in inflections of standard are sometimes shortened in Kansai-ben. This is particularly noticeable in the volitional conjugation of verbs. For instance, gakkō e ikō ka meaning "shall we go to school?" is shorter in Kansai-ben as gakko iko ka. The common phrase of agreement, sō da meaning "that's it", is said so ya or even se ya in Kansai.
Unlike the strong vowels, the fricative and plosive consonants are somewhat weak. The phoneme /hi/ in Kansai-ben is nearer to [hi] than [çi] in standard. Yotsugana is two phonemes as Tokyo, but Kansai speakers tend to pronounce /zi/ and /zu/ as [ʑi] and [zu] in place of [dʑi] and [dzɯ] in standard. Intervocalic /ɡ/ is pronounced [ŋ] as in Tokyo, but nasal consonant is also weak and almost all Kansai speakers are oblivious of the difference between [ɡ] and [ŋ]. In a provocative speech, [r] is sometimes used.
A frequent occurrence in Kansai-ben is the use of /h/ in place of /s/ in suffixes and inflections. Some palatalization of /s/ is apparent in most Kansai speakers, but it seems to have progressed more in morphological suffixes than in core vocabulary. This process has produced -han for -san "Mr., Ms.", -mahen for -masen (formal negative form), and -mahyo for -mashō (formal volitional form), among other examples.
In Kansai, especially in the rural areas, /z, d, r/ are sometime confused. For example, denden for zenzen "never, not at all", kadara or karara for karada "body". There is a joke describing these confusions: Yorogawa no miru nonre hara rarakurari ya for Yodogawa no mizu nonde hara dadakudari ya "I drank water of Yodo River and have the trots".[5] The /r/ + vowel in the verb conjugations is sometimes changes /N/ as well as colloquial Tokyo speech. For example, nani shiteru nen "What are you doing?" often changes nani shiten nen in fluent Kansai speech.
The pitch accent in Kansai-ben is very different from the standard Tokyo accent, so non-Kansai Japanese can recognize Kansai people easily from that alone. Kansai-ben's accent is called the Kyoto-Osaka type accent (京阪式アクセント, Keihan-shiki akusento) and is spoken in most of Kansai, Shikoku, southern Fukui Prefecture and Ibigawa, Gifu. The Tokyo accent distinguishes words only by downstep, but the Kansai accent distinguishes words also by high/low-initial accents, so Kansai-ben has more pitch patterns than standard Japanese. In the Tokyo accent, the first and second morae are usually different, but in the Kansai accent, they are often the same.
Below is a list of simplified Kansai accent patterns. H represents a high pitch and L represents a low pitch.
The Kansai accent includes some local variations. The traditional pre-modern Kansai accent is kept in Shikoku and parts of Wakayama such as Tanabe city. Even between Kyoto and Osaka, only 30 min by train, a few words' pitch accents change. For example, Tōkyō ikimashita ([I] went to Tokyo) is pronounced H-H-H-H H-H-H-L-L in Osaka, L-L-L-L H-H-L-L-L in Kyoto.
| Kansai | Tokyo | English | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hashi | 橋 | H-L | L-H(-L) | bridge |
| 箸 | L-H | H-L | chopsticks | |
| 端 | H-H | L-H(-H) | edge | |
| nihon | 日本 | H-L-L | L-H-L | Japan |
| 二本 | L-L-H | H-L-L | 2 hon | |
| kon'nichiwa | こんにちは | L-H-L-L-H L-L-L-L-H |
L-H-H-H-H | Good afternoon |
| Arigatō | ありがとう | L-L-L-H-L | L-H-L-L-L | Thanks |
Many words and grammar structures in Kansai-ben are contractions of their classical Japanese equivalents (it is unusual to contract words in such a way in standard Japanese). For example, chigau (to be different or wrong) becomes chau, yoku (well) becomes yō, and omoshiroi (interesting or funny) becomes omoroi. These contractions follow similar inflection rules as their standard forms so chau is politely said chaimasu in the same way as chigau is inflected to chigaimasu. Common contractions in Tokyo-ben 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 in Kansai-ben.
Kansai-ben also has two types of regular verb, godan verbs and ichidan verbs, and two irregular verbs, kuru ("to come") and suru ("to do"), but some conjugations are different from standard Japanese.
The geminated consonants found in godan verbs of standard Japanese verbal inflections are usually replaced with long vowels (often shortened in 3 morae verbs) in Kansai-ben (See also Late Middle Japanese#Onbin). Thus, for the verb iu/yū ("to say"), the past tense in standard Japanese itta or yutta ("said") becomes yūta in Kansai-ben. This particular verb is a dead giveaway of a native Kansai speaker, as most will unconsciously say yūte instead of itte or yutte even if well-practiced at speaking in standard Japanese. Other examples of geminate replacement are waratta ("laughed") becoming warōta or warota and moratta ("received") becoming morōta, morota or even mōta.
