Chapter 7 Nambu (Aomori, Eastern Japanese)

In: An Introduction to the Japonic Languages
Author:
Natsuko Nakagawa
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1 Introduction

d25768314e62263

Figure 7.1

Map of Aomori prefecture and Noheji town (light gray part: Nambu region)

This chapter provides a grammatical sketch of the Nambu dialect spoken in Aomori Prefecture, in the Northern Tohoku Region of Japan’s mainland. Aomori is divided into three dialectal areas, Nambu (the southeastern part), Shimokita (the northeastern part), and Tsugaru (the western part). The Nambu area straddles the prefectural border of Aomori and Iwate. See Figure 7.1, where the Nambu region is highlighted in light gray (the part in Iwate is omitted); Tsugaru is west of Nambu; and Shimokita is north of Nambu.

Of the varieties of the Nambu dialect, I mainly describe the Noheji dialect. I conducted fieldwork for four years from 2016 to 2019. My main consultant is a female speaker born in 1945, to be referred to as MT, who grew up with her grandparents as well as her parents, and who mainly speaks the Noheji dialect. She studied in Tokyo when she was 18–21 years old. Occasionally I also consulted two other female speakers born in 1944 and 1947. Unfortunately, the latter speaker did not permit me to record her voice and so the information from her is based only on my field notes.

1.1 Typological Characteristics

Tohoku dialects are known to have consonant-voicing (stops, affricates, and optionally fricatives) between vowels. For example, oto ‘sound’ in Tokyo Japanese corresponds to odo in Tohoku dialects. Northern Tohoku dialects distinguish voiced vs. prenasalized stops and affricates. For instance, hidʒi ‘elbow’ in Tokyo Japanese corresponds to hiⁿdʒi in Northern Tohoku dialects. Minimal pairs are also found; wa-ⁿdo means ‘1sg-pl (we)’, whereas wa⸗do means ‘1sgcom (with me)’. While in many Tohoku dialects, /zi/, /zu/, /di/, and /du/ are pronounced as homophones, the Nambu dialect distinguishes /zi/ from /zu/, but does not distinguish /zi/ from /di/ [(d)zɨ ~ (d)ʒi], and /zu/ from /du/ [(d)zɨ ~ (d)zɯ] (making it a so-called futatsugana dialect). Eastern Japanese, including Tohoku dialects, widely uses -nai ‘does not exist’ to negate verbs (and often adjectives) instead of -n, which is widely used in Western Japanese. Tohoku dialects use -ne (from -nai) for negation.

Morphologically, the Nambu dialect is an agglutinative language which predominantly employs suffixes rather than prefixes, and totally lacks conclusive vs. adnominal distinctions like many other Japanese languages.

Syntactically, the Nambu dialect is a head-final language with basic SOV word order. It has bi-directional valency alternations, with both causative constructions which demote the agent of an action to the dative and anti-causative constructions which promote the patient to the subject. Case marking systems in Tohoku dialects are also note-worthy: both nominative and accusative nouns are frequently zero-coded, while accusative nouns of particular characteristics (e.g., animate objects) are overtly coded, which is a phenomenon known as differential object marking (DOM). Different Tohoku dialects have different accusative markers and some dialects have more than one marker. This indicates that DOM phenomenon in Tohoku dialects developed independently in different regions. See Otsuki (2018) for the DOM phenomenon in the Tsugaru dialect, which is the closest dialect to Nambu. See also Sasaki (2004) for the Mitsukaido dialect (Kanto region) and Sasaki (2006) for a review of case marking systems in Japonic languages.

1.2 Previous Literature

As far as I know, there are no grammar sketches on the Nambu dialect. As has been described above, however, Nambu dialects share some characteristics with Northern Tohoku dialects, some with Tohoku dialects more generally, some with Eastern Japanese, and some with all Japonic languages. There are descriptions of some phonological and grammatical aspects on the Nambu dialect in Iwate. In this section, I will give an overview of grammar sketches of Eastern Japanese.

Otsuki (2018) contains a grammar sketch and detailed description of the DOM in the Tsugaru dialect. Takeda (2020) describes the tense-aspect-mood systems of the Tohoku dialects including the Nambu dialect in Iwate. Matsumori and Onishi (2012) is a brief sketch of the Tsuruoka dialect. Sasaki (2004) describes case and grammatical relations in the Mitsukaido dialect. Konishi (2016) is a reference grammar of the Toyama dialect.

Occasionally, I refer to Nakaichi (1936), which is a glossary of the Noheji dialect with some examples. Since the expressions in this book were written in hiragana (Japanese characters), where one hiragana basically corresponds to one mora to express the pronunciation of Standard Japanese, I have romanized the hiragana using the kunrei-shiki system of romanization. Note that in this writing system, it is impossible to represent [ɨ], and that the hiragana might not represent the exact pronunciation of the Nambu dialect.

2 Phonology

This section first lists the phoneme inventories of the Nambu dialect. It then describes the syllable structure and phonotactics, mora, word-level prosody, and finally intonation.

2.1 Phoneme Inventory

This section is based on Nakagawa (2020), which can be consulted for more details, especially in phonetic variation.

2.1.1 Vowels

Table 7.1 shows the vowel inventory in the Nambu dialect. The assumed phonemes are in / /, and the actual pronunciations are given in [ ]. MT’s vowel space is shown in Figures 7.2 and 7.3.

d25768314e62393
Figure 7.2

Vowel space

(Nakagawa 2021: 43)
Table 7.1

Vowels

Front

Center

Back

High

/i/ [i (~ ɨ)]

/ɨ/ [ɨ]

/ɯ/ [ɯ (~ ɨ)]

High-mid

/e/ [e (~ ɪ, e̝)]

/o/ [o]

Low-mid

/ɛ/ [ɛ]

Low

/a/ [a]

d25768314e62527
Figure 7.3

Vowel space of /e/ vs. /ɛ/, indicated as E

op. cit.: 46

Examples of each vowel after /k/ are shown in (230).

(230)

Examples of vowels after /k/

[kattʃa] /kattja/ ‘married woman, mother’

[kettsɨ] /kettu/ ‘buttocks’

[kɛna] /kɛna/ ‘arm’

[kobɯra] /kobura/ ‘a road between houses’

[kina] /kina/ ‘yesterday’

[kɯdʒi] /kuzi/ ‘mouth’

Minimal pairs of non-open vowels are shown below.

(231) /o/ vs. /u/

a. [motsɨ] /motu/ ‘bowels’ vs. [mɯtsɨ] /mutu/ ‘Mutsu (place name)’

(232) /i/ vs. /e/

a. [miɾɯ] /miru/ ‘look at’

b. [meɾɯ] /meru/ ‘be visible’

Both /i/ and /u/ can be pronounced as [ɨ]; however, I analyze /i/ and /u/ as separate phonemes because the range of variation differs. The phoneme /i/ can be pronounced as either [i] or [ɨ], whereas /u/ can be pronounced as either [ɯ] or [ɨ] as in (233).

