Kagoshima dialect

The , often referred to as the , is a group of dialects or dialect continuum of the Japanese language spoken mainly within the area of the former Ōsumi and Satsuma provinces now incorporated into the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima. It may also be collectively referred to as the Satsuma dialect ( Template:Translit or Template:Translit), owing to both the prominence of the Satsuma Province and the region of the Satsuma Domain which spanned the former Japanese provinces of Satsuma, Ōsumi and the southwestern part of Hyūga. The Satsugū dialect is commonly cited for its mutual unintelligibility to even its neighboring Kyūshū variants, prompting the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to classify it as a distinct language in the Japanesic branch in its Glottolog database. It shares over three-quarters of the Standard Japanese vocabulary corpus and some areal features of Kyūshū.

File:Kagoshima dialect2020feb22.jpg

An example of Kagoshima dialect

Distribution and subdialects

File:Satsuma-Osumi-Morokata.svg

Traditional division:
■ Satsuma, ■ Ōsumi, ■ Morokata ■ Other
(Regions approximated)

The boundaries of the Satsugū dialect are traditionally defined as the former region controlled by the Satsuma Domain, which primarily encompassed the main portion of the Kagoshima Prefecture, located in the southern part of Japan's Kyushu Island, and a small part of the Miyazaki Prefecture to the East. For precision, this area could be further separated into three distinct branches of the Satsugū dialect: the Satsuma dialect spoken in western Kagoshima, the Ōsumi dialect spoken in eastern Kagoshima, and the Morokata dialect spoken in the southwesternmost part of the Miyazaki Prefecture.

However, the dialectal differences are much more localized making this three-way distinction superficial. Variations in pronunciation, words, expressions and grammatical constructions may occur between neighboring cities, towns and villages, with peripheral islands exhibiting greater divergence due to isolation. As such, Satsugū may be considered a dialect continuum, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. By this token, all major areas of the mainland—including Satsuma, Ōsumi, Morokata, and possibly also a small fraction of southern Kumamoto—may form a single, closely related dialect branch with no precise boundaries due to continuous contact between the regions. Conversely, the peripheral islands are easier to distinguish and seemingly form three distinct, but related clades associated with the proximity of the islands. These would be: the Koshikijima Islands to the West, the Ōsumi Islands directly to the South (such as Tanegashima, Yakushima, and Kuchinoerabu), and the Tokara Islands in the very far South. The variants spoken on the Amami Islands are not considered part of the Satsugū dialect, but are rather part of the Northern Ryukyuan language branch.

Further subdivisions are possible for all areas, and a classification tree of the general Satsugū sub-dialects might look something like the following (areas in parentheses indicate approximate regions):

• Satsugū (Southern Kyushu)
  • Mainland Kagoshima
    • Satsuma (Western Kagoshima)
      • Hokusatsu (North-Western Satsuma)
        • Izumi-Akune (and surrounding areas)
        • Nagashima-Shishijima
      • Central Satsuma (most of Kagoshima, especially in and around Kagoshima City)
      • Southern Satsuma
        • South Satsuma Peninsula (Makurazaki)
        • Western Ōsumi Islands (Kuroshima, Takeshima, Iōjima)
    • Ōsumi (Eastern Kagoshima)
    • Morokata (South-Western Miyazaki)
  • Koshikijima Islands
    • North (Kami-Koshikijima)
    • Central (Naka-Koshikijima)
    • South (Shimo-Koshikijima)
  • Eastern Ōsumi Islands
    • Tanegashima
      • Northern Tanegashima (Nishinoomote)
      • Southern Tanegashima (Nakatane, Minamitane)
    • Yakushima
      • Yakushima Island
      • Kuchinoerabu Island
  • Tokara Islands
    • Northern Tokara (Kuchinoshima, Nakanoshima)
    • Central Tokara (Tairajima, Suwanosejima)
    • Southern Tokara (Takarajima)

History

Historically, Satsuma had maintained an influential control over the trading routes that bounded the Kyūshū island to the Ryukyu Islands, Mainland Japan and by extension, the rest of the world. Its commercial importance to the rest of Japan was reflected in the adoption of such terms as Satsuma imo (sweet potato), Satsuma yaki (Satsuma styled pottery), and Satsuma jisho (Japanese-English dictionary). Similar terms such as satsuma ware and satsuma (orange) were also, along with several words from the dialect itself such as soy (Satsugū: そい~しょい ), later incorporated into the English language.

During the Edo period, the Sakoku Edict of 1635 led to the strict seclusion of Japan from the outside world. However, the Satsuma Domain, which spanned the provinces of Satsuma, Ōsumi, and the southwestern part of Hyūga, maintained trade relations with neighboring countries by using the Ryukyu Islands as a conduit, and by advocating that the islands distinctively formed an independent kingdom, even though in reality the Satsuma Domain had conquered the Ryūkyū Kingdom in 1609. The invasion of Ryukyu had assured Satsuma's place as one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan, and would also set a precedent for Satsuma as a vital role in later overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate and initiating the Meiji Restoration.

In the Fall of 1729, a ship from Satsuma bound for the province of Osaka drifted off course and ended up landing at Cape Lopatka, in Russia. Upon arrival, the crew were attacked by a group of cossacks led by Andreï Chtinnikov. Out of seventeen members, only two survived: a trader named Soza, and the pilot's son and apprentice, Gonza. The two were sent across the country to the capital of Saint Petersburg, where they were received in audience by Empress Anna Ivanovna, and later baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. They went on afterwards to teach Japanese, and helped establish the first Japanese-language school in Russia. Gonza, who was also fluent in Russian, wrote and edited a number of books about the Japanese language, using the Cyrillic alphabet to transliterate words. These transliterations provide not only the oldest record of the Satsugū dialect, but have also been cited for their comprehensive evidence of the history, phonology and variability of the Japanese language.

