Ōita dialect


Ōita dialect, or Ōita-ben, is a dialect of Japanese spoken in Ōita Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. Even within the prefecture, regional differences are still prevalent; for example, vocabulary within the Hita and Nakatsu regions tends to differ from that used in other regions of Ōita.

Outline

Ōita-ben has been strongly influenced by dialects from the Chuugoku region of Japan. For example, compared to other dialects within Kyushu, the sentence-final particle tai, the contradictory conjunction batten, and the secondary substantive particle to are rarely used. However, the word endings -tcha and -ken are frequently used.

Grammar

Potential forms of verbs

Apart from the younger generation's tendency to skip the ra when forming some standard Japanese potential verbs, the Ōita-ben usage is considered a fairly old custom. For example: mirus potential form being pronounced mireru instead of mirareru.
In addition, there are three forms of potential verbs in Ōita-ben, depending on whether the potential is objective, subjective, or related to personal ability.
  1. taberaruru – An objective potential form; for example, because something hasn’t gone rotten, you can eat it. The negative potential is taberaren.
  2. tabereru – A subjective potential form; for example, because you aren’t full yet, you can eat it. The negative potential is taberen.
  3. tabekiru' – A potential form that relates to personal ability; for example, others might not be able to eat it because they dislike it, but you can eat it. The negative potential is tabekiran.

    -yoru and -choru

In general, -yoru refers to the progression or continuation of an action or occurrence, while -choru refers to the completion, continuation, or result of a condition or status. They are common in many western Japanese dialects. -yoru can change to -yon, while -choru can change to -chon as well.
  1. “Sakki kara ame ga furiyoru naa.” – For some time, it has been raining.
  2. “Itsun ma ni ka ame ga futchoru naa.” - I wasn't aware it had been raining.

    Word endings and connectives

  3. -tcha – attached to the ends of words for emphasis. For example, “Chigau tcha! Ore wa yatchoran ccha!” which becomes “Chigau tte! Ore wa yatte nai tte!” in standard Japanese, means “No! I didn't do it!”
  4. -tchi – equivalent to the standard Japanese word ending -tte, it is used to quote something that was said or that you heard from someone else. Sometimes sounds like -tchie. For example, “Ano futari kekkon shita tchie”, which becomes “Ano futari kekkon shita tte yo” in standard Japanese, means “I heard those two got married.”
  5. -ni – similar to the da yo found in standard Japanese. For example, “Mada shukudai shite nai ni”, which becomes “Mada shukudai shite nain da yo” in standard Japanese, means “I haven’t done my homework yet.”
  6. -ya ni – almost the same as the plain -ni. For example, “Anta no koto ga suki ya ni”, which becomes “Anata no koto ga suki nan da yo” in standard Japanese, means “I like you.”
  7. -ken – equivalent to the standard kara meaning “because”, this is widely used across Kyushu.
  8. sogee, dogee, kogee, agee – the Ōita-ben equivalents of sonna, donna, konna, anna
  9. -kae – can be either the standard Japanese question particle kai or a substitute for the “Please do...” /...shinasai form. However, this ending is falling out of use with the younger generation.

    Usage

Verbs

change form depending on the vowel before the final i. The two vowels combine into one elongated sound.
  1. ai → ee; for example, karai → karee
  2. ui → ii; for example, akarui → akarii
  3. oi → ii or ee; for example, kuroi → kurii or kuree

    Sounds and phonemes

Oita-ben employs euphonic changes often during rapid speech.

Euphonic changes that differ from standard Japanese

  1. -u verbs: omotta → omoota; sorotta → soroota. When the vowel preceding the u is an a, it changes to an o: katta → koota; moratta → moroota
  2. -bu and -mu verbs: asonda → asooda; yonda → yooda. This change is falling out of use with the younger generation.
  3. keiyōshi: akakute → akoote; takakute → takoote
  1. -su verbs: sashita → saita; kashita → kaita. When the vowel preceding the su is an o, it changes to an i: nokoshita → nokiita; modoshita → mojiita. This change is also falling out of use with the younger generation.

    Accent

Words in Ōita-ben are accented according to a slight variation of the Tokyo dialect’s pitch accent. The western Hita region, while still considered to utilize the pitch accent of the Tokyo dialect, has some minor differences in intonation, while areas close to the inland Kumamoto and Miyazaki Prefectures sometimes utilize the “no accent” pitch that is characteristic of those prefectures.

Words with accents that differ from standard Japanese

In this list, the left side is the standard intonation, while the right is the Ōita-ben intonation. The accented part is in bold.
This section contains some of the typical words and phrases in Ōita-ben. Words are listed according to Japanese alphabetical order with Ōita-ben on the left and standard Japanese on the right. The accented syllable is in bold.