Tosa dialect
Encyclopedia
The is spoken in the central and eastern regions of modern day Kōchi Prefecture
in Japan
. This area was once known as the Tosa
area and the name of the dialect
still reflects this older name. The dialect itself developed from the linguistic influence of immigrants to the Tosa area from other parts of Japan and is largely a combination of the Kansai dialect
and Chugoku
dialects. In particular the accent system used is that of old Kansai-ben.
One of the distinctions between Tosa dialect and other Western Japanese dialects is the use of the verb suffixes -yuu and -chuu to show aspect. Grammatically, -yuu encapsulates the continuative and progressive aspects while -chuu separately encapsulates a repeated action or continuing state. In Standard Japanese both are represented by -te-iru. The respective past tense forms are -yotta and -chotta', while the negative forms are -yasen and -chasen.
Other distinctive features of Tosa dialect include its clause-ending particles, such as kendo for disjunction, ga as a question marker and ki to denote reason.
Many features of Tosa dialect are shared with neighbouring Hata dialect, spoken in the western part of Kōchi Prefecture.
Kochi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the south coast of Shikoku. The capital is the city of Kōchi.- History :Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Kōchi was known as Tosa Province and was controlled by the Chosokabe clan in the Sengoku period and the Yamauchi family during the Edo period.- Geography...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. This area was once known as the Tosa
Tosa Province
is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku. Tosa was bordered by Iyo and Awa Provinces. It was sometimes called .-History:The ancient capital was near modern Nankoku...
area and the name of the dialect
Japanese dialects
The comprise many regional variants. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo , and while it was based initially on the Tokyo dialect, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many dialects...
still reflects this older name. The dialect itself developed from the linguistic influence of immigrants to the Tosa area from other parts of Japan and is largely a combination of the Kansai dialect
Kansai-ben
The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region of Japan. In technical term,it is called ; 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...
and Chugoku
Chugoku region
The , also known as the , is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi. It has a population of about 7.8 million.- History :...
dialects. In particular the accent system used is that of old Kansai-ben.
One of the distinctions between Tosa dialect and other Western Japanese dialects is the use of the verb suffixes -yuu and -chuu to show aspect. Grammatically, -yuu encapsulates the continuative and progressive aspects while -chuu separately encapsulates a repeated action or continuing state. In Standard Japanese both are represented by -te-iru. The respective past tense forms are -yotta and -chotta', while the negative forms are -yasen and -chasen.
Other distinctive features of Tosa dialect include its clause-ending particles, such as kendo for disjunction, ga as a question marker and ki to denote reason.
Many features of Tosa dialect are shared with neighbouring Hata dialect, spoken in the western part of Kōchi Prefecture.