File:Flag of Satsuma domain.svg

The flag of the Satsuma Domain

When Japan started slowly opening up to the rest of the world in the mid 19th century, Satsuma was one of the first domains to embrace Western culture and methods. However, tension quickly grew between the increasing invasiveness of Westerners in southern Japan. When the Namamugi Incident of September 14, 1862 occurred, political and ideological differences between the United Kingdom and Satsuma Province sparked outrage and quickly boiled into the Anglo-Satsuma War. Satsuma would ultimately lose, leaving way to increasing dissatisfaction with the Tokugawan government. The Meiji government would then take its place after the Tokugawan government was overthrown in the Boshin War. However, corruption in the Meiji government, which it originally helped establish, would then give birth to the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Despite their numbers, the Satsuma Domain was rapidly overpowered, and its defeat eventually resulted in the end of its dominance in Japan's southern sphere. The Satsugū dialect, which had a predominant role in samurai affairs and equally the police hierarchy system throughout Japan, steadily declined in influence following this defeat.

In July 1871, the Japanese domain system was abolished. The region of the Satsuma Domain mostly became part of the Kagoshima Prefecture, while a small portion of its northeastern region was incorporated into the Miyazaki Prefecture. The abolition of the domain system also brought forth standardized education. However, as Kagoshima was already an uncontested part of mainland Japan, assimilation through education was not a priority as it had been in Okinawa. Though contrary to Okinawa, the Satsuma clan sought to preserve the uniqueness of its own dialect. As such, the Satsugū dialect persisted.

When the United States later took control of Japan's South in World War II, Japanese officials tactically sought to exploit Kagoshima's more northern position, its advancement in shipping technology, and most notably the Satsugū dialect's mutual unintelligibility as a method of cryptographic communication between Japan and Germany. Dozens of international phone calls had been made using the Satsugū dialect, and despite being able to eavesdrop on the conversations being sent back and forth, the United States was unable to determine the language spoken. The use of the Satsugū dialect to further obfuscate communication during both the Second World War and possibly the period of the earlier Satsuma Domain has led to a popular belief that Satsugū was created as an artificial language and promoted for the purpose of being unintelligible in order to thwart enemy spies.

Current status

Like other Japanese regional dialects, the traditional dialects of Kagoshima are now being displaced by standard Japanese as a consequence of standardized education and centralized media, especially among the younger generation. As a result, many of the features that so characterize the dialects are now disappearing. In terms of phonology, for example, the palatalized variant of the vowel is now being phased out, as is the retention of the labialized consonants . More prominently, many of the phonological processes, such as vowel coalescence and high vowel deletion, as well as most grammatical constructions and words that are unique to these dialects, are being completely uprooted by their standard forms.

Despite this, many popular words and expressions continue to persist today, even among younger speakers. Examples pulled from a research survey include Template:Translit "please do your best", Template:Translit "thank you for your work", Template:Translit "older brother", Template:Translit "shy", and Template:Translit "exactly", among numerous others. The same research also revealed through interviews that, while people generally felt a positive vibe to hearing the traditional dialect spoken, those under the age of 40 expressed some difficulty understanding. One woman in her sixties was quoted saying: "There are now very few people who can use the true dialect".

Efforts to document the dialects or promote them through cultural means are few, though some notable dictionaries on the mainland Kagoshima dialect have been published, such as the , while others can be accessed online. A few manga written in an admixture of the dialect and standard Japanese, such as and by have also been published.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close
Mid
Open

All of the Kagoshima dialects contrast the following five vowels: , , , and . In terms of pronunciation, the Kagoshima dialects pattern with other far-western Honshu and Kyushu dialects, wherein the close back vowel is slightly more rounded than in Tokyo Japanese. Additionally, the mid front unrounded vowel differs from standard Japanese in that it retains the Late Middle Japanese variation between palatalized and unpalatalized . The palatalization may spread to the previous consonant, so that the syllables might vary between and . This is similar to the palatalization observed with the vowel : . In Tanegashima, the mid back vowel still exhibits rounding in some words such as io "fish" or shio "salt".

Vowel length remains contrastive in all regional dialects, but is noticeably less prominent and sometimes ambiguous in the mainland as a result of a process of vowel length reduction. Should historically short, high vowels be shown to devoice rather than delete following sibilant consonants, then dialects of the mainland may effectively contrast the devoiced vowels and with their non-devoiced counterparts and , which arose from historically long vowels.

In comparison to standard Japanese, co-occurring vowel sequences tend to fuse into a single vowel, giving rise to a complex system of vowel coalescence in all regional dialects. In the dialect of Takarajima exceptionally, the sequences , and have not merged into as in other regions, but have instead centralized to and . The vowel tends to result from a fusion of , while usually stems from the fusion of or . Neither of these two coalesced vowels trigger palatalization, consider, for example: "siblings" (not ). The vowel is also unique in this dialect in that it may trigger the labialization of the consonant to , as in "ash".

Consonants

File:Yotsugana.png

Conflation of the yotsugana syllables throughout Japan. Kagoshima falls in the purple area where all four syllables are still mostly distinguished. Using Nihon-shiki romanization:

  1 sound (zi = di = zu = du)

  2 sounds (zi = di ≠ zu = du)

  3 sounds (zi = di ≠ zu ≠ du)

  4 sounds (zi ≠ di ≠ zu ≠ du)

The basic consonant inventory of the Satsugū dialect is the same as that of standard Japanese.

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Labio- velar	Velar	Glottal	Placeless
Nasal
Plosive
Fricative
Flap
Approximant

The plosive consonants are laminal denti-alveolar and the fricatives are laminal alveolar. Before and palatalized , these sounds are alveolo-palatal () and before they are alveolar (). In terms of the latter, the distinction between all four of the traditional syllables , , and is still preserved within the Kyūshū portion of Kagoshima. Here, they are contrastively realized as , , and . In respect to high vowel deletion, the pairs ヂ and ヅ act as obstruents rather than fricatives, as indicated through their underlying representations and . In parts of northern Koshikijima exceptionally, the sounds contrast with : "song.DAT" vs "song.TOP" vs "hit.TOP".

