Mikawa dialect

The is a Japanese dialect spoken in eastern half of Aichi Prefecture, former Mikawa Province. It is subdivided into western variety centered Okazaki and eastern variety centered Toyohashi. The Mikawa dialect is classified into the Gifu-Aichi group of the Tokai-Tosan dialect with the Nagoya dialect spoken in western half of Aichi Prefecture, however the Mikawa dialect also closes to dialects spoken in western Shizuoka Prefecture and southern Nagano Prefecture.

Phonology

The Nagoya dialect is notable for peculiar monophthongs such as (standard form ''omae'' "you"), but the Mikawa dialect is not. Pitch accent of the Mikawa dialect, especially western Mikawa, is almost same to standard Tokyo accent.

Grammar

The grammar of Mikawa dialect shows transitional features between Eastern and Western Japanese as well as the Nagoya dialect; use eastern copula ''da'', western negative verb ending ''-n'' and western verb ''oru''. '' Onbin'' of adjectives of the western Mikawa dialect is western form ''hayō'' "quickly", but one of the eastern Mikawa dialect is eastern form ''hayaku''. Use of particles ''de'' and ''monde'' instead of standard ''node'' "because" is common to the Nagoya dialect. The Mikawa dialect is notable for its three sentence endings: jan, dara and -rin.

* ''jan'', transformation of ''janai'' "isn't it?", is used as a slang particle since 1960s in Tokyo, but it is used by all ages in Mikawa since the early Shōwa period. Mikawa is said to one of the birthplaces of ''jan''.Fumio Inoue (2003). .
* ''dara'' or ''daraa'', also simply ''raa'' especially in eastern Mikawa, is used to ask someone's approval or boast to someone and equivalent to standard ''desho'' and ''dayone''. It is common to dialects spoken in Shizuoka and Chita Peninsula, but never used in Nagoya city.
* ''-rin'' or ''-n'' is a soft order form and compared to Nagoya style ''-yaa''. ''-rin'' is connected to ''-masu'' form of ''ichidan'' verbs such as ''yoke taberin'' "eat a lot" and ''are mirin'' "look that"; ''-n'' is connected to ''-masu'' form of ''godan'' verbs such as ''hayaku ikin'' "go quickly". Soft order forms of ''suru'' "do" and ''kuru'' "come" irregular verbs are differ from person to person; ''shirin'', ''serin'', ''sen'' or ''shin'' for ''suru'' and ''korin'', ''kirin'' or ''kin'' for ''kuru''. ''Oiden'', standard form ''oide'' and meaning "welcome", is a typical phrase of the Mikawa dialect.
* ''non'' and ''hoi'' are typical particles in the eastern Mikawa dialect. ''non'' is used as a sentence-final particle and a word used to attract another's attention just like standard ''ne''. ''hoi'' is used as an interjection word equivalent to "hi" and it can combine with ''non'' into ''nonhoi''; Nonhoi park, the nickname of Toyohashi Zoo & Botanical Park, was named after it.

See also

* All Esper Dayo! - live action television drama and film released in 2015. It used Mikawa region as a location.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikawa Dialect
Japanese dialects
Culture in Aichi Prefecture