The suffix -te shimau (to finish something or to do something in unintentional or unfortunate circumstances) is contracted to -chimau or -chau in colloquial Tokyo speech but to -temau in Kansai speech. Thus, shichimau, or shichau, becomes shitemau. Furthermore, as the verb shimau is affected by the same sound changes as in other verbs ending in -u, the past tense of this form is rendered as -temōta or -temota rather than -chimatta or -chatta: wasurechimatta, or wasurechatta ("I forgot [it]"), in Tokyo is wasuretemōta or wasuretemota in Kansai.
The long vowel of the volitional form is often shortened; for example, tsukaō (the volitional form of tsukau) becomes tsukao, tabeyō (the volitional form of taberu) becomes tabeyo. The irregular verb suru has special volitinal form shō instead of shiyō, and the volitinal form of another irregular verb kuru is sometimes replaced with kō.
The causative verb ending -(sa)seru is usually replaced with -(sa)su in Kansai-ben; for example, saseru (causative form of suru) changes sasu, iwaseru (causative form of iu) changes iwasu. Te form -(sa)sete and perfective form -(sa)seta often change to -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita. Transformations of -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita also appear in transitive ichidan verbs such as miseru ("to show"), e.g. misete for mishite.
Kansai-ben also uses the potential verb endings -eru for godan and -(ra)reru for ichidan, and their negative forms are -en/ehen and -(ra)ren/(ra)rehen instead of standard -enai and -(ra)renai. However, mainly in Osaka, there is a strong tendency towards treating all potential forms of verbs the same -(r)arehen, whether ichidan or godan. This is because -ehen overlaps with Osakan negative conjugation.
In standard Japanese, The verb iru is used for reference to the existence of an animate object, and iru is replaced with oru in humble language and some written language. In western Japanese, oru is used not only in humble language but also in all other situations instead of iru. Kansai dialect belongs to western Japanese, but iru and its variation, iteru, are used in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, and so on. People in these areas consider oru a somewhat lower or masculine word and sometimes avoid using it for elders (exception: respectful expression orareru, oru + respectful auxiliary verb -(r)areru and humble expression orimasu, oru + -masu). In parts of Wakayama, iru is replaced with aru, which is used for inanimate objects in most other dialects.
In informal speech, the negative verb ending, which is -nai in standard Japanese, is expressed with -n and -hen, as in ikan and ikahen "not going", which is ikanai in standard Japanese. -N is a transformation of the classical Japanese negative form -nu and is also used for formal speech and idioms in standard Japanese. -Hen is the result of contraction and phonological change of ren'yōkei + wa senu, the emphasis form of -nu. The godan verbs conjugation before -hen has two varieties: the more common conjugation is -ahen like ikahen, but -ehen like ikehen is also used in Osaka. When the vowel before -hen is i, -hen sometimes changes to -hin, especially in Kyoto. The past nagative form is -nkatta and -henkatta, a mixture of -n/hen and the standard past negative form -nakatta. In traditional Kansai-ben, -nanda and -henanda is used in the past negative form.
Generally speaking, -hen is used in almost negative sentences and -n is used in strong negative sentences and idiomatic expressions. For example, -n toite or -n totte (do not, standard -nai de), -n demo (even not, standard -nakutemo), -n to (1. unless, standard -nai to or -nakute wa; 2. without, standard -nai de or -zu ni) etc. -N to akan and -na akan (na is a transformation of neba) are often used as "must" and -n to/-na akan may be replaced by -n to/-na ikan and -na naran (-na naran is often shortened to -n naran).
Kansai-ben has two imperative forms. One is the normal imperative form, inherited from Late Middle Japanese. The -ro form for ichidan verbs in standard Japanese is much rarer and replaced by -i or -e in Kansai. The normal imperative form is often followed by yo or ya. The other is a soft and somewhat feminine form which uses ren'yōkei, an abbreviation of ren'yōkei + nasai. The end of the soft imperative form is often elongated and is generally followed by ya or na. In Kyoto, women often add -yoshi to the soft imperative form.
In the negative imperative mood, Kansai-ben also has the somewhat soft form which uses the ren'yōkei + na, an abbreviation of the ren'yōkei + nasaruna. Na sometimes changes to naya or naina. This soft negative imperative form is the same as the soft imperative and na, Kansai speakers can recognize the difference by accent, but Tokyo speakers are sometimes confused by a command not to do something, which they interpret as an order to do it. Accent on the soft imperative form is flat, and the accent on the soft negative imperative form has a downstep before na.