(233) /i/ vs. /u/

a. [asɨ ~ aʃi] /asi/ ‘foot/leg’ vs. [sɨne] /sune/ ‘shin’

b. [tsɨtsɨ ~ tʃitʃi] /titi/ ‘breast’ vs. [motsɨ] /motu/ ‘bowels’

c. [kɯ̥tʃi] /kuti/ ‘mouth’ vs. [kɯ̥tsɨ] /kutu/ ‘shoes’1

d. [motʃi] /moti/ ‘mochi (rice cake)’ vs. [motsɨ] /motu/ ‘bowels’

The phonological rule in (234) applies only when /i/ is pronounced as [i], although the pronunciation [i] and the rule itself are presumably influenced by Standard Japanese. The rule (234) explains the variation, for example, [asɨ ~ aʃi] in /asi/ (233a) and [tsɨtsɨ ~ tʃitʃi] in /titi/ (4b). Note that [ʃine] ‘shin’ (233a) and [motʃi] ‘bowels’ (233b) are not possible.

(234) Alveolar-to-palatal rule

a. [+alveolar, +stop] → [+palatal, +affricate] / __ [i]

b. [+alveolar, +fricative] → [+palatal] / __ [i]

In (233), I assume /u/ for /sune/ ‘shin’ and /motu/ ‘bowels’ without attested examples of [ɯ] because there are corresponding words for them in Standard Japanese (/sune/ [sɯne] and /motu/ [motsɯ]).

However, there are words that do not appear to correspond to Standard Japanese and are only pronounced with [ɨ]. I analyze the vowel inventory as containing /ɨ/ in addition to /i/ and /u/. Some examples of /ɨ/ are shown in (235).2

(235) Examples of /ɨ/

a. [bottsɨ] /bottɨ/ ‘head (of octopus or fish)’

b. [entsɨko] /entɨko/ ‘baby basket’

c. [hondzɨnaʃi] /honzɨnasi/ ‘person who does not know things’

Figure 7.3, reproduced from Nakagawa (2021), is a plot of /e/ and /ɛ/, indicated as E in the figure, as produced by MT. The F1 of /ɛ/ is significantly higher than that of /e/ (t < 0.001). Some examples of /e/ vs. /ɛ/ are shown in (236).

(236) /e/ vs. /ɛ/

a. [nekko] /ne-kko/ ‘plant.root-dim’ vs. [nɛkko] /nɛ-kko/ ‘sapling-dim

b. [kettsɨ] /kettu/ ‘buttocks’ vs. [kɛna] /kɛna/ ‘arm’

High vowels are devoiced between voiceless consonants and after a word-final voiceless consonant. This rule is formalized in (237).

(237):

[+high, + vowel] →

[–voice] / [–voice] __ [–voice]

[–voice] / [–voice] __ ##

2.1.2 Consonants

The consonant inventory of the Nambu dialect is in Table 7.2.

Table 7.2

Consonants

Bilabial

(Post-)alveolar

Velar

Glottal

Stop

/ᵐp/ [ᵐp]

/p/ [p]

/b/ [b]

/t/ [t]

/d/ [d]

/k/ [k]

/ɡ/ [ɡ]

/ᵐb/ [ᵐb]

/ⁿd/ [ⁿd]

/ŋ/ [ŋ]

Fricative

/s/ [s]

/z/ [z]

/h/ [h]

/ⁿz/ [ⁿz (~ z)]

Nasal

/m/ [m]

/n/ [n]

Tap

/r/ [ɾ]

Approx.

/j/ [j]

/w/ [w]

It is difficult to find minimal pairs in this dialect for a historical reason; voiceless consonants become voiced between vowels, and voiced stops and fricatives become prenasalized in the same environment. Here I do not list examples of each consonant because of limitations of space. See Nakagawa (2021) for more examples.

Historically, /ᵐp/ is considered to stem from /ᵐb/, and at some point became voiceless /ᵐp/ since it is never confused with other phonemes. However, not all /ᵐb/ changed to /ᵐp/, and I analyze /ᵐp/ as an independent phoneme here.

(238) /ᵐp/

a. [jɯᵐpɯ̥te] /juᵐpute/ ‘smoky’, [neᵐpɯ̥te] /neᵐpute/ ‘sleepy’, [kɯᵐpi̥ta] /kuᵐpita/ ‘neck’

As mentioned in (234), alveolar stops and fricatives become palatal affricates before [i]. This rule is repeated here as (239a–b). Alveolar stops also become alveolar affricates before [ɨ] as formulated in (239c).

(239)

The affrication and palatalization rules

a.

[+alveolar, +stop]

[+palatal, +affricate] / __ [i]

b.

[+alveolar, +fricative]

[+palatal] / __ [i]

c.

[+alveolar, +stop]

[+alveolar, +affricate] / __ [ɨ]

For now, I distinguish prenasalization (syllable-initial nasal) and coda (syllable-final) nasals. In some cases, the etymologies are clear and it is relatively obvious to regard the nasal as being in the coda position: [nanda] < nani⸗da ‘what⸗cop’, [dʒeŋko] < zeni-kko ‘money-dim’, and [taɴ ~ taa᷉] < tan ‘phlegm’. Meanwhile, prenasalized consonants correspond to voiced consonants in Standard Japanese as in [hiⁿdʒi] < hizi ‘elbow’ and [oᵐbeɾɯ] < oboeru ‘remember’.

Finally, I formulate the nasal assimilation rule in (240). It is cross-linguistically common for the place of articulation of nasals to assimilate to that of the following consonant.

(240)

Nasal assimilation rule

/n/

[m] / __ [+labial]

[ŋ] / __ [+velar]

[n] / __ [+alveolar]

[ɴ ~ ṽi] / elsewhere

2.2 Syllable Structure and Phonotactics

This dialect allows (C)(j)V(C) syllable structure where C stands for a consonant, V for a vowel, j for /j/. Phonemes in parentheses are optional. This is exemplified below.

(241) (C)(j)V(C), e.g., /dak.kja/ (top), /bjon/ (fp)

Words cannot end with C other than N. Also, glides (j) always follows C. I did not find examples of /CwV/ which is found in the Shimokita dialect. This is one of the facts that indicate the Nambu dialect differs from the Shimokita dialect.

2.3 Mora

Unlike many other Japanese varieties, this dialect has no distinction between short and long vowels. It does, however, have long consonants or geminates word-medially that may be realized as short. As shown in (242), for example, /tt/ and /kk/ can optionally be pronounced as [t] and [k], respectively.

