A dialect in the east coast of Tokyo, Japan
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Sosa city is located in the east coast of Tokyo. It's about 100km from Tokyo and the city is in Chiba Prefecture. Though there are some dialects around this city, I will focus on the dialect in ex-Nosaka** town in this page. I was born and raised up in Nosaka town. Nine years* have past
since I left Nosaka when I was sixteen. I made up my mind to make a page
about my sweet hometown dialect, because my ability of Nosaka dialect
gets worse and worse year by year. |
OUTLINENosaka dialect is a kind of dialect in Kanto district* and also has typical Kanto words & phrases.
* Kanto district is called Metropolitan or Greater Tokyo Area. |
Ex.
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Ancient words are often found in our town. This is because words spread from Kyoto, which was a political and economical center in ancient Japan, about 1km per year all over Japan. It's about 500km from Kyoto to our town. So we are using words which Kyoto people used more than 500 years ago. After Sekigahara war in 1600 A.D., Edo (Tokyo) took over role of Kyoto, words begun to spread from Edo (Tokyo). We also use 100 years ago Tokyo words. In fact, Nosaka town words are often found in Edo literature. I believe we use not only Kyoto and Edo words but other origin words, for example Ainu origin. About 3000 B.P., a foreign group conquered Japan, this is a beginning of Yayoi period*1. Jomon*2 people ran away from Yayoi people and headed north. These people are called Ainu, today. It was proved by mitochondria dna that Jomon people and Ainu people are of kin. Sometimes new word comes in, but we already have a same meaning word. What will happen? There is a nice example in our town. We had been using a word hagaji meant centipede. One day a traveler brought a new word mukade meant centipede. Two words found their own role. Today, hagaji means larger centipede and mukade means smaller one. * Yayoi period: 1000 B.C. to 300 A.D. iron age |
Useful words & phrases
| Nosaka-ben | English |
| shio ba totte kuro | Can you get me some salt? |
| dogode kattada? | Where did you buy this? |
| okka-a gara tegami ga kita-a | I've got a letter from my mother. |
| yadu gara kiida dayo | I got it from him. |
| wagatta-a | I got it! |
| wa-aka matte-kuro | Give me a while. |
| ikko kini shine-e | I don't give a damn. |
| nigu ni shite kuro | I'll have a beef. |
| ora shin-ne-e | I have no idea. |
| cho-o sareda | I have been had! |
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Pronunciation |
Meaning |
Usage |
| ade? | why? | |
| an-na fuuzuni | like that way (attitude,method) | |
| o agan nasai mashi | Hello, Hi, How are you? | around noon. |
| oshimai nasai mashi | Hello, Hi, How are you? | in the afternoon. |
| ajoe su tta? | Oh! My! What are you going to do this? | Best reply is: Ajoe nimo ka joe nimo shou mei ya. |
| kapparu(Vi.) | turn sideways | Kin-no Nishirai-no Tanbo deyo, Kuruma
ga Kappa te da do. "da" means past tense and "do" emphasizes the whole sentence. |
| kin no | yesterday | |
| nishi | you | ore, ora = I, me |
| person + rai | person's house, family | nishi rai = your
house, family Reiko-rai = Reiko's house, family orai = my home, family |
| kappe ru(Vt.) | cover | Biniiru Ba Kappe da
ga? Did you wrapped in plastic? |
| i-ishite ishite-e (adj.) |
not good, bad (About goods and looks) | I-ishite On-na : not so cute girl(woman) . |
| wa-aka | a little, a few | |
| dasu | give | Kore Dasu yo. : Here you are. (I will give it to you.) |
| bucchagu | brake, destroy | Bucchagi Yagatta Na! :Damn you broke this! |
| tsu-ppo-sasu | pierce, put into | Tsu-ppo-sasu De Ne-e-yo! |
