1-5 Adverbs

1-5-1-1　Emphatic Expressions

(1)「ものすご」

A shortened form of「ものすごう」, one of the most common emphatic expressions of Kyoto.

Pronounced ●●●○（historically ●●○○）.

(2)「えらい・えろう」

「えらいことや」「えろう（えらい^*）楽しい」are used, respectively meaning「大変なことだ」「すごく楽しい」.

The「えらい」of Kyo-kotoba appears to be used more often than「偉大な」for a good, bad, or any kind of meaning. Following that rule「誰それは偉いなあ」is sometimes interpreted cynically by the listener.

「えらい」●○○「えろう」○●○.

• * Originally, it was only grammatical to attach「えろう〜（何々）」to verbs and adjectives, but conversationally「えらい〜（何々）」is often used. It is of course ungrammatical.

(3)「無茶苦茶」

This is also often used as an emphatic adverb (furthermore,「むっちゃ」is mentioned below).

(4) Word Repetition

Repetition of the same word as an emphatic expression is also common.

E.g.:

「今日はすごく寒いなあ」→「今日は寒い寒いなあ」
「とても痛い」→「いったいいったい」
「とてもよく見える」→「よう見える見える」
「あの服がものすごくほしい」→「あの服、ほしいほしいわあ」

Expressions of this sort are also used to emphasize politeness levels, as in「あの時言うたはったんは、ここのことでしたんですか」.

Expressions that are difficult to call "Kyo-kotoba"

　(3) The short form of「無茶苦茶」,「むっちゃ (since the 1990's) 」, and the short form of「滅茶苦茶」,「めっちゃ (since the mid-1980's) 」, are also frequently used as emphatic expressions, but are not considered to be "Kyo-kotoba."

　Also, since the 1990's, influenced by the Osaka dialect, there have been increasing cases of the usage of the word「ごっつ」, but this expression also did not originate in Kyoto.