(242) a. [dʒeŋkko ~ dʒeŋko] /zjen-kko/ ‘money-dim

b. [otʃakko ~ otʃako] /otja-kko/ ‘tea-dim

c. [mittaɡɯnɛ ~ mitaɡɯnɛ] /mittaɡunɛ/ ‘ugly’

d. [okketta] /okketta/ ‘fall’

Geminates can be distinguished from word-medial voiceless consonants by the fact that they never become voiced, and adjacent vowels are never devoiced.

2.4 Word-Level Prosody

The Nambu dialect is known to have an ascending kernel (nobori-kaku) accent system (Uwano 2017), where only the accented mora rises within a phrase. “In the unaccented type, the pitch of the last mora rises; In the word-final kernel type, the pitch of the last mora falls; In other types, the pitch of the mora with the kernel rises” (Uwano 2017: 2). Table 7.3 shows examples of one-, two-, and three-mora words with different kernel positions. The number “o” indicates that the word has no kernel, “1” indicates that the first mora has the kernel, and so on.

Table 7.3

Examples of words with different kernel positions

0 (no accent)

1

2

3

1

ke [H] ‘hair’

ˈhe [F] ‘flatulence’

2

tura [LH] ‘face’

ˈtiti [HL] ‘breast’

aˈse [LF] ‘sweat’

3

nazuɡi [LLH] ‘forehead’

ˈkobura [HLL] ‘calf (of leg)’

maˈnaɡu [LHL] ‘eye’

kenˈdo [LLF] ‘road’

The accent of words in Noheji from my field notes almost always corresponds to the accent of words reported in Uwano (2017).

2.5 Intonation

Declarative sentences and content questions (or wh-questions) end with falling intonation, while polar questions optionally end with rising intonation but can also end with falling intonation. Kibe et al. (2018) investigated corpora across Japanese dialects and reported that all three types end with a falling pitch in the Hirosaki dialect (a variant of the Tsugaru dialect). However, they also report that the steepness of the falling pitch differs depending on the type of sentence: polar questions have a sudden drop, declaratives have the shallow and steady drop, and wh-questions have a rather steep but steady drop. In my impression, the Nambu dialect follows the patterns Kibe et al. report, although a quantitative characterization awaits further study.

3 Descriptive Units

3.1 Morphological Units

The morphological units described in this study are listed in Table 7.4. A phrase consists of a word and, optionally, one or more clitics; a word consists of a root optionally preceded by a prefix and followed by one or more suffixes.

Table 7.4

Morphological units

prefix-{0,1}

root

-suffix*

word

⸗clitic*

clitic group

As far as I know, only a single prefix can appear before the root, whereas multiple suffixes can appear after the root. The order of affixes is fixed and will be outlined in the relevant sections.

3.2 Parts of Speech

A noun typically refers to a thing or a person. A pronoun refers to somebody or something that the speaker and the addressee are both aware of and often replaces a noun that the speaker can use instead. A verb typically refers to an event. An adjective typically describes a property. Adjectives and nominal adjectives are distinguished by their morphology (§ 6). An adverb typically describes manner, attitude, time reference, and location. Particles denote a relation between a noun and a verb or between sentences. Interjections express the speaker’s attitude towards the preceding utterance, the addressee, etc.

3.3 Grammatical Relations

As discussed in § 9.3 and § 11.2, the case alignment of subject and direct object in Noheji is a nominative-accusative type with differential object marking. A noun that is a subject can be followed by the particles ⸗∅, ⸗a, or ⸗ŋa. A noun that is an object can be followed by the particles ⸗∅ or ⸗ba. A noun that is an indirect object can be followed by the particle ⸗ni.

4 Nominals

The class of nominals includes pronouns (§ 4.1), nouns (§ 4.2), and numerals (§ 4.3).

4.1 Pronouns

The personal pronouns are listed in Table 7.5.

Table 7.5

Personal pronouns

1

2

3

sg

wa, ora

ome, na (~ ŋa)

kore/sore/are, sono {hito/huto}

pl

wa-ⁿdo, ora-ⁿdo

ome-ⁿdo

sore-ⁿdo, sono {hito/huto}-ⁿdo

gr

ora-ho

ome-ho

There are two types of first-person pronoun: wa and ora. According to MT, she uses both pronouns interchangeably with no gender or age constraints, although I observe that she prefers to use wa. An example is given in (243).

(243)

ano

kasi⸗dakkja

wa

tabe-ta⸗jo

that

sweet⸗top

1sg

eat-pstfp

‘Regarding that sweet, I ate it.’

The plural affix -ⁿdo follows the pronoun to indicate plural. The form ora-ⁿdo can be used for both exclusive (244) and inclusive (245) first-person plurals.

(244)

kore

ora-ⁿdo

hutari⸗de

taberu

no

da-kara

ome-∅⸗sa

k-ahe-nɛ⸗jo

this

1-pl

two.people⸗inst

eat

nmlz

cop-because

2-sgdat

eat-caus-negfp

‘(I) won’t let you eat this because we two (excluding you) are going to eat this.’

(245)

kore

ora-ⁿdo

minna⸗de

taberu

besi

this

1-pl

all⸗inst

eat

infr

‘This one, we all are going to eat it.’

Another plural suffix -ho is used when the speaker thinks that the people being referred to belong to the same group: e.g., the same family, the same village, the same organization, etc. In (246), for example, the speaker describes how and what to arrange things in front of his/her Buddhist altar and asks how the interlocutor arranges their altar.

(246)

a.

ora-ho⸗daba

mikan

mame⸗no

ue⸗sa

aŋe-te

jat-ta⸗n

da-kedomo

ome-ho⸗daba

desu

1-grtop

mandarin

bean⸗gen

top⸗dat

offer.to.altar-seq

give-pstnmlz

cop-though

2-grtop

how.do

‘We (our family) offer a mandarin orange on beans to the Buddhist altar. What do you (your family) do?’

b.

ora-ho⸗daba

aŋe-nɛ

2-grtop

offer.to.altar-neg

‘We (Our family) don’t offer (in that way).’

The second person pronouns ome and na (~ŋa) can also be used interchangeably, and the speaker MT prefers ome over na or ŋa. There could be dialectal differences between ome and na (ŋa). The demonstratives kore/sore/are can refer to people and things, but it is rude to refer to people using kore/sore/are. Since the main function of kore/sore/are is to refer to things in the context of utterances, I will describe them in § 8.1.

4.2 Lexical Nouns

Only lexical nouns can be followed by -kko (-dim). Other post-nominal affixes are listed below. As far as I know, the plural and honorific suffixes can follow pronouns as well as to nouns.