The flap consonant is generally an apical postalveolar flap with undefined laterality. In word medial and final position, is frequently rendered as a glide (see sonorant gliding below). It may also be subject to fortition, merging into in initial position, while occasionally shifting to or in medial position, especially if preceded by a devoiced syllable. Examples of fortition include → "ease", → "next year", → "interesting; amusing", and → (pronounced ) "cooking".

The fricative consonant is pronounced as a voiceless bilabial fricative before the vowel , and may vary from a voiceless palatal fricative to a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative before the vowel , effectively merging with in this position. Curiously, the sibilant consonant has a tendency to debuccalize to in word medial position before the low vowel , and more commonly before the high vowel in all positions. Examples of this include -han for -san (negative 'su' ending), kagohima for Kagoshima, gowahi for gowashi (copula), sahikabui for sashikabui "long time no see", etc.

The labialized velar consonants and have limited use, contrasting and almost solely before the vowel . For example, "conflagration" contrasts "housework". Nowadays, however, these sounds are in regression and younger speakers merge them with their non-labialized counterparts as in standard Japanese. So words like "hoe", "sweets", "useless" and "Goddess of Mercy" are now increasingly being pronounced , , and . Though uncommon, other sequences such as , , and may occur through contraction of to . For example, the imperative form of "eat", which is in standard Japanese, becomes in the dialect, which contrasts both "landslide" (pronounced ) and "shellfish". They may also surface in a few onomatopoeic words, such as "woof woof". In parts of Southern Satsuma and Tanegashima, may allophonically be realized as , so that "eat.imp" may be pronounced as , and Tanegashima "thorn" becomes .

Placeless consonants

The archiphonemes and can also be represented by the uvular nasal and the glottal stop . Both of these phonemes derive from a single process consisting of deleting the point of articulation of a given syllable, both correspond to a full mora, and both undergo a variety of assimilatory processes.

As with standard Japanese, the place of articulation of the moraic nasal , which corresponds to a reduced nasal syllable, is determined by the following consonant. Contrary to standard Japanese, however, the moraic nasal may also surface in word-initial position, as in the expression Template:Translit "wow!" or the word Template:Translit "horse".

Similarly, the moraic obstruent corresponds to a reduced stop syllable. Contrary to the standard language, the moraic obstruent may occur word medially before any other sound except the moraic nasal. It may also occur in word-final position, which means that its phonetic realization cannot be immediately determined within the lexical unit. Like the moraic nasal, its place of articulation is mostly determined by the following consonant. Before other stops and fricatives, it assimilates, creating an effect of gemination. Before nasal syllables, the moraic obstruent may be realized, depending on the regional dialect, as a glottal stop , so that "fox" is pronounced . Other dialects exhibit gemination in this position, so that the latter is pronounced instead. At the end of utterances and in isolation, the moraic obstruent is predictably realized as a glottal stop , which may also suggest that a parallelism exists between the glottal stop in interjections and the moraic obstruent in standard Japanese itself.

In some regions of Kagoshima such as Uchinoura, a third archiphoneme is described. is generally pronounced and historically stems from a reduction of the syllables , , and in non-word initial position. For example, in Uchinoura, became "daughter", became "grilling on a skewer", and became "conflagration".

Phonological processes

Vowel coalescence

Vowel coalescence or vowel fusion is a phonological process by which two consecutive vowels merge into a single one. For example, in most Japanese dialects including that of Tokyo, the sequence of results in the monophthong : → "tall". Similarly, the Kagoshima dialects have also undergone a process of vowel coalescence. However, unlike dialects like that of Tokyo, the process is much more pervasive in Kagoshima, to the extent that nearly all vowel sequences exhibit some form of fusion.

For instance, vowel coalescence systematically occurs with the vowel followed by , so that "ash" and "shellfish" become and respectively. Likewise, followed by results in the , so that "come" is becomes as well. A sentence such as "Come buy shellfish" would thus become , which, due to vowel length reduction, is pronounced entirely as in mainland Kagoshima.

It also occurs with the vowel followed by , so that "(to become) red" and "buy" become and respectively. Other mergers include → , → , → , → , among numerous others that can be summarized in the following table, where the y-axis denotes the first vowel and the x-axis the second:

Table of vowel mergers in Kagoshima

				,
				,
	,
			,

Despite the extent of this sound change, the Kagoshima dialects are not devoid of co-occurring vowels due to other, subsequent sound changes that have taken place in the dialects. As an example, "this" exists and is not reduced to because it historically comes from .

High-vowel deletion

In Kagoshima's mainland, the high vowels and are systematically dropped in word final position after a non-fricative consonant. The remaining consonant is syllabified into coda position, where it is reduced to a moraic obstruent if oral, or a moraic nasal if nasal. In the case of the palatal approximant , it is reduced to its corresponding high vowel .

Standard Japanese	Underlying form	Surface realization	Meaning
			ear
			to bite
			dog
			neck
			nail
			shoes
			dew
			soy sauce

Word-medially, a syllable containing the high vowels and may also be reduced to its respective moraic equivalent if not already followed by a moraic obstruent or nasal. In this way, the town of Matsumoto is realized as , the village of Shikine as , the noun skin boil as and the adjective painful as . The assimilatory processes of a given regional dialect are then applied, so that "skin boil" is pronounced , and "painful" may become either or . With regards to the latter, the difference may be marked in writing, so that for , the pronunciation is written as Template:Translit, whereas is written as Template:Translit.

A similar effect to high vowel deletion can be observed with sibilants. Namely, the high vowels and will be devoiced to and respectively following a sibilant consonant such as or , and may be deleted entirely especially in word-final position. This has an effect of weakening the syllables within which they are contained, causing them to have no effect on pitch in the same way as both the moraic nasal and obstruent do not. Devoicing or deletion of high vowels can also trigger devoicing of the fricative , so that "conflagration" is pronounced or . Occasionally, such syllables may dropped entirely, leaving behind an assimilatory trace like the moraic obstruent. For example, the name Kagoshima itself may be subject to this phenomenon, resulting in or instead of . Conflictingly, however, the sibilant consonant followed by may instead merge with or be dropped entirely, leading to the added pronunciations and .

