1-1 Nouns and Pronouns

Contents

1-1-1　Nouns

1-1-1-1　No Single-Mora Words in Kyoto

For single-mora words such as「絵」「木」「手」「名」, their endings are stretched out e.g.「絵ぇ/○●」「木ぃ/○●」「手ぇ/○●」「名ぁ/●○」and they are pronounced as two-mora words.

Since this pronunciation trend also exists when a particle is attached, e.g.「手ぇが痛い」「絵ぇを描く」, it is stated as fact that no single-mora nouns exist in Kyoto.

1-1-1-2　Particle Omission

In Kyo-kotoba, there is a tendency to omit particles like「が」「は」「を」「と」「へ」.

Example of Particle Omission (omissions in parentheses)

「誰か、買い物（を）頼まれてくれへん？」
「私（が）行こか？　何（を）買うてくんの？」
「急に電池（が）切れてなあ。ちょっと○○（へ）行ってきてほしいんや」
「え〜っ、あのお店（は）遠いわー。近所で売ってるとこ（は）ないの？」
「ないこと（は）ないけど、○○の方が安いにゃわ」
「そうかなー、ある（と）思うけどなー」
「まぁあんたが安い（と）思うお店で買うてきて。はいお金」
「いらんこと（を）言うんやなかった……ほないてきます」
「はい。おはようおかえり」

This tendency did not exist in ancient times, but is said to have originated towards the end of the Edo period or during the Meiji Era.

Nowadays, to keep the context as unambiguous as possible, it is probably best to think that particles of this nature are omitted as a general rule for daily conversations.

1-1-2　Pronouns

1-1-2-1　Demonstrative Pronouns

　These are the so-called「こそあど」words.

Table 1 Demonstrative Pronouns
「こ-」 「そ-」 「あ-」 「ど-」
Indicative これ
●●		 それ
●●		 あれ
●○ *1		 かれ
●○		 どれ
●●		 だれ
●●
Locative ここ
○●		 そこ
○●		 あこ
○●

あそこ
○●●		 どこ
●●
Directional こちら
○●●

こっち
○●●		 そちら
○●●

そっち
○●●		 あちら
○●●

あっち
○●●		 どちら
○●●

どっち
○●●
Descriptive この
●●		 その
●●		 あの
●●		 どの
●●
Situational こう
●●		 そう
●●		 ああ
●●		 どう
●●
こんな
●●●		 そんな
●●●		 あんな
●●●		 どんな
●●●
こない
●●●		 そない
●●●		 あない
●●●		 どない
●●●

A characteristic varying from standard Japanese is the indefinite locative expression「あこ」.

Also in the「そ-」group, the first consonant [s] can also shift to [h]:「そんな→ほんな」「それなら→ほれなら」（see⇒Phonemes of Kyo-kotoba:「サ-line」→「ハ-line」）。

Furthermore, 「こない‐そない‐あない‐どない」are tentatively in the above table, but they are sometimes thought to be from the Osaka dialect.

1-1-2-2　Personal Pronouns

For first-person, we have

Common Use
  • わたくし /●●●●
  • わたし /●●●
Masculine
  • 僕 /●○・○●
  • 俺 /●●
  • ワシ /○●
Feminine
  • あたし /○●●
  • うち /●○

「ワシ」is sometimes used even by the young.

Other personal pronouns like corrupted「あたし」→「あて」and special-class pronouns are used, but they are not generally used nowadays, so I omit them here.

For second person, we have

listed in descending order of respect.

「おまえ」does not have the impression of rudeness as in the Tokyo dialect. Males generally use this to address close friends equal or below them in social status.

　For third person, we have

When speaking of someone whose name is known, it is common to refer to that person directly by name. This tendency to avoid the use of second- and third-person pronouns exists also in Kyoto (identical to the standard dialect).

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