The stem of adjective forms in Kansai-ben is generally the same as in standard Japanese, except for regional vocabulary differences. The same process that reduced the Classical Japanese terminal and attributive endings (-shi and -ki, respectively) to -i has reduced also the adverbial (連用形 ren'yōkei) (-masu stem) ending -ku to -u, yielding such forms as hayō (contraction of hayau) for hayaku ("quickly"). Dropping the consonant from the final mora in all forms of adjective endings has been a frequent occurrence in Japanese over the centuries (and is the origin of such forms as arigatō and omedetō), but the Kantō speech preserved -ku while reducing -shi and -ki to -i, thus accounting for the discrepancy in the standard language.
The -i ending can be dropped and the last vowel of the adjective's stem can be stretched out for a second mora, sometimes with a tonal change for emphasis. By this process, omoshiroi "interesting, funny" becomes omoshirō and atsui "hot" becomes atsū or attsū. This use of the adjective's stem, often as an exclamation, is seen in classical literature and many dialects of modern Japanese, but is more often used in modern Kansai-ben.
There is not a special conjugated form for presumptive of adjectives in Kansai-ben, it is just addition of yaro to the plain form. For example, yasukarō (the presumptive form of yasui "cheap") is hardly used and is usually replaced with the plain form + yaro likes yasui yaro. Polite suffixs desu/dasu/dosu and -masu are also added yaro for presumptive form instead of deshō in standard Japanese. For example, kyō wa hare deshō ("It may be fine weather today") is replaced with kyō wa hare desu yaro.
The standard Japanese copula da is replaced by the Kansai-ben copula ya. The inflected forms maintain this difference, giving yaro for darō (presumptive), yatta for datta (past). The negative copula de wa nai or ja nai is replaced by ya nai or ya arahen/arehen in Kansai-ben. Ya originated from ja (a variation of dearu as da) in the late of Edo period and ja is still used slightly in acrid speech. Now ja is commonly used in other western Japan like Hiroshima and is also used for the stereotype of old men in fiction.
It should be noted that ya and ja are used only informally, the same as the standard da, while the standard desu is by and large used for the polite (keigo) copula. Kansai-ben has its own keigo copulae: dosu in Kyoto and dasu in Osaka, but both are now archaic because the standard desu has become dominant. Dasu is sometimes shortened to da, not to be confused with the standard non-keigo copula.
In traditional Kansai-ben, there is another polite style de omasu between the polite style dasu/dosu and the polite formal style de gozaimasu. Omasu means the polite form of the verb aru and also be used for polite form of adjectives like gozaimasu. In Kyoto, omasu is often replaced with osu. In Osaka, omasu is sometimes shortended to oma like dasu to da. Omasu and osu have their negative forms omahen and ohen.
| impolite | informal | polite1 | polite2 | polite formal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osaka | ja | ya | dasu | de omasu | de oma | de gozaimasu |
| Kyoto | dosu | de osu | ||||
Common Kansai-ben as Osaka-ben and Kyoto-ben uses the same grammar form -te iru of a verb, usually contracted to -teru, to form the continuous and progressive aspects, same as that of standard Japanese. -Te iru is replaced with -te oru, usually contracted to -toru/tōru, in somewhat informal and arrogant speech, same as the usage of iru/oru. And -te iru is replaced with -te aru, often contracted to -taru/tāru, in the expression to the condition of inanimate objects. -Te aru is only used with transitive verbs in standard Japanese, but also used with intransitive verbs in Kansai-ben. One should note that -te yaru "to do for someone" is also contracted to -taru (-charu in Senshu and Wakayama), do not confuse.
Other Western Japanese as Chūgoku and Shikoku dialects has the discrimination of grammatical aspect, -oru in progressive and -te oru in perfect. -Oru and -te oru have some regional variations. In Kansai region, some dialects of southern Hyogo and Kii Peninsula have these discrimination, too. In parts of Wakayama, -oru and -te oru are replaced with -aru and -te aru, often contracted to -yaru and -tāru/chāru.
Historically, extensive use of keigo (honorific speech) was a feature of Kansai-ben, especially Kyoto-ben, while Kantō-ben, from which standard Japanese developed, 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 Standard Japanese now also has it. Even today, keigo is used more often in Kansai-ben than in the other dialects except for the standard Japanese, to which people switch in formal situations.
In Kansai-ben, -naharu, a transformation of -nasaru, is used for the respectful language. In more honorific speech, o- yasu, a transformation of o- asobasu, is also used especially in Kyoto. For polite invitation or order, -nahare/nahai and o- yasu are used instead of -nasai and o- asobase in standard Japanese; -te okun nahare (also -tokun nahare, -toku nahare) and -te okure yasu (also -tokure yasu, -tokuryasu) are used instead of -te kudasai in standard Japanese. Oide yasu and okoshi yasu (more respectful), meaning "welcome", are the common phrases of sightseeing areas in Kyoto.