Sonorant gliding

Sonorant gliding is a phonological process whereby the sonorant syllables , and are reduced to the high vowel in word medial or final position. When followed by another vowel, the may turn into a palatal glide .

Standard Japanese	Kagoshima	Meaning
		round
		ball
		rare
		I, me
		This, that, that over there
		Car, vehicle
		Grateful, thankful
		To be involved in

Note that, when it comes to the syllable , this sound change is mostly limited to the nominal rather than verbal paradigm, where the flap becomes a moraic obstruent instead (e.g. → ).

Vowel length reduction

Today, the dialects of mainland Satsuma and Ōsumi can be described as lacking compensatory vowel lengthening, so that two vowels which coalesce into one will be short rather than long.

Standard Japanese	Tokyo Japanese	Tanegashima	Satsuma-Ōsumi	Meaning
				Radish
				Usually

However, it would be more accurate to say that the mainland dialects exhibited vowel length reduction, so that long vowels such as later shortened to . This accounts for the reason as to why certain words such as "yesterday" or "torii", which are and in standard Japanese, are not subject to high vowel deletion or sonorant gliding, while "silk" and "bird", which are and in standard Japanese, are. It also accounts for the discrepancy between forms when particles are attached to words, such as こい "this", which derives from the historical form ; versus "this.dat", which derives from , a fusion of "this" and the dative particle .

Other changes

Numerous other, less consistent changes have affected many of the regional dialects in Kagoshima. Some of these include:

• Historical vowel raising of the short vowel to following alveolar consonants in non-word-initial position:
  • → (→ ) "thing; matter"
  • → (→ ) "play"
  • → "over there"
• Historical vowel raising of the short vowel to following nasal consonants in word-final position, and subsequent reduction of the syllable to a moraic nasal in most Kagoshima dialects:
  • → → "thing; person"
  • → → "plural suffix"
• Reduction of the sequence to , or less commonly :
  • → (→ ) "river; well"
  • → (→ ) "river; well"
• Depalatalization of the sequences and , especially in mainland Kagoshima:
  • → → "soy sauce"
  • → "doctor"
  • → "cute"
• Intervocalic voicing of plosive consonants in southern Satsuma, notably in Makurazaki City:
  • → "man"
  • → "cherry blossom"

Phonotactics

The syllable structure of the Kagoshima dialects is more complex than that of standard Japanese and can minimally be represented by the formula (C²)(G)V²(P), where C² represents a consonant or cluster of two consonants, G represents a glide, V² represents a vowel or sequence of vowels and P represents any placeless consonant.

	Component	Details
Onset (optional)	Consonant2	Any consonant or cluster of two consonants. Permissible clusters vary by region, but are largely limited to fricative-stop clusters such as and .
	Glide	Only the palatal glide falls in this category.
Nucleus (obligatory)	Vowel2	Any vowel, long vowel or sequence of vowels.
Coda (optional)	Placeless	Any placeless consonant, including , and .

The above formula accounts for nearly all permissible syllable structures, with only one exception which is that and can constitute full syllables on their own, found primarily only in word-initial position.

The following table illustrates some of the different types of syllables that are allowed in the Kagoshima dialects.

Syllable structure	Example word
V	大 "large, great"
VV	蟻 "ant"
CVV	そい "that"
CCV	() 人 "person"
CGV	今日 "today"
CVP	火事 "conflagration"
CGVP	軍鶏 "game fowl"
NN (+ CV)	馬 "horse"

Prosody

File:Japanese pitch accent map-ja.png

Map of the pitch accent systems throughout Japan. Most of Kagoshima falls into the South-Western Kyushu two-pattern accent group (■ Template:Translit).

Kagoshima accent

One of the most oft-studied aspects of the Kagoshima dialect is its prosodic system. With the exception of a few areas such as Tanegashima, the system is described as a two-pattern pitch accent in which phrasal units may be either accented or unaccented. In accented units (also called "Type A" tone-bearing units), all syllables bear a low tonal pitch ("L") except for the penultimate syllable, which bears a high pitch ("H"). In unaccented units (also called "Type B" tone-bearing units), all syllables bear a low pitch until the final syllable, at which point the pitch rises to a high pitch.

Tone placement in accented and unaccented units

	Accented	Unaccented
1 syllable	(H)L[A] or "spirit"	H "tree"
2 syllables	HL "nose"	LH "flower"
3 syllables	LHL "longish"	LLH "scene"

• ^A In accented words with only one syllable, the pitch is described as falling (sometimes written "F"). This is because the vowel is subject to lengthening, where the first mora in the syllable will bear a high tone while the second mora will bear a low tone. This means that Template:Translit "spirit" would be pronounced like and have a high-low (HL) pitch, as if it were a two-syllable word. This vowel length disappears when the word is followed by other morphemes such as particles.

Although the type of pitch accent is lexically determined, it is more specifically determined by the first element in a syntactic phrase and will apply to that entire phrase. This effectively means that the placement of the high tone in accented or unaccented units will shift rightwards to the penultimate or final syllable of the phrase when other morphemes, auxiliaries or grammatical particles such as Template:Translit are appended at the end.

Tone shifting in accented and unaccented units

	Accented	Unaccented
1 → 2 syllables	HL 気が "spirit Template:Gcl"	LH 木が "tree Template:Gcl"
2 → 3 syllables	LHL 鼻が "nose Template:Gcl"	LLH 花が "flower Template:Gcl"
3 → 4 syllables	LLHL 長めが "longish Template:Gcl"	LLLH 眺めが "scene Template:Gcl"

Because the accent pattern is always determined by the first element of the phrasal unit, prefixes will alter the accent type of the word to which they attach. For example, Template:Translit "temple" and Template:Translit are normally accented, but when the honorific prefix o- is added, they shift to an unaccented pattern: Template:Translit and Template:Translit.