(247) Time: ban-ŋe [bãŋe] ‘night-time’, asa-ma ‘morning-time’ (Nakaichi 1936)

(248) Person: jame-tto ‘sick-person’, rusu-tto ‘absent-person’ (Nakaichi 1936)

(249) Plural: warasi ‘child’, warasa-ⁿdo ‘chile-pl

(250) Honorific: ome-sama2sg-hono-ga-samahon-mother-hono-ᵐba-samahon-grandmother-hon

Another plural suffix -ho has been described in (246) in § 4.1. Animate entities tend to require plural marking when used of plural referents, whereas inanimate entities are only optionally marked for plural as shown by the distinction between (251) and (252). In (251), the speaker chose to use -ⁿdo to clarify that there was more than one person who ate the sweet, while, in (252), she chose not to use -ⁿdo for sweet potatoes.

(251)

ano

kasi

{are-ⁿdo/ano

huto-ⁿdo}

ku-te

mat-ta⸗no⸗ɡa

that

sweet

{that-pl/that

person-pl}

eat-seq

finish-pstnmlzq-gr

‘That sweet, did they eat it?’

(252)

soko⸗ni

aru

satumaimo

mina

ku-ttɛ⸗na

there⸗dat

exist

sweet.potato

all

eat-want⸗fp

‘The sweet potatoes there, (I) want to eat them all.’

4.3 Numerals

Like other Japonic languages, the Nambu dialect has classifiers. Here I provide example (253) which is the number (one to ten) + classifier combinations (one to ten) used when counting small inanimate entities in general. This series uses the Sino-Japanese numerals.

(253) ikka ‘one’, ni-ka ‘two’, san-ka ‘three’, si-kka ‘four’, ɡo-ka ‘five’, ro-kka ‘six’, nana-{??ka/tu}/??siti-ka ‘seven’, ha-kka ‘eight’, ku-kka ‘nine’, zi-kka ‘ten’

The Nambu dialect also has a series of native numerals (hitottu, hutattu, mittu, jottu …), which I have not investigated thoroughly. Other numerals needs to be studied further.

5 Verbs

5.1 Inflectional Morphology

A summary of verbal inflection is shown in Table 7.6. The cells marked “?” have not been investigated yet. The two major categories of verbs are vowel-ending roots (e.g., mi- ‘see’) and consonant-ending roots (e.g., nar- ‘become’). The non-past-tense suffix -ru follows the former, and -u follows the latter. Also, the vowels -a- and -i- are inserted in negation and medial forms only after the consonant-ending roots. The phonemes k and ɡ in the k- and ɡ-ending roots change into i in the sequential and past forms (known as the i-euphonic or i-ombin form). Also, /i/ is inserted after s-ending verb root in the same condition; for example, the sequential form of hanas- ‘release’ is hanas-i-ta. The verbs su- ‘do’ and ku- ‘come’ are irregular. The root-final vowels of irregular verbs change depending on which suffixes follow them. Note that the negative form of su- is si- instead of sa-, unlike many other Tohoku dialects.3 The verb k- ‘eat’ is a regular consonant-ending root except that the vowel -u is inserted in the medial form.

Table 7.6

Verbal inflection

mi- ‘see’

nar- ‘become’

kak- ‘write’

su- ‘do’

ku- ‘come’

k- ‘eat’

omo- ‘think’

npst

mi-ru

nar-u

kak-u

su-ru

ku-ru

k-u

omo-ru

neg

mi-nɛ

nar-a-nɛ

kak-a-nɛ

si-nɛ

ko-nɛ

k-a-nɛ

omo-nɛ

seq

mi-ttɛ

nar-i-ttɛ

kak-i-ttɛ

si-ttɛ

ki-ttɛ

k-u-ttɛ

omo-ttɛ

seq2

mi-te

nar-te

kai-te

si-te

ki-te

k-u-te

omo-te

cond

mi-reba

nar-eba

kak-eba

su-reba

ku-reba

k-eba

omo-eba

imp

?

?

?

?

?

k-e

omo-re

The conditional form of omo- ‘think’ is slightly unpredictable possibly because of the influence of Tokyo Japanese. The traditional conditional form might be omo-(reba), which is exactly the same as mi- ‘see’. Table 7.6 is not a complete list of verbal classes. The inflection of the verb roots which historically ended with -h- or -p- (e.g., kah- or kap- ‘buy’ depending on the stage of phonetic change) is unpredictable. Whereas the forms of omo- ‘think’ (historically omoh- or omop-) are as listed in Table 7.6, the negative form of kaw- ‘buy’ is kaw-a-nɛ and the non-past form is ka-ru. Sasaki (2019: 221) argues that the root-final consonant of this type of verb in the Tsugaru dialect is /w/ instead of /r/; /r/ is inserted for the onset of non-past-tense suffix -(r)u, and the root-final /w/ is deleted after non-low vowels and consonants. This analysis predicts the verb forms correctly: ka-ru, kaw-a-nɛ, kaw-ttɛ, and kaw-te. Further investigation is needed to describe the traditional forms of these verbs including imperative forms, which I have not investigated thoroughly.

5.2 Derivational Morphology

Derivational affixes that follow verb stems are summarized in Table 7.7. Not all combinations and orders are possible; a detailed description requires further investigation.

Table 7.7

Verbal derivation

Causation

Potential

Voice

Polarity

Aspect

Tense

-(r)ahe- (caus)

-(r)e- (poss)

-(r)are- (pass)

-nɛ (neg)

-tera (prog)

-ta (pst)

-tta (epst)

-(r)asar- (ac)

-(r)u (npst)

-(r)agas- (caus)

Examples of combinations of suffixes are shown below. The experienced-past suffix -tta always occurs immediately following the past-tense suffix -ta. This suffix -tta is found prevalently among Tohoku dialects. Examples are given in (254) and (255). The morpheme -tera can be analyzed as -te-ra (-prog-pst) and has variations such as -de-da, -dda, and -dera (Takeda 2020: 28). Since -ra in -te-ra can be analyzed as the past morpheme, -tta can follow it.4

(254)

k-ahe-rare-ta-tta

eat-caus-pass-pst-epst

‘(I) was forced to eat.’

(255)

ano

hito

ki-te-ta⸗no

oᵐbe-tera-tta?

that

person

come-seq-pstnmlz

remember-prog-epst?

‘Do you still remember that that person came?’

The phoneme /t/ in -ta (pst) and -tera (prog) is voiced between voiced vowels; i.e., when it followes consonant-ending roots. For example, mi-ta is pronounced as [mida]. The rule is schematized as in (256).