Now -naharu and o- yasu have gone out of use, and -haru (sometimes -yaharu), a transformation of -naharu, is often used for showing reasonable respect without formality especially in Kyoto. The conjugation before -haru has two varieties between Kyoto and Osaka. In Southern Hyogo, including Kobe, -te ya is used instead of -haru. In formal speech, -naharu and -haru/yaharu connect with -masu form and -te ya changes -te desu.
| use | see | eat | do | come | -te form | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| original | tsukau | miru | taberu | suru | kuru | -teru |
| -naharu | tsukainaharu | minaharu | tabenaharu | shinaharu | kinaharu | -tenaharu |
| -haru in Kyoto | tsukawaharu | miharu | tabeharu | shiharu | kiharu | -taharu |
| -haru in Osaka | tsukaiharu | -teharu | ||||
| -yaharu | miyaharu | shiyaharu | kiyaharu | -teyaharu | ||
| -te ya | tsukōte ya | mite ya | tabete ya | shite ya | kite ya | -totte ya |
There is some difference in the particles between Kansai-ben and standard Japanese. In colloquial Kansai-ben, case markers (格助詞 kaku-joshi) are often left out especially the accusative case o and the quotation particles to and tte. The ellipsis of to and tte happens only before two verbs: iu/yū (say) and omou (think). For example, Tanaka-san, ashita kuru tte yūteta ("Mr. Tanaka said that he will come tomorrow") can change to Tanaka-san, ashita kuru yūteta, but Tanaka-san, ashita kuru tte kinō yūteta ("Mr. Tanaka said yesterday that he will come tomorrow") never changes to Tanaka-san, ashita kuru kinō yūteta. And to iu is sometimes contracted to chū or tchū instead of tsū or ttsū in Tokyo.
The interjectory particle (間投助詞 kantō-joshi) na or nā is used very often in Kansai-ben instead of ne or nē in standard Japanese. In standard Japanese, na/nā is less formal and masculine style, but in Kansai-ben na/nā is used by both men and women in many familiar situations. It is not only used as interjectory particle (as emphasis for the imperative form, expression a admiration, and address to listeners, for example), and the meaning varies depending on context and voice intonation, so much so that nā is called the world's third most difficult word to translate.[7] Besides na/nā and ne/nē, no or nō is also used as masculine or harsh particle in Kansai.
Kara and node, the conjunctive particles (接続助詞 setsuzoku-joshi) meaning "because," are replaced by sakai or yotte. Ni is sometimes added to the end of both, and sakai changes to sake in some areas. Sakai was so famous as the characteristic particle of Kansai-ben that a special saying was made out of it: "Sakai in Osaka and Berabō in Edo" (大阪さかいに江戸べらぼう Ōsaka sakai ni Edo berabō)". However, in recent years, the standard kara and node have become dominant.
It is also characteristic of Kansai-ben to use a particle kate. Kate has two usages. When kate is used with conjugative words, mainly in the past form and the negative form, it is the equivalent of the English "even if" or "even though", such as Kaze hiita kate, watashi wa ryokō e iku ("Even if [I] catch a cold, I will go on the trip"). When kate is used with nouns, it means something like "even", "too," or "either", such as Ore kate shiran ("I don't know, either"), and is similar to the particle mo.
The sentence-final particles (終助詞 shū-joshi) used in Kansai-ben differ widely from those used in standard Japanese. The most prominent to Tokyo-ben speakers is the use of wa by men. In standard Japanese, this is a particle with the same meaning as yo, but is used exclusively by women and so is said to sound softer. In Kansai-ben, however, it functions in almost exactly the same manner as yo does in standard Japanese and is used equally by both men and women in many different levels of conversation.
Another difference in sentence final particles that strikes the ear of the Tokyo speaker is the nen particle such as nande ya nen!, "you gotta be kidding!" or "why/what the hell?!", a stereotype tsukkomi phrase in manzai. It comes from no ya (particle no + copula ya, also n ya) and much the same as the standard Japanese no da (also n da). Nen has some variation, such as neya (rather archaic), ne (shortened version), and nya (softer version of neya). When copula connects these particles, da + no da changes na no da (na n da) and ya + no ya changes na no ya (na n ya), but ya + nen does not change na nen. No da is never used with polite form, but no ya and nen can be used with polite form in Kansai-ben such as nani shitemasu nen? "What are you doing?". In past tense, nen changes to -ten; for example, "I love you" would be suki ya nen or sukkya nen, and "I loved you" would be suki yatten.
In the interrogative sentence, the use of nen is restricted to emphatic questions and involves interrogative words. For simple questions, no is often used in Kansai and it is often changed n or non (somewhat feminine); for the progressive form of the verb suru, the simple question form would be nani shiteru no?, nani shiteru n?, nani shiten no?, nani shiteru non? and nani shiten non? (emphatic form: nani shiten nen?!). Question markers ka and kai are also used in Kansai, but the use of kai is different from standard Japanese. In Kansai, kai includes irritation or discouragement and is mainly used for rhetorical question rather than simple question. It is often followed by na (somewhat soft) and ya (somewhat harsh). In some areas ke is used instead of ka, but it is considered a harsh masculine particle in common Kansai-ben.