Note that the high tone falls on the syllable rather than the mora, so tone placement remains unaffected by moraic obstruents, moraic nasals, fricatives resulting from devoicing, long vowels and diphthongs.

	Accented	Unaccented
Moraic Nasal	Template:Translit "stubbornness" →	Template:Translit "Obon Festival" →
Moraic Obstruent	Template:Translit "one's convenience" →	Template:Translit "adzuki-bean mochi" →
Devoiced fricative	Template:Translit "glass" →	Template:Translit "crow" →
Vowel	Template:Translit "car" →	Template:Translit "passing through" →

Makurazaki accent

The Makurazaki dialect, spoken in and around Makurazaki City, is described as a two-pattern pitch accent system very similar to that of the Kagoshima accent. In this dialect, accented units bear a high tone on all syllables except the penultimate syllable, which bears a low pitch. In unaccented units, all syllables have a high pitch except the final syllable, which bears a middle pitch ("M").

Tone placement in accented and unaccented units

	Accented	Unaccented
1 syllable	H "day"	M[B] "fire"
2 syllables	LH "nose"	HM "flower"
3 syllables	HLH "cherry blossom"	HHM "man"
4 syllables	HHLH "weft"	HHHM "morning glory"

• ^B The tone of unaccented words with one syllable has also been described as "falling", but it is not clear whether this manifests itself as vowel lengthening similar to accented words in the Kagoshima accent.

Like mainland Kagoshima, the accent type is determined by the first element in the phrasal unit and the pitch will shift accordingly as other morphemes are added. For example, "flower" has a high-middle (HM) pitch in isolation, but when the particle Template:Translit is appended, it becomes "flower Template:Gcl" with a high-high-middle pitch (HHM).

Koshikijima accent

The prosodic system of Koshikijima, like that of mainland Kagoshima, is characterized as a two-pattern pitch accent. It differs, however, in the placement of the accent. In this system, the primary high tone falls on a mora and is always preceded by a low-pitched syllable. Any other syllables preceding the low one will automatically bear a high tone.

Similar to the Kagoshima Accent, the high tone is assigned to the very last mora in an unaccented unit. In an accented unit, the high tone falls on the penultimate mora and falls back down on the last mora. Tone placement will also shift accordingly when morphemes and the such are appended to the unit.

Tone placement in accented and unaccented units

	Accented	Unaccented
2 syllables	H*L "candy"	LH* "rain"
3 syllables	LH*L "fish"	HLH* "life"
5 syllables	HHLH*L "candy festival"	HHHLH* "rain festival"

If, in an accented unit, the final low tone falls on a moraic consonant such as , the second mora of a long vowel, or the second vowel of a diphthong, any syllable that follows will also bear a low tone. Otherwise, if the final low tone falls on a consonant-vowel syllable, any syllable that is added will shift the entire tone placement.

Colloquial	"wild animal"
Non-colloquial	"wild animal"

When multiple phrasal units are combined together, the second peak containing the primary high tone will become low in all units except the last one. Thus, for example, when the verbal phrase Template:Translit "was seen" is combined with the nominalized phrase Template:Translit "wild animal", the accent pattern becomes: Template:Translit "a wild animal was seen". Likewise, when it is combined with the colloquial form Template:Translit, the pattern becomes: Template:Translit.

Copula

File:Ja da ya.png

A map portraying the extent of the copula variants Template:Translit, Template:Translit and Template:Translit throughout Japan

The standard Japanese plain copula Template:Translit is replaced by the Satsugū dialectal variation Template:Translit, which has further developed into や Template:Translit in some parts of the Satsuma Peninsula, most notably the capital city, Kagoshima. Historically, these forms arose from a contraction of the classical construction Template:Translit. Accordingly, the copula borrows its conjugational pattern from the existential verb Template:Translit, which is dialectally pronounced as Template:Translit or Template:Translit, as seen below:

Using *Template:Translit as the base

Satsugū	Tokyo Japanese	Meaning
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula (to be)
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	However, though
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Is that so?
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Negative copula
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula + emphasis
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula + assertion
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula (explanation) with noun
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula (question)
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula (explanation) with verb
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Seems, I think, I guess
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Because of... the reason is...
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	However, but
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Copula (past)

Politeness

Contrary to Western dialects, there exists no true equivalent to the standard polite copula Template:Translit. In cases where standard Japanese would normally use Template:Translit, the Satsugū dialect would tend towards employing the plain form. For example, Template:Translit becomes Template:Translit, "this is it".

In very formal contexts, the honorific verb Template:Translit or Template:Translit, and their variants Template:Translit and Template:Translit, may be used instead. For the most part, their usage overlaps that of the standard form Template:Translit. Compare, for example, the standard formulation Template:Translit to the Satsugū variant Template:Translit "it is alright"; or Template:Translit to Template:Translit "it is a book". Note that while similar, the honorific copula Template:Translit or Template:Translit is not normally preceded by the connecting particle Template:Translit. Therefore, such forms as *Template:Translit may be considered calques on their standard counterpart.

Adjectives

Adjectival verbs

A common feature among Western Kyūshū dialects is the difference in their adjective endings. Adjectival verbs, or true adjectives, end with the generic inflection Template:Translit rather than Template:Translit in their attributive and predicative forms. Eastern Kyūshū dialects, however, follow the same pattern as Standard Japanese, using the inflectional ending Template:Translit. Positioned somewhat in the middle of this boundary, the Satsugū dialect makes use of both types of endings. For example, the adjectives "cold" and "exhausted" may surface as Template:Translit and Template:Translit, or Template:Translit and Template:Translit (variants: Template:Translit and Template:Translit) depending on the speaker and region. The Template:Translit ending will normally coalesce with the vowel of the preceding syllable (e.g. + → ), so that Template:Translit "delicious" and Template:Translit "shy" become Template:Translit and Template:Translit respectively.