(256)

t-voicing in verbal suffixes

-t

/d/

/ [+voice, +vowel] __

(e.g., mi-ta [mida], ojoi-ta [ojoida])

/d/

/ [+nasal, –velar] __

(e.g., jom-da [jonda])

/tt/

/ [–nasal] __

(e.g. nar-ta [natta])

/t/

/ elsewhere

(e.g., ki-ta [kɨ̥ta], hanasi-ta [hanaʃi̥ta])

When these morphemes follow verb roots such as su- ‘do’ and ku- ‘come’, the root vowels may be devoiced by the rule of devoicing high vowels between voiceless consonants (237). When this rule is applied, si-ta and ki-ta are pronounced as [ʃi̥ta] and [ki̥ta] respectively. On the other hand, if rule (256) applies first, they are predicted to be pronounced as [ʃida] and [kida], although [ʃida] is not attested and could be ill-formed for some unknown reason ([kida] is attested).

The usages of other suffixes -(r)ahe- (caus), -(r)asar- (ac), -(r)aɡas- (caus), and -(r)are- (pass) will be discussed in § 11.4, which deals with valency-changing morphology.

5.3 Existential and Copula

For nominal predicates and nominal adjective predicates, the copula da is used.

(257)

ara

ame⸗da

oh

rain⸗cop

‘Oh, it’s raining.’

(258)

asita

jasumi⸗da⸗kkja

tomorrow

holiday⸗copfp

‘Tomorrow is holiday.’

(259)

dɛ⸗ⁿda?

who⸗cop

‘Who?’

(260)

kono

hana

kire-ⁿda⸗kkja

prox.dem

flower

beautiful-copfp

‘This flower is beautiful.’

The copula -da is sometimes prenasalized (-ⁿda) as in (259) and (260), and sometimes the prenasalization of the copula sounds longer than the usual prenasalization. I speculate that the prenasalization of the copula is used to preserve moraic structure. For example, since the older form of kire- ‘beautiful’ is considered to be kirei or kireː, the prenasalization could be inserted to preserve the length of the whole word kirei-da or kireː-da. In the same way, since the older form of could be dare > *daɛ > , the prenasalization could be inserted for the same motivation as the case of kire-. See also the discussion in Nakagawa (2021: § 4.3).5

While most languages in the Japonic family distinguish the existence of animate and inanimate entities (iru vs. aru), iru is extensively used in the Nambu dialect. Only sometimes is aru used. The conditions in which aru can be used need further investigation.

6 Adjectival Expressions

Adjectival expressions consist of inflected adjectives (§ 6.1) and nominal adjectives (§ 6.2). They are distinguished by the suffixes they take in negation, predication, and modification.

6.1 Inflected Adjectives

The basic forms of inflected adjectives are given in Table 7.8. The parenthesized (i) means that it is optional, whereas other parenthesized morphemes are examples that can follow the verb form. The parenthesized expression (atu-ka-tta) is a predicted but not yet attested form.

Table 7.8

Adjective

i ‘good’

atu- ‘hot’

npst

i

atu-(i)

neg

i-ɡu⸗nɛ

atu-ku(⸗nɛ)

seq

i-{ɡu/hu}-te

atu-{ku/hu}-te

cond

i-ba

atu-i-ba

pst

i-ɡa-tta

(atu-ka-tta)

Table 7.9

Nominal adjective

kire-ⁿda ‘pretty’

siⁿzuɡa-da ‘quiet’

npst

kire-ⁿda

siⁿzuɡa-da

neg

kire-ⁿde(⸗nɛ)

siⁿzuɡa-de(⸗nɛ)

seq

kire-ⁿde

siⁿzuɡa-de

cond

kire-ⁿda(-ba)

siⁿzuɡa-da(-ba)

pst

kire-ⁿda(-tta)

siⁿzuɡa-da(-tta)

Inflected adjectives end with i when modifying noun in the adnominal form. The suffix -ɡu, -ku, -hu is inserted before the negative ⸗nɛ and the continuative -te suffix for inflected adjectives. Before the past-tense morpheme -tta, the suffix -ɡa or -ka is added after the inflected adjective root. The consonant at the beginning of the inflected adjective suffix -ɡ{u/a} or -k{u/a} varies depending on the environment. It is voiced between voiced vowels but voiceless when one of the vowels is devoiced (see the high vowel devoicing rule (237)). In this case, either rule can be applied first, and the morpheme-initial consonant can be either ɡ or k. Since the high-vowel devoicing rule (237) applies to u in atu-, it is highly likely that the suffix starts with the voiceless consonant k. Another variant of -ku is -hu, which is an older form of -ku.

The past-tense suffix is -tta and not -ta (the past-tense suffix of verbs). There is a historical reason for this form: -{k/ɡ}u ar-ta ‘-adj exist-pst’ became -{k/ɡ}a-tta. However, I analyze -tta as an independent past morpheme for inflected (and nominal) adjectives.

6.2 Nominal Adjectives

Nominal Adjectives (keiyōdōshi in Japanese) do not inflect. To function as a predicate, they are followed by a copula, as summarized in Table 7.9.

Note that -da is the conclusive as well as adnominal form in this dialect unlike in Standard Japanese.

(261)

te⸗no

kire-ⁿda

hito

hand⸗gen

beautiful-cop

person

‘A person who has beautiful hands.’

7 Class-Changing Derivations

7.1 Nominalization

The suffix -sa follows an adjective root to change it into a noun. For example, when atu- ‘hot’ (adjective) is followed by -sa, atu-sa means ‘degree of hotness’.

The clitic ⸗no follows the verb’s non-past form to make a noun as in (262). The same morpheme behaves as a noun when another genitive noun precedes it as in (263).

(262)

hare-tera⸗no⸗sa

kju-ni

ame⸗{n/ni}

nar-ta⸗kkja

clear-prognmlzall

sudden-adv

rain⸗dat

become-pstfp

‘(The sky which was) clear suddently turned into rain.’

(263)

kore

wa⸗no⸗no⸗da

this

1sggennmlznmlzcop

‘This is mine (my thing).’

The zero-suffix -∅ combines with ⸗ni to convert a verb into a noun to express a purpose.

(264)

(kono

basjo)

maturi

mi-ru-⸗ni

i⸗jo

this

place

festival

see-npst-nmlzdat

good⸗fp

‘This place is good to see the festival.’

The suffix -tto attaches to verb and noun roots and forms nouns which refer to a person with the characteristic of the verb/noun (265).

(265) a. jame-tto ‘sick person’

b. rusu-tto ‘absent person’ (Nakaichi 1936)

Further investigation into this word-formation process is necessary.

7.2 Verbalization

The morpheme -meɡu (-vlz) forms verbs. Some examples are shown in (266). The parts of speech of the roots are not clear yet. Some roots such as jotja appear to be onomatopoeia, some such as sira appear to be adjectival, and others are unclear.

(266) sira-meɡu ‘be biting’, maja-meɡu ‘be halting’, jotja-meɡu ‘stagger’, gahu-meɡu ‘(clothes) be too big’ (Nakaichi 1936)

8 Demonstratives and Interrogatives

Demonstratives and interrogative forms are summarized in Table 7.10.