The emphatic particle ze, heard often from Tokyo men, is rarely heard in Kansai. Instead, the particle de is used, arising from the replacement of z with d in words. However, despite the similarity with ze, the Kansai de does not carry nearly as heavy or rude a connotation, as it is influenced by the lesser stress on formality and distance in Kansai. The particle zo is also replaced to do by some Kansai speakers. Unlike the replacement of ze with de, the replacement of zo with do carries a masculine or rude impression.
The emphasis or question particle jan ka in the casual speech of Kanto changes to yan ka in Kansai. Yan ka has some variations, such as a masculine variation yan ke (in some areas like Kawachi, but yan ke is also used by women) and a shortened variation yan, just like jan in Kanto. Jan ka and jan are used only in informal speech, but yan ka and yan can be used with formal forms like sugoi desu yan! ("It is great!"). Youngsters often use yan nā, the combination of yan and nā, as tag question.
In some cases, Kansai-ben uses entirely different words. The verb hokasu corresponds to standard Japanese suteru "to throw away", and metcha corresponds to the standard Japanese slang chō "very". Chō, in Kansai-ben, means "a little" and is a contracted form of chotto. Thus the phrase chō matte "wait a minute" in Kansai-ben sounds very strange to a Tokyo person.
Some Japanese words gain entirely different meanings or are used in different ways when used in Kansai-ben. One such usage is of the word naosu (usually used to mean "correct" or "repair" in the standard language) in the sense of "put away" or "put back." For example, kono jitensha naoshite means "please put back this bicycle" in Kansai, but many standard speakers are bewildered since in standard Japanese it would mean "please repair this bicycle".
Another widely recognized Kansai-specific usage is of 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, somewhat like English twit or silly. Baka, which is used as "idiot" in most regions, becomes "complete moron" 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.
Here are some vocabularies and phrases famous as part of the Kansai dialect:
| Kansai-ben | accent | Standard Japanese | English | Note | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| akan, akimahen (polite form) | H-H-H, H-H-H-H-H | dame, ikemasen, shimatta | wrong, no good, must, oh no! | abbreviation of "rachi ga akanu"; also akahen; -ta(ra) akan means "must not ..."; -na akan and -nto akan means "must ...". | Tabeta(ra) akan. = "You must not eat." : Tabena/Tabento akan = "You must eat." |
| aho | L-HL | baka | silly, idiot, fool | sometimes used friendly with a joke; this accompanies a stereotype that baka is considered a much more serious insult in Kansai; Ahondara (L-L-L-H-L) is strong abusive form; Ahokusai (L-L-H-L-L) and Ahorashii(L-L-H-L-L) are adjective form. | Honma aho ya nā. = "You are really silly." |
| beppin | H-H-H | bijin | beautiful woman | Originally written 別品, meaning a product of exceptional quality; extrapolated to apply to women of exceptional beauty, rewritten as 別嬪. Often appended with -san. | Beppin-san ya na. = "You are a pretty woman." |
| chau | H-H | chigau, dewa nai, janai | that isn't it, that isn't good, nope, wrong | reduplication chau chau is often used for informal negative phrase | Are, chauchau chau? Chau chau, chauchau chau n chau? = "It is a Chow Chow, isn't it?" "No, it isn't a Chow Chow, is it?" (a famous pun with Kansai-ben) |
| dabo | L-HL | baka | silly, idiot, fool | used in Kobe and Banshu; harsher than aho | |
| dekka, makka | desu ka, masu ka | keigo copula (question) | desu, masu + ka (interrogative particle); also dakka in Osaka; somewhat archaic | Mōkarimakka? = "How is business?" | |
| denna, manna | desu ne, masu ne | keigo copula (emphasis) | desu, masu + na; also danna in Osaka and donna in Kyoto; somewhat archaic | Bochi-bochi denna. = "So-so, y'know." | |
| desse, masse | desu yo, masu yo | keigo copula (explain, advise) | desu, masu + e (change from yo); also dasse in Osaka and dosse in Kyoto; somewhat archaic | Ee toko oshiemasse! = "I will show you a nice place!" | |
| dessharo, massharo | deshō, darō | keigo copula (surmise, make sure) | desu, masu + yaro; also dassharo in Osaka and dossharo in Kyoto; somewhat archaic | Kyō wa haremassharo. = "It may be fine weather today." | |