The majority of Kagoshima's surrounding island dialects, however, tend to favor the generic inflection Template:Translit, which may occasionally be voiced into Template:Translit in southern parts of the Satsuma Peninsula, the Koshikijima Islands, Kuchinoerabujima and in northern Tanegashima. These peripheral dialects also tend to observe compensatory vowel lengthening when making use of the Template:Translit ending, so that the coalesced vowels will be long rather than short, thus resulting in Template:Translit and Template:Translit for "delicious" and "shy".

Comparative examples of Template:Translit and Template:Translit adjectives in Mainland Kagoshima

Template:Translit ending	Template:Translit ending	Standard Japanese	Meaning
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	good
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	painful
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	delicious
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	hot
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	bad
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	big
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	sly
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	heavy
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	light
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	strong
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	cute
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	cold
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	loud, noisy, annoying
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	pitiful, pathetic
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	shy, embarrassed

Inflection

The Template:Translit ending historically derives from a contraction of the adverbial or infinitive ending Template:Translit followed by the conjugated form of the copular verb Template:Translit, from which the rest of the adjectival paradigm derives. As such, the Template:Translit ending inflects mostly in the same way as the Template:Translit ending. It differs primarily in the negative form where the final Template:Translit in Template:Translit is also turned into a Template:Translit, reflecting the basic inflectional form of the adjective. The Template:Translit ending also differs in the hypothetical form, where it becomes Template:Translit instead of Template:Translit (compare Template:Translit to Template:Translit "if it's cold"). In relation to standard Japanese, both Template:Translit and Template:Translit adjectives distinguish themselves in the conjunctive form. Here, the conjunctive form surfaces as Template:Translit for the standard くて Template:Translit form.

Inflectional paradigm of the adjective "hot"

		Template:Translit adjective	i adjective
present		Template:Translit	Template:Translit
	neg.	Template:Translit1	Template:Translit1
past		Template:Translit	Template:Translit
	neg.	Template:Translit1	Template:Translit1
imperfective		Template:Translit	Template:Translit
hypothetical		Template:Translit2	Template:Translit
conjunctive		Template:Translit	Template:Translit

• ^1 Unless already geminated, the syllable Template:Translit may be reduced to a moraic obstruent, resulting in a following geminate consonant. For example, Template:Translit may be pronounced as Template:Translit. This same reduction occurred in the conjunctive form, where the syllable Template:Translit in Template:Translit (standard Template:Translit) was turned into a geminate Template:Translit. Alternatively, the syllable Template:Translit can be reduced to just Template:Translit, conforming with the basic adverbial ending. For example, Template:Translit becomes Template:Translit "it doesn't taste good".
• ^2 The hypothetical ending Template:Translit can be colloquially pronounced as Template:Translit as a result of sonorant gliding ( → → ). Compare Template:Translit to Template:Translit "if it's good".

Adjectival nouns

Adjectival nouns, also called nominal adjectives or Template:Translit-adjectives, comprise a set of nouns that functionally act as adjectives by combining themselves with the copula. The copula is subsequently inflected for aspect and tense, becoming Template:Translit in its common attributive form. For example, Template:Translit means "a rude person".

Mainland Kagoshima	Standard Japanese	Meaning
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	useless, hopeless
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	trouble, bother, worry
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	bashful, shy, timid
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	worry, concern, aid, help
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	impolite

Adverbs

With regards to adverbs, the same phonological process which reduced the Late Middle Japanese terminal and attributive endings (-shi and -ki, respectively) to -i, also reduced the ending -ku to simply -u, yielding such forms as hayō (contraction of hayau) for hayaku "quickly". This change was once commonplace throughout Japan, however the adverbial form -ku was reintroduced through Standard Japanese as it was still preserved in some Eastern dialects. Even so, the -u ending persists in various honorifics (such as arigatō and omedetō) as a result of borrowing from the Kansai dialect, which was still regarded as a dialect of prestige well after it was no longer considered the standard language. Elsewhere, the -u ending remains a staple of Western Japanese and rural dialects. This includes the Satsugū dialect, where this ending still thrives today:

Root	Coalesced form (-u)		Standard Japanese (-ku)	Meaning
	Satsuma-Ōsumi	Tanegashima
				quickly
				slowly
				sadly, sorrowfully
				lightly, weakly

In addition to these characteristic adjectival adverbs, there are also many non-standard nominal and onomatopoeic adverbs unique to the dialects of Kagoshima. A few examples include:

Satsugū	Standard Japanese	Meaning
Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit	generally, fairly, considerably
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	mostly, almost
Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit	considerably, moderately, suitably
Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit	very, really, exceedingly
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	immediately, instantly, soon
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	in a short time, a little, somewhat
Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit	anytime, always, whenever
Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit	one way or another
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	by all means, no matter what, surely
Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit	Template:Translit, Template:Translit	really, truly
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	gradually, slowly
Template:Translit	Template:Translit	sometimes, at times

Particles

Template:Main article Particles ( ) used in the dialects of Kagoshima share many features common to other dialects spoken in Kyūshū, with some being unique to the Satsugū dialect, and others corresponding the Standard Japanese and Kyūshū variants. Like standard Japanese particles, they act as suffixes, prepositions or words immediately following the noun, verb, adjective or phrase that they modify, and are used to indicate the relationship between the various elements of a sentence.

Unlike central Japanese dialects, particles in the Kagoshima dialects are bound clitics, as they have the effect of resyllabifying the last word they attach to. So, for example, the standard forms "book Template:Gcl", "writing Template:Gcl" and "ball Template:Gcl" would be realized as , and ( ← ) in most of northern and central Kagoshima, and , and ( ← ) in parts of Kagoshima's southern mainland.