Table 7.10

Demonstratives

Nominal

Prenominal

Locative, selectional

Kind

Verbal

prox

kore

kono

koko, kotti

kotta(ra)

kesu

med

sore

sono

soko, sotti

sotta(ra)

sesu

dist

are

ano

asoko, atti

atta(ra)

esu

Wh

dore

dono

doko, dotti, dono

dottara

desu

8.1 Demonstratives

Demonstratives in this dialect have three-way distinctions as in many other Japanese dialects: proximal (k-), medial (s-), and distal (a-). Proximal refers to something near the speaker; medial to something near the addressee or a referent in the discourse; and the distal to something away from both the speaker and the addressee or a referent in the memory of the speaker. Examples of nominal and pronominal usages are shown in (267) and (268), respectively.

(267)

sore-ⁿdo⸗no

namɛ

nan⸗tteru⸗no

3-plgen

name

what⸗qt.call⸗nmlz

‘What are their names?’

(268)

sono

hito⸗no

namɛ-kko

oᵐbe-tera⸗ɡa

that

person-gen

name-dim

remember-progq

‘Do you remember that person’s name?’

In addition to nominal, adnominal, locative, and kind demonstratives, this dialect has demonstrative verbs, which refer to actions in the context of utterances. The paradigm is described in Table 7.11.

Table 7.11

Paradigm of demonstrative verbs

kes-u ‘do in this way’

ses-u ‘do in that way’

es-u ‘do in that way’

des-u ‘do in what way’

neg

kes-i-nɛ

ses-i-nɛ

es-i-nɛ

des-i-nɛ

seq

kes-te/kes-i-te

ses-te/ses-i-te

es-te/es-i-te

des-te/des-i-te

npst

kes-u

ses-u

es-u

des-u

cond

kes-e-ba

ses-e-ba, se-ba

es-e-ba

des-e-ba

For example, the speaker can use kesu when s/he is showing the procedure of something (e.g., cooking) in front of the addressee as in (269); the addressee can respond this using sesu when s/he sees it.

(269)

kes-un⸗no

prox.do-npstnmlz

‘You can do in this way.’

(270)

ses-u⸗no⸗ɡa

med.do⸗nmlzq

‘Oh, you do in that way!’

When the procedure is demonstrated away from both the speaker and the addressee, the speaker uses esu to refer to the activity.6 The interrogative verb desu can be used to ask about the procedure. In (272), the speaker is asking of the mental state of the addressee.

(271)

es-te

tukuru⸗no⸗ɡa

dist.do.seq

make⸗nmlzq

‘(I see!) you do in that way!’

(272)

des-ta⸗no⸗i

how-pstnmlzfp

‘How did you do? (What’s wrong?)’

8.2 Interrogatives and Indefinites

Some examples of interrogatives are given below. First, there is a singular vs. plural distinction in wh-questions. A special marker -ⁿdari is used to express plurality of wh-words as shown in (273).

(273)

de-ⁿdari

i-ru⸗no

who-pl?

exist-npstnmlz

‘Who (plural) are there?’

There are a number of variant forms of ‘why’ and ‘how’; the expressions partially overlap with each other as can be seen in (274) and (275).

(274)

{nande/nasite/des-i-te}

kono

i

kar-ta⸗no

why

this

house

buy-pstnmlz

‘Why did you buy this house?’

(275)

{des-te/des-i-te}

sono

i

mekke-ta⸗no

how

that

house

find-pstnmlz

‘How did you find that house?’

Some expressions such as nande might be borrowed from Standard Japanese, which might be why the dialect has multiple expressions to express similar content.

Indefinite expressions can be formed by a content question expression followed by -ɡa (276, 277). The morpheme -ɡa is also used for polar questions when used at the end of a sentence. Here I use the gloss (indef) for -ɡa as used in indefinite expressions since the functions differ from those of the ɡa that forms polar questions.

(276)

tukamar-i

sonta-tta⸗keⁿdomo

des-te-ɡa

ki-ta⸗n⸗da⸗ɡa

niŋe-te

ki-ta

catch-seq

seem-pstconc

do.what-seq-indef

come-pstnmlzcopq

run.away-and

come-pst

‘Although I was almost caught, somehow I ran away.’

(277)

zjen-kko

{nanbo/nanbora-en}-ɡa

mot-te

ki-ta

money-dim

how.much-indef

bring-and

come-pst

‘I brought some money.’

9 Argument Phrase

9.1 The Head

Nominals can be the head of a noun phrase (NP). For example, lexical nouns, modified by one or more adjectives, can be the head of NP.

Verbs can be the head of a verb phrase (VP). Elements such as NPs, adverbs, the adverbial form (seq) of adjectival expressions, etc. can modify a verb to form a verb phrase.

9.2 The Modifier

When another noun modifies the head noun, e.g., to express possession, to form a NP, the modifying noun is followed by genitive marker ⸗no (gen). This is exemplified in (278). In the same way, the modifying noun followed by ⸗no modifies a formal noun ⸗no ‘one’ (279), unlike in other Japonic dialects such as Tokyo Japanese.

(278)

sore⸗a

wa⸗no

okasi⸗da⸗be⸗i

that⸗nom

1sggen

snack⸗copinfrfp

‘That is my snack, isn’t it?’

(279)

kore

wa⸗no⸗no⸗da

this

1sggennmlzcop

‘This is mine (my thing).’

Also unlike in other dialects of Japonic languages such as Standard Japanese is the fact that ⸗no (⸗gen) cannot be used within a relative clause to indicate a subject. This contrast is shown in (280).

(280)

kore

wa(*⸗no)

kɛ-ta

zi⸗da

prox.dem

1sg(⸗gen)

write-pst

character⸗cop

‘These characters are the ones I wrote.’

See § 5 and § 6 for modification of nominals by verbs and adjectives.

9.3 Case and Other Role Markings

Case markers are listed in Table 7.12.

Table 7.12

Case markers

nom

acc

dat

all

loc

inst

com

gen

abl

lat

cmpr

⸗∅/(⸗a)/(⸗ŋa)

⸗∅/⸗ba

⸗ni

⸗sa

⸗de

⸗de

⸗do

⸗no

⸗ɡara

⸗made

⸗jori

9.3.1 Nominative

Nominatives are most frequently zero-coded as exemplified in (281). It can also be zero-coded when the word order is changed as in (282).

(281)

ome

dottara

okasi

tukur-i-ttɛ⸗no

2sg

like.what

sweet

make-seq-want⸗nmlz

A

P

‘What kind of sweets do you want to make?’

(282)

sono

siŋoto

ome

su-be

that

job

2sg

do⸗infr

P

A

‘That job, you do it, right?’