| donai | H-H-H | donna, dō | how (demonstrative) | konai means konna (such, like this); sonai means sonna (such, like it); anai means anna (such, like that) | Donai ya nen! = "How does it!?" |
| do | excessively (prefix) | often used with bad meanings | do-aho! = "terribly fool!" | ||
| dotsuku | H-H-H | naguru | to clobber somebody | do + tsuku (突く; prick, push); also dozuku | Anta, dotsuku de! = "Hey, I'll clobber you!" |
| donkusai | L-L-H-L-L | manuke, nibui | stupid, clumsy, inefficient, lazy | literally "stupid-smelling" (鈍臭い) | |
| ee | L-H | yoi, ii | good, proper, all right | used only in Plain form. other conjugations are same as yoi. (Perfective form yokatta generally does not change ekatta) | Kakko ee de. = "You look cool." |
| egetsunai | H-H-H-L-L | akudoi, iyarashii, rokotsu-na | wicked, vicious, obnoxious | Egetsunai yarikata = "Vicious way" | |
| erai | H-L-L | erai, taihen | great, high-status, terrible | the usage as meaning "terrible" is more often in Kansai than in Tokyo; also sometimes used as meaning "tired" as shindoi in western Japanese | Erai kotcha! (< erai koto ja) = "It is a terrible/difficult thing/matter!" |
| gotsui | H-L-L | ikatsui, sugoi | rough, huge | a variation of the adjective form gottsu is used as "very" or "terribly" like metcha | Gottsu ee kanji = "feelin' real good" |
| gyōsan | H-L-L-L or L-L-H-L | takusan | a lot of, many | also yōsan, may be a mixture of gyōsan and yōke; 仰山 in kanji | Gyōsan tabe ya. = "Eat heartily." |
| hannari | H-L-L-L or L-L-H-L | hanayaka, jōhin | elegant, splendid, graceful | mainly in Kyoto | Hannari shita kimono = "Elegant kimono" |
| hiku | H-H | shiku | spread on a flat surface (e.g. bedding, butter) | A result of the palatalization of "s" occurring elsewhere in the dialect. | Futon hiitoite ya. = "Lay out the futons, will you?" |
| hokasu | H-H-H | suteru | to throw away, to dump | also horu (H-H). Note particularly that the phrase "gomi (o) hottoite" means "throw out the garbage" in Kansai-ben, but "let the garbage be" in standard Japanese. | Sore hokashitoite. = "Dump it." |
| honde | H-H-H | sorede | and so, so that (conjunction) | Honde na, kinō na, watashi na... = "And, in yesterday, I..." | |
| honnara, hona | H-L-L-L, H-L | (sore)dewa, (sore)ja, (sore)nara | then, in that case, if that's true (conjunction) | often used for informal good-by. | Hona mata. = "Well then." |
| honma | L-L-H, H-H-H | hontō | true, real | also used in part of other western Japan; 本真 in kanji | Sore honma? = "Is that true?" |
| ikezu | L-H-L | ijiwaru | spiteful, ill-natured | Ikezu sen toitee na. = "Don't be spiteful to me." | |
| itemau, itekomasu | H-H-H-H, H-H-H-H-H | yattsukeru, yatchimau | to beat, to finish off | Itemau do, ware! = "I'll finish you off!" (typical fighting words) | |
| kamahen or kamehen | H-L-L-L | kamawanai | never mind; it's doesn't matter | abbreviation of "kamawahen" | Kamahen, kamahen. = "It doesn't matter: it's OK." |
| kanawan, kanan | H-H-L-L, H-L-L | iya da, tamaranai | can't stand it; unpleasant; unwelcome | Kō atsui to kanawan na. = "I can't stand this hot weather." | |
| kashiwa | L-H-L | toriniku | chicken (food) | compared the colour of plumage of chickens to the colour of leaves of the kashiwa; also used in other western Japan and Nagoya | Kashiwa hito-kire chōdai. = "Give me a cut of chicken." |
| kattā shatsu, kattā | H-H-H L-L, H-L-L | wai shatsu ("white shirt") | dress shirt | wasei-eigo. originally a brand of Mizuno, a sportswear company in Osaka. kattā is a pun of "cutter" and "katta" (won, beat, overcame). | |
| kettai-na | H-L-L-L | kimyō-na, hen-na, okashi-na, fushigi-na | strange | Kettai-na fuku ya na. = "They are strange clothes." | |
| kettakuso warui | H-H-H-H H-L-L | imaimashii, haradatashii | damned, stupid, irritating | kettai + kuso "shit" + warui "bad" | |
| kii warui | H-H H-L-L | kanji ga warui, iyana kanji | be not in a good feeling | kii is a lengthened vowel form of ki (気). | |
| kosobai or koshobai | H-H-L-L | kusuguttai | ticklish | ||
| maido | L-H-L | dōmo | commercial greeting | the original meaning is "Thank you always". 毎度 in kanji. | Maido, irasshai! = "Hello, may I help you?" |
| makudo | L-H-L | makku | McDonald's | abbreviation of makudonarudo (Japanese pronunciation of "McDonald's") | Makudo iko. = "Let's go to McDonald's." |