Resyllabification has also led to the reanalysis of some particles in a few dialects. For instance, the topic particle has been completely superseded by the form in Izumi, which in most mainland dialects is merely a variant of after a moraic nasal.

Comparison of some particles between Kagoshima and standard Japanese

Kagoshima dialect	Standard Japanese	General meaning
		Marks the topic
		Marks an assertion
		Marks an adverse or opposition statement
		Marks approximation
		Marks possession
		Marks a time or place as a limit
		Marks a location, direction, indirect object or agent of a passive sentence
		Marks the direct object
		Marks an extent or limit
		Marks a nominalized phrase
		Marks provenance

For a full in-depth list of the particles found in this dialect, including examples, see the article Particles of the Kagoshima dialects.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Template:Main article Pronouns in the Satsugū dialect display considerable variation from their standard counterparts. The table below lists the most common pronouns as they occur in their basic forms. When followed by particles beginning with a vowel or a glide, affected pronouns will be resyllabified in the coda according to the phonological patterns of the local dialect. In most of mainland Kagoshima, for instance, when the pronouns "I" and "you" are followed by the topic particle , they become and respectively. Similarly, in Tanegashima, when the pronoun "oneself" is followed by the topic particle , it becomes .

Romaji	Hiragana	Kanji	Formality	Notes
Reflexive pronoun
			formal	Often used in the sense of the standard term , roughly meaning "oneself", "yourself" or "myself".
First-person pronouns
			formal, informal	Though it derives from , the pronoun is commonly used by both men and women of all ages in Kagoshima. The shortened form is also used in a few regions.
			formal	More common among women; the form is sometimes used. Derives from .
				Used chiefly in Tanegashima; variants include , and .
				Used chiefly in Nakanoshima. Possibly borrowed from the Amami dialects where this form is common. Note that the form , also used in Tanegashima along with the variants and , is a plural second-person pronoun meaning "you (pl)" (cf. the pronoun below).
Second-person pronouns
			formal	The honorific prefix is sometimes omitted, making it more informal.
			informal	A variant of .
			formal	Derives from the historical form . The shortened form is sometimes used.
			very formal	Related to the standard form which is now considered archaic.
		or		Considered somewhat archaic and abasing. The form derives from a reduction of the historical pronoun , meaning "you" or "thou". Sometimes used in the sense of the standard term , roughly meaning "oneself", "yourself" or "myself".
			formal, informal	Used chiefly in Tanegashima.
				Used chiefly in northern Koshikijima. In this dialect, it is considered slightly more polite than the pronoun .
				Used chiefly in Nakanoshima. Possibly borrowed from the Amami dialects where this form is common.
Third-person pronouns
				Derives from the form , which itself stems from the older form , still used in standard Japanese. As a deictic pronoun, it follows the morphological pattern of demonstratives. Thus, becomes in its possessive form.
				Though it ultimately derives from , the form is here used as a third person pronoun and does not carry the pejorative nuance it does in mainland Japan. The related forms and are also occasionally used, and differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker.
				From the demonstrative and the person suffix ; equivalent to the standard term あの人 . The related forms and are also sometimes used, and differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker.
			very formal	The related variants , , and are also sometimes used. Like the above, these differ primarily by the proximity or relation between the person concerned and the speaker.

Suffixes

In mainland Kagoshima, the two suffixes and are commonly appended to the pronouns above in order to indicate plurality: "I" → "we", "you" → "you (pl)". The suffix historically derives from the ending , as revealed when topicalized as . More rarely, it may also be topicalized as , as in "we.top" or "you (pl).top". Due to its pervasive use in the Satsuma region, the ending may have come to be associated with the speech of samurais, and thus carries a slight condescending or humble connotation in standard Japanese. The suffix originates from , and may be topicalized as . Elsewhere in Kagoshima's peripheral islands, the forms differ only slightly. In the Satsunan islands, the ending is most common, and may be topicalized as in Tanegashima. The ending appears to be favored in the Tokara Islands and may be clipped as in Tanegashima, resulting in such forms as or for "you (pl)".

In the mainland, the suffix also carries a second function: it can be used as an honorific as opposed to a plural-marking suffix. It is worth noting, however, that the honorific suffix stems from the historical form , now used in standard Japanese almost uniquely in business correspondences. In Kagoshima, the usage of the honorific suffix corresponds very closely to that of the standard Japanese honorifics and . For instance, can be used in a very pompous manner with the first-person pronoun, resulting in "I/my esteemed self", which is equivalent to standard Japanese . Other examples of honorific usage include "mom" (standard: ), "dad" (standard: ) and "sun" (standard: ). The suffix is also used in terms of address in a similar way to in Japanese, so would be equivalent to in standard Japanese or "Mr./Ms. Ōsako" in English. Now more and more, however, this usage is being phased out in favor of its standard Japanese counterparts.

The honorific suffix is also used in a limited number of expressions, along with its more common mainland variant . For example, or are honorific pronouns used to refer to a third person, while is another honorific term used to refer to the sun, and is an honorific referring to gods or deities. Under the influence of mainland Japanese and in certain regions like Nakanoshima, the variants and are used, especially with terms of kinship. Some examples from Nakanoshima include: "dad", "mom" and "older brother".

Demonstratives

	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit	Template:Translit
Template:Translit	Template:Translit this one	Template:Translit that one	Template:Translit that one over there	Template:Translit which one?
Template:Translit	Template:Translit (of) this	Template:Translit (of) that	Template:Translit (of) that over there	Template:Translit (of) what?
Template:Translit	Template:Translit like this in this manner	Template:Translit like that in that manner	Template:Translit like that over there in that (other) manner	Template:Translit what sort of? how? in what manner?
Template:Translit	Template:Translit here	Template:Translit there	Template:Translit * over there	Template:Translit where?
Template:Translit	Template:Translit to this extent, only this much	Template:Translit to that extent, only that much	Template:Translit to that extent, only that much	Template:Translit to what extent? how much?