| fun-ja-bagu | step on something strongly and brake it | blank |
| kettaguru | kick | blank |
| kakkurasu | hit, strike | Kakkurasite Yare : Give it to him. |
| bin-cho | not bilateral symmetry | Nishi No Adama Bin-cho Dana-a : Shape of your head is not symmetry. |
| jamiru (Vi.) | blot, blur | when doing shuuji or kakizome |
| gabu-ku-u | shoe got wet | |
| kowai | tired from ..., don't feel well | when you dont wanna got to school, say "andaga kowai dayo". |
| shoppigu | pick, arrest by police | nishi rai no to-ochan shoppigareda dattuke na. I heard that your father was arrested. |
| udade-e | be unwilling to do something | when you dont wanna do something, say udade-e |
| suna-hadagi | a party in appreciation of one's effort | suna-hadagi de oo yoppa... |
| goguro-u moushi | a party in appreciation of one's effort | |
| ...be, pe | express one's intention, guess and reminding | |
| hagaji | laeger centipede | kyou yo-o gakkoni midakodo mo ne-e youna igai hagajiga ideyo-o... |
| yubui | smoky | oo yubui furo demo taidettanme-e Hmmm...it's smoky. Heating bath with wood? |
| un-nara-gasu | do something with effort in a hurry | un-nara-gashite kitaa noni inee gan-na He wan't here though I came here in a hurry... |
| bokka | piece(s) of wood | sogono bokka ba totte kuro Take a piece of wood for me. |
| a-onajimi | bruise | anda sono tsurano aonajimiwa? What made a bruise on your face? |
| wage-eshi | young man, men | kogo niwa wage-eshi ga ine-e gara yo There is no youngmen here. |
| igai | big, large, huge | anda igai kuruma ga kun-na-a. A huge car is coming. |
| in-ne-e | No thanks. | |
| una-u | till (soil) | |
| tosho | great grand pa, ma | |
| okkagu | snap | |
| oppesu | push | OPPESHI is an occupation that oppesu something for money. |
| kaseru | feed | darega meshi ba kasedetto omotte tta-a, nisha-a? Who do you think feed you? |
| kigane-e | be not enough, be insufficient | |
| noun + gushi | with n., whole n. | |
| shitakke | and then... | |
| suru | shave | |
| bidageru | behave like a spoilt child | |
| ojikuso | coward(s) | |
| tagamaru | be surprised at something | |
| deresuke | someone who is slow in movement | |
| nukkui | warm, mild | |
| nebosuke | late-sleeper | |
| nomeru | to fill (a ditch or hole) | |
| oji-i | younger brother | younger sister = oba-a,
older sister = ane-e "oji" means uncle in standard Japanese. In some area around pacific ocean, people sometimes talk from a point of oldest son's view when they talk to kids. "oji-i" is originated from "oji" and is a word at a stand point of oldest son's oldest son. Whether he is already born or not, is not matter. |
| ojippou | one's youngest son or brother | |
| hiyasu | dip (dished )in water | |
| ma-ttsugu | (go) straight | |
| ya-ttsukeru | eat up | |
| igesukane-e(adj.) | do(es) not like .... | |
| jou-bou | driveway | |
| kamo-chin | a snakehead mullet, a China fish | |
| guja-mankai | chaos | nishi no heya ha guja-mankai dana. Your room is like a chaos. |
| dam-magasu | cheat, deceive, make a fool of... | |
| fun-gu-jigu | to step on (someone) strongly | |
| kine-e | does not come | |
| yowaru | ( food) go bad | This word is used in Nippon Eitaigura by Ihara Saikaku, but no people uses it in Tokyo now. |
| nasu | breed, lay eggs, deliver | There are examples in Taketori Monogatari, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, and Genji Monogatari for the word, but few people use it in hyojungo, Standard Japanese. "Nasanu naka" is a good example and is also a famous phrase in Genji Monogatari, The Tale of Genji. Some people think that the phrase expresses "not appropriate relationship", but true meaning is "not parent-child relationship". |