| metcha or messa or mutcha | L-H | totemo, chō | very | mostly used by younger people. also bari (L-H) in southern Hyogo, adopted from Chugoku dialect. | Metcha omoroi mise shitten nen. = "I know a really interesting shop." |
| nanbo | L-L-H | ikura, ikutsu | how much, no matter how, how old | transformation of nanihodo (何程); also used in other western Japan, Tohoku and Hokkaido. | Sore nanbo de kōta n? = "How much did you pay for it?" |
| nukui | H-L-L | atatakai, attakai | warm | also used in other western Japan | |
| ochokuru | H-H-H-H | karakau, chakasu | make fun of, tease | Ore ochokuru no mo eekagen ni see! = "That's enough to tease me!" | |
| okan, oton | L-H-L, L-H-L | okāsan, otōsan | mother, father | very casual form | |
| ōkini or ōkeni | H-L-H-L or L-L-H-L | arigatō | thanks | abbreviation of "ōki ni arigatō" (thank you very much, ōki ni means "very much"). Of course, arigatō is also used. Sometimes, it is used ironically to mean "No thank you". | Maido ōkini! = "Thanks always!" |
| shānai | H-H-L-L | shōganai, shikataganai | it can't be helped | ||
| shibaku | H-H-H | naguru, tataku | to beat somebody (with hands or rods) | Shibaitaro ka! ( < shibaite yarō ka) = "Do you want me to give you a beating?" | |
| shindoi | L-L-H-L | tsukareru, tsurai, kurushii | tired, exhausted | change from shinrō (辛労; hardship). shindoi has come to be used throughout Japan in recent years. | Aa shindo. = "Ah, I'm tired." |
| shōmonai | L-L-H-L-L | tsumaranai, omoshirokunai, kudaranai | dull, unimportant, uninteresting | change from shiyō mo nai (仕様も無い, means "There isn't anything") | |
| taku | H-H | niru | boil, simmer | in standard Japanese, taku is used only for cooking rice; also used in part of Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu | Daikon yō taketa. = "The daikon was boiled well." |
| waya | H-L | mucha-kucha, dainashi, dame | going for nothing, fruitless | also used in other western Japan, Nagoya and Hokkaido | Sappari waya ya. = "It's no good at all." |
| yaru | H-H | yaru, ageru | to give (informal) | used more widely than in standard Japanese towards equals as well as inferiors | |
| yōke | H-L-L | takusan | a lot of, many | change from yokei (余計, means "extra, too many"); a synonymous with gyōsan |
Standard pronouns are also generally used in Kansai, but there are some local pronoun words. The first pronoun watashi has many variations: watai, wate (both gender), ate (somewhat feminine), and wai (masculine). These are now archaic, but these are still widely used in fictitious creations to represent stereotypical Kansai speakers.
Uchi is also famous for the typical feminine first-person pronoun of Kansai-ben and it is still popular among Kansai girls. An archaic first-person pronoun, ware, is used as a hostile and impolite second-person pronoun in Kansai. Jibun (自分) is a Japanese word meaning "oneself," but it has an additional usage in Kansai as a casual second-person pronoun.
In Kansai-ben, the honorific suffix -san is sometimes pronounced -han when -san follows a, e and o; for example, okāsan ("mother") becomes okāhan, and Satō-san ("Mr. Satō") becomes Satō-han. It is also the characteristic of Kansai-ben that honorific suffixes can be used for specific familiar inanimate objects as well, especially in Kyoto. In standard Japanese, the usage is usually considered childish, but in Kansai-ben, o-imo-san, o-mame-san and ame-chan are often heard not only in children's speech but also in adults' speech.
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 discussed individually here.
Osaka-ben is often identified with Kansai-ben by most Japanese, but some of the terms considered to be characteristic of Kansai-ben are actually restricted to Osaka and its environs. Perhaps the most famous is the term mōkarimakka?, roughly translated as "how is business?", and derived from the verb mōkaru (儲かる), "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 idea behind mōkarimakka is that Osaka was historically the center of the merchant culture. The phrase developed among low-class shopkeepers and can be used today to greet a business proprietor in a friendly and familiar way but is not a universal greeting. The latter phrase is also specific to Osaka, in particular the term bochi bochi (L-L-H-L). This means essentially "so-so": 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. Also, bochi bochi (H-L-L-L) can be used in place of the standard Japanese soro soro, for instance bochi bochi iko ka "it is about time to be going".