* irregular formation; variants include Template:Translit, Template:Translit and Template:Translit

As with Standard Japanese, demonstratives also occur in the Template:Translit (proximal), Template:Translit (mesial), and Template:Translit (distal) series, with the corresponding interrogative form as Template:Translit.

The pronoun series is created using the suffix Template:Translit, which is a reduced form of the standard suffix Template:Translit. Particles attached to this form may cause the underlying historical form Template:Translit to resurface. For example, when the dative particle Template:Translit (standard Template:Translit) is attached, the forms become Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit and Template:Translit, since sonorant gliding (i.e. → ) fails to trigger when the vowel stems from a historically long vowel or diphthong (i.e. → ). So instead, vowel coalescence and vowel reduction are exhibited ( → → ).

The determiner suffix surfaces as Template:Translit for the standard ending Template:Translit. Thus, "this book" would be expressed as Template:Translit. The determiner series also serves to replace the standard Japanese person series Template:Translit by compounding onto it the noun Template:Translit (or Template:Translit in Tanegashima), roughly meaning "person", creating the forms Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit and more rarely Template:Translit. Tanegashima also appears to make use of the determiner series followed by the suffix 共 Template:Translit to indicate plurality, so Template:Translit would effectively mean "these people" or "these guys".

The kind and manner series, which are Template:Translit and Template:Translit in standard Japanese, are grouped together under the Template:Translit (before a verb) and Template:Translit (before a noun) series, which may be elided to Template:Translit and Template:Translit in casual speech. In parts of the Koshikijima Islands, the latter may be pronounced as Template:Translit or Template:Translit. In other parts, namely the Southern Satsuma Peninsula, these forms are replaced by compounding the determiner suffix Template:Translit with the noun Template:Translit followed by the directional suffix Template:Translit if used before a verb, thus creating the forms Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit and Template:Translit. The preceding compound is equivalent to that of the standard form Template:Translit, as in Template:Translit, Template:Translit, etc.

The place suffix Template:Translit remains the same as standard Japanese. However, the directional series Template:Translit, preserved in the expression Template:Translit "here and there" (standard Template:Translit), is more commonly replaced by appending the directional particle Template:Translit (standard Template:Translit and Template:Translit) to the place series, resulting in the form Template:Translit (Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit) due to vowel coalescence. In Tanegashima uniquely, this form is instead expressed by tagging on the directional particle Template:Translit to the pronominal series (Template:Translit), resulting in Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, and Template:Translit. The directional ending Template:Translit is also in use in a number of areas, giving Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit, Template:Translit.

And lastly, the Satsugū dialect also makes use of an extra series that describes limits using the Template:Translit suffix, which is roughly the equivalent of the standard Japanese construction Template:Translit + Template:Translit or Template:Translit. So Template:Translit "only that much" in standard Japanese would become Template:Translit in the dialect. To express approximation, as in "only about that much", the particle Template:Translit may be added to form Template:Translit. The interrogative form Template:Translit is commonly used to ask about prices: Template:Translit "how much is it?" (standard Template:Translit).

Verbs

The verbal morphology of the Kagoshima dialects is heavily marked by its divergent phonological processes. Vowels can, for instance, coalesce, devoice, or be deleted entirely depending on the preceding sound. For example, the standard form Template:Translit "write" becomes Template:Translit in the dialects of the mainland as a result of high vowel deletion. In addition to such changes, noticeable morphological differences exist between the standard language and the dialects. For example, the Kagoshima dialects pattern more closely with Western Japanese and Kyushu dialects, using the negative ending Template:Translit as opposed to Template:Translit. So the form Template:Translit "not write" is used instead of the standard equivalent Template:Translit. Other examples include the use of the form Template:Translit instead of Template:Translit in the imperfective (Template:Translit) and conjunctive (Template:Translit) forms of verbs ending with the vowel stem Template:Translit, or the auxiliary Template:Translit ( Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit for the progressive form. More specific to regions of Kyushu, the dialects continue to use the form Template:Translit for verbs that would end in Template:Translit in standard Japanese, as in Template:Translit ( Template:Translit) "to be seen" instead of Template:Translit, and they also use the auxiliary verb Template:Translit (Template:Translit) where standard Japanese uses the ending Template:Translit to express desire, as in Template:Translit "want to eat" as opposed to the standard forms Template:Translit or Template:Translit.

Other noticeable differences specific to Kagoshima include its significant array of honorifics. For example, the polite auxiliary verbs Template:Translit (or Template:Translit in Tanegashima) and Template:Translit, sometimes written as and respectively, are used instead of the standard ending Template:Translit. Compare Template:Translit to Template:Translit "(polite) eat". The endings Template:Translit and Template:Translit are also sometimes used to replace to stem of verbs ending in Template:Translit in order to add an extra degree of politeness. As a result, multiple variants of the same verb may exist: Template:Translit, Template:Translit and Template:Translit are all formal auxiliaries used in imperative constructions, as in Template:Translit "please eat". And, while the form Template:Translit exists, the forms Template:Translit and Template:Translit are not used, suggesting that Template:Translit and Template:Translit may be reduced forms of the auxiliary verbs Template:Translit and Template:Translit. Related differences include Template:Translit or Template:Translit instead of the standard form Template:Translit for politely requesting that someones does something for the speaker.

Many other differences also exist, especially at the lexical level. Examples in mainland Kagoshima include Template:Translit (Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit "to play", Template:Translit (Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit "to die", Template:Translit (Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit "to do one's best", Template:Translit or Template:Translit (Template:Translit or Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit "to walk around", Template:Translit (Template:Translit) instead of Template:Translit "to walk", and so on.

See also

Japanese dialects spoken north of Kagoshima:

• Hichiku dialect
• Hōnichi dialect

Japonic languages spoken directly south of the Kagoshima dialect boundaries:

• Amami Ōshima language
• Kikai language

Influential dialects:

• Kansai dialect (historically influential)
• Tokyo dialect (currently influential)

References

General

• Parts of this article were adapted from its correspondent Japanese article .

Specific