Nominative nouns (but not pronouns) can be followed by ⸗a as in (283). Although the particle may be interpreted as a topic marker in other cases, I describe it as a nominative marker here (to be discussed in § 11.7; see also Haga (2019)).

(283)

taro⸗a

hikkuriɡɛr-e-ba

musuko⸗a

osɛ-de

ke-ru⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

fall-seq-cond

son⸗nom

support-seq

give-npsthrs

‘If Taro falls down, his son will support him.’

9.3.2 Accusative

This dialect has an accusative marker ⸗ba which follows animate objects as shown in (284). Inanimate objects are typically zero-coded as shown in (285). This pattern may be described as differential object marking Comrie (1979, 1983).

(284)

taro

{wa/omɛ/hanako/tomodati/inu}⸗{ba/??∅}

mi-tera

Taro

{1sg/2sg/Hanako/friend/dog}⸗{acc/∅}

see-prog

‘Taro is looking at {me/you/Hanako/(his) friend/a dog}.’

(285)

taro

sodo⸗{ba/∅}

mi-tera

Taro

outside⸗{acc/∅}

see-prog

‘Taro is looking outside.’

According to my impression, however, ⸗ba is less frequently used than zero-coding and some animate objects can also be zero-coded in natural conversation, whereas the examples above are from elicitation. Further investigation is necessary to reveal exactly under what conditions ⸗ba can or cannot be used.

This differential object-marking phenomenon is widely observed in Eastern Japanese dialects, some of which are well-described. See Otsuki (2018) for the Tsugaru dialect (western Aomori) and Sasaki (2004: Chapter 3) for the Mitsukaido dialect (Ibaraki).

9.3.3 Dative

The particle ⸗ni is used to express the agent in passive constructions (286) and the result of a change (287).

(286)

taro⸗a

odotto⸗ni

putaɡ-are-ta

Taro⸗nom

younger.brother⸗dat

beat-pass-pst

‘Taro was beaten by his younger brother.’

(287)

taro

sense⸗ni

nar-ta⸗zɨ

Taro

teacher⸗dat

become-psthrs

‘(I) heard that Taro became a teacher.’

Indirect objects take the particle ⸗sa (⸗all) instead of ⸗ni. Although I regard ⸗ni as dative and ⸗sa as allative in this chapter, the distinction between the two is subtle and both particles are acceptable in some contexts. I will explain what we currently know in the following section.

9.3.4 Allative

The distinction between ⸗sa and ⸗ni is subtle and differs depending on the specific Nambu dialect. Here I describe the Noheji dialect. Further study is needed to figure out the exact usages and regional differences of both particles. Fundamentally, ⸗sa is used to indicate direction: the indirect object (288), the location of existence (289), the goal of a motion (290), the object of meeting (291), etc.

(288)

taro

odotto⸗sa

zibun⸗no

i

ke-ta⸗zɨ

Taro

younger.brother⸗all

self⸗gen

house

give-psthrs

‘Taro gave his house to (his) younger brother.’

(289)

kabe⸗sa

toɡe

kaɡat-teru

wall⸗all

clock

hang-prog

‘A clock is hanging on the wall.’

(290)

taro⸗a

ha

kina

tokyo⸗sa

ik-te

mar-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

already

yesterday

Tokyo⸗all

go-seq

finish-psthrs

‘(I) heard that Taro left for Tokyo yesterday.’

(291)

taro⸗a

kendo⸗de

ziko⸗sa

at-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

road⸗loc

accident⸗all

meet-psthrs

‘(I) heard that Taro encountered an accident on the road.’

The agent of causative constructions is expressed variously depending on whether s/he is forced to do the action. When the agent is forced to do something, ⸗ba is used as in (292); when s/he is not forced, ⸗sa is used as in (293). The particle ⸗ni is used irrespective of whether s/he is forced or not as in (294) and (295).

(292)

taro⸗a

jar-ttaɡu-nɛ⸗noni

odotto⸗ba

ojoŋ-ase-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

do-want-negconc

younger.brother⸗acc

swim-caus-psthrs

‘Taro forced his younger brother to swim though he does not want to.’

(293)

taro⸗a

warasi⸗sa

sɨɡidabuttsɨ

keki

k-ahe-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

child⸗all

as.much.as.s/he.likes

cake

eat-caus-psthrs

‘Taro let the child eat cake as much as s/he likes.’

(294)

taro⸗a

odotto⸗ni

sɨɡidabuttsɨ

ojoŋ-ase-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

younger.brother⸗dat

as.much.as.s/he.likes

swim-caus-psthrs

‘Taro let the child swim as much as s/he likes.’

(295)

taro⸗a

odotto⸗ni

murijari

jasai⸗ba

k-ahe-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

younger.brother⸗dat

forcibly

vegetable⸗acc

eat-caus-psthrs

‘Taro forced his younger brother to eat vegetables.’

Further investigation is needed to describe the possibilities of usages of each particle.

9.3.5 Instrumental

In addition to locative, ⸗de is used to indicate instrument or manner. It is not clear to me whether the locative ⸗de and the instrumental ⸗de are polysemous or homonymic.7

(296)

taro

kasɨɡi

tarai⸗de

arat-tera

Taro

dishes

basin⸗inst

wash-prog

‘Taro is washing dishes with basin.’

The location of event is indicated by ⸗de (⸗inst).

(297)

taro⸗dakkja

i⸗de

ne-tera⸗jo

Taro⸗top

house⸗loc

sleep-progfp

‘Regarding Taro, (he) is sleeping in the house.’

9.3.6 Comparative

The marker ⸗jori is attached to elements to which another element is being compared.

(298)

kotti⸗jori

sotti

mme⸗to

omo-ru

prox.demcmpr

med.dem

delicious⸗qt

think-npst

‘(I) think that one is more delicious than this one.’

The marker ⸗jori is also used with the sense of ‘other than’.

(299)

zen

ha

sore⸗yori

tray

already

demmed⸗other.than

not.exist

‘There are no trays other than that.’

10 Predicate Phrase

10.1 Verbal Predication

A verbal predicate minimally consists of a verb which at least one tense, aspect, or modality suffix.

10.2 Non-verbal Predication

The nominal predicate is formed by a noun and the copula ⸗da. The copula is almost always necessary regardless of tense. As shown in (300) and (301), ⸗da forms a nominal predicate whether or not the sentence is in the present or the past.

(300)

ara

ame⸗da

oh

rain⸗cop

‘Oh, it’s raining.’

(301)

wa

sense⸗da-tta

1sg

teacher⸗cop-pst

‘I was a teacher.’

The copula is necessary for wh-copula predicates as exemplified in (302), unless they are confirmation questions like (303).

(302)

kore

dɛ⸗ⁿda

prox.dem

who⸗cop

‘Who is this?’

(303)

dɛ⸗i

who⸗fp

‘(He passed away.)—Who?’

This follows the pattern reported by Shiraiwa et al. (2016), where dialects of the Kinki region and of the eastern regions more frequently have the copula in the non-past tense without following suffixes or particles.

11 The Simple Sentence

11.1 Sentence Types

There are three sentence types: declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives. Interrogatives are further divided into polar and content questions. Polar questions typically end with the question morpheme ⸗ɡa as exemplified in (304) and (305).

(304)

jama⸗sa

iɡ-u⸗no⸗ɡa

mountain⸗all

go-npstnmlzq

‘Are you going to the mountain?’

(305)

sono

hito⸗no

name-kko

oᵐbe-dera⸗ɡa

that

person⸗gen

name-dim

remember-progq

‘Do you remember the name of that person?’

Content questions on the other hand, do not have special sentence-final markers as exemplified below. Both polar and content questions end with falling intonation (§ 2.5).

(306)

kore

de⸗no⸗da

prox.dem

who⸗nmlzcop

‘Whose is this?’

(307)

ano

warasi

doɡo⸗no

warasi⸗da

dist.dem

child

where⸗gen

child⸗cop

‘Where is that child from?’

Content questions with verbal and adjectival predicate do not require special sentence-final markers either. (308) and (309) are examples of content questions with verbal and adjectival predicates respectively. As shown in (309), the sentence can be optionally end with ⸗no (⸗nmlz) and ⸗i (⸗fp).

(308)

ome

asita

nani

su-ru

2sg

tomorrow

what

do-npst

‘What are you going to do tomorrow?’

(309)

kono-hen⸗daba

nani

mmɛ(⸗no⸗i)

dem.prox-area⸗cntr

what

delicious(⸗nmlzfp)

‘In this area, what is delicious?’

A command may be expressed using the imperative verb form -(r)o, -te form, or the ⸗no⸗da form. In (310), mi-te, mi-te ke, and mi-te ke⸗n⸗da are possible ways to order somebody to look at something.

(310)

koɡo

mi-te

({ke/ke⸗n⸗da})

here

look-and

({give.imp/give⸗nmlzcop})

‘(Please) look at here.’

11.2 Alignment

The Nambu dialect has a nominative-accusative alignment system. While A (the agent in a transitive construction), S (the only argument in an intransitive construction), and P (the patient in a transitive construction) are zero-coded, special types of P (e.g., pronoun and words with animate referents) are sometimes overtly coded by ⸗ba. See also § 9.3.2 and the references therein.

When both A and P are zero-coded, A almost always precedes P as in (311). However, given clear contexts where A is animate and P is inanimate, P can precede A without any overt coding as shown in (312), although it is highly likely that animate P preceding A is overtly coded by ⸗ba.

(311)

ome

dottara

okasi

tukuri-ttɛ

no

2sg

like.what

sweet

make-want

nmlz

A

P

‘What kind of sweets do you want to make?’

(312)

sono

siŋoto

ome

su

be

that

job

2sg

do

indef

P

A

‘That job, you do it, right?’

11.3 Possession

As described in § 9.2, possession is expressed using the genitive marker ⸗no. As far as I can tell, there are no distinctions between alienable and inalienable possession.

11.4 Valency Changing

This section describes the verbal suffixes -(r)ahe- (caus), -(r)aɡas- (caus), -(r)asar- (ac), and -(r)are- (pass). The full list of verbal suffixes is provided in Table 7.7.

The suffix -(r)ahe- (caus) is used to add an agent that lets or makes someone carry out an action as in (313). The agent is expressed using the dative (⸗ni) or locative (⸗sa) markers.

(313)

taro⸗a

odotto⸗{sa/ni}

jasai⸗ba

k-ahe-ta⸗zɨ

Taro⸗nom

younger.brother⸗{all/dat}

vegetable⸗acc

eat-caus-psthrs

‘Taro made/let his younger brother eat vegetables.’

Another causative suffix -(r)aɡas- is used to add the agent of an event in a sentence that acts as a cause of a naturally occurring event.

(314)

hotate

ame-ru

scallop

rot-npst

‘Scallops become rotten.’

(315)

wa

hotate

ame-raɡas-i-ttemar-ta

1sg

scallop

rot-caus-cvb-pfv-pst

‘I let the scallops go rotten.’

The suffix -(r)asar- (ac) is used to make an anti-causative construction (316).

(316) arug-asar-u ‘walk-ac-npst’, tabe-sar-u ‘eat-ac-npst

The first form, aruɡ-asar-u, indicates that the agent can walk the road easily (contrary to the speaker’s assumption); the second form, tabe-sar-u, indicates that the agent can eat food easily (e.g., because it is delicious). Although the exact usage of this morpheme in the Nambu dialect is still under investigation, a suffix with the same or a similar form in the Tohoku and Hokkaido dialects is well-described (see Sasaki and Yamazaki (2006) for a description and analysis of the Hokkaido dialect, where the construction is analyzed as a spontaneous construction). (316) shows some examples of anti-causative expression. Since I do not have examples in full sentence form, the examples below (317, 318) are from the Hokkaido dialect (Sasaki and Yamazaki 2006). I follow their morphophonological analysis and romanization, but have changed the gloss of -asar- from ‘spontaneous’ to ‘ac (anti-causative)’. As shown in the contrast between (317) and (318), the plain predicate hos- ‘dry’ in (317) takes the agent (the mother) in the nominative and the patient (the laundry) in the accusative, while the anti-causative predicate hos-asar- in (318) takes the patient (the laundry) in the nominative.

(317)

haha-ɡa

sentakumono-o

sao-ni

hos-u

mother-nom

laundry-acc

bamboo.pole-dat

dry-pres

‘Mother dries the laundry on the bamboo pole.’

(318)

sentakumono-ɡa

sao-ni

hos-asar-u

laundry-nom

bamboo.pole-dat

hang.to.dry-ac-pres

‘The laundry dries on the bamboo pole.’ (Sasaki and Yamazaki 2006: 354)

The suffix -(r)are- (pass) is used to promote the object to the subject and to demote the subject to the dative (coded by ⸗ni (dat)).

(319)

odotto

taro

bokkake-ta⸗zɨ

younger.brother

Taro

chase-psthrs

‘His younger brother chased Taro.’

(320)

taro

odotto⸗ni

bokkake-rare-ta⸗zɨ

Taro

younger.brother

chase-pass-psthrs

‘Taro was chased by his younger brother.’

11.5 Polarity

Negation is expressed through the use of the negative morpheme -nɛ for verbs, -ɡu/ku/hu⸗nɛ for inflected adjectives, and ⸗de⸗nɛ for nominal adjectives