Southern branches of Osaka-ben, such as Senshū-ben (泉州弁) and Kawachi-ben (河内弁), are famous for their harsh locution, characterized by roll speaking, the question particle ke, and the second person ware. The farther south in Osaka one goes, the dirtier the language is considered to be, with the local Senshū-ben of Kishiwada said to represent the peak of harshness.[8]
Kyōto-ben is characterized by softness and an adherence to politeness and indirectness. The verb inflection -haru is an essential part of casual speech in Kyoto. In other parts of Kansai, -haru has a certain level of politeness above the base (informal) form of the verb, putting it somewhere between the informal and the more polite -masu conjugations. However, in Kyoto, its position is much closer to the informal than it is to the polite mood, perhaps owing to its widespread use. The Osaka phrase Nani shiten nen would in Kyoto be Nani shiteharu no (and sometimes Nani shitaharu no) using the -haru conjugation for an informal question.
The dialect of southern Hyōgo prefecture, such as Kōbe-ben (神戸弁) and Banshū-ben (播州弁), has some grammar features of other Western Japanese dialects. One of them is the discrimination of aspect, -yoru in progressive and -toru in perfect. Kobe/Banshu-ben is notable for conjugating -yō and -tō for -yoru and -toru. For example, "the teacher has been coming" become Sensei kitō/kiton de and "the teacher is coming" become sensei kiyō/kiyon de in Kobe/Banshu, but, in Osaka, both examples become sensei kiten/kiton de. Another feature of Kobe/Banshu-ben is the polite copula -te ya, common in Tamba, Maizuru and San'yō dialects.
The difference between Kobe-ben and Banshu-ben is the relation with Osaka-ben. Due to their distance between Osaka, Kobe-ben is more near to Osaka-ben than Banshu-ben. In recent years, Kobe-ben is losing its features in favor of some features from Osaka-ben without -tō. Another difference is that Banshū-ben sometimes sounds violent to other Kansai speakers, as well as Kawachi-ben. Some examples are the emphatic final particle doi and the question particle ke.
The dialect in Mie Prefecture is made up of Ise-ben (伊勢弁), Shima-ben (志摩弁) and Iga-ben (伊賀弁). It uses the normal Kansai accent and basic grammar, but some of the vocabulary is affected by the Nagoya dialect. For example, instead of -te haru (respectful suffix), they have the Nagoya-style -te mieru. The similarity to Nagoya-ben becomes more pronounced in the northernmost parts of the prefecture; the dialect of Nagashima and Kisosaki, for instance, could be considered far closer to Nagoya dialect than to Ise-ben.
In and around Ise city, some variations on typical Kansai vocabulary can be found, mostly used by older residents. For instance, the typical expression ōkini is sometimes pronounced ōkina in Ise. Near the Isuzu River and Naikū shrine, some old men use the first-person pronoun otai.
The dialect in old province Kii Province, present-day Wakayama Prefecture and southern parts of Mie Prefecture, is fairly different from common Kansai-ben and comprises many regional variants. It is famous for heavy confusion of z and d, especially on the southern coast. The ichidan verb negative form -hen sometimes changes -yan in Wakayama, Mie and Nara such as tabeyan instead of tabehen ("not eat"). Yō is often used as sentence final particle. Ra follows the volitional conjugation of verbs as iko ra yō! ("Let's go!"). Wakayama people hardly ever use keigo, which is rather unusual for dialects in Kansai.
Shiga Prefecture is the eastern neighbor of Kyoto, so Shiga dialect is similar in many ways to Kyoto-ben. For example, Kyoto-ben's characteristic -haru/yaharu is also commonly used in Shiga, though some Shiga people tend to pronounce -aru/yaaru. One of its features is that the demonstrative pronoun so- often changes to ho-; for example, so ya becomes ho ya and sore (that) becomes hore. In northern Shiga centered Nagahama, people often use the friendly-sounding auxiliary verb -ansu/yansu. In eastern Shiga centered Hikone, the soft emphatic final particle hon can be heard; for example, kamahen hon and ee hon.
The dialect in Nara prefecture is divided into northern and southern (parts of Yoshino such as Totsukawa). The northern dialect has few distinctive from common Kansai-ben, but southern dialect is a language island because its geographic isolation with mountains. The southern dialect uses Tokyo type accent, has the discrimination of grammatical aspect, and does not show a tendency to lengthen vowels at the end of monomoraic nouns.
Because Kansai-ben is widely known, it has become a favorite with Japanese authors, manga and anime artists, as a choice for representing a character somewhat "different" from norm. The characters speaking Kansai-ben are often associated with the stereotypical Osakan image: humorous, miser, epicurean, gaudy, vulgar, energetic and yakuza.[9] Since there is no efficient way to portray Kansai-ben in other languages, it is difficult to translate Kansai-ben into other languages. For example, most English language adaptations of manga and anime use a Southern American accent as a counterpart of Kansai-ben, however Kansai-ben does not usually have a "bumpkin" image as well as the Southern American accent has. Here are some major works with natural Kansai-ben.
See also Category:Fictional Kansai characters and this link.
Some musicians incorporate Kansai-ben into their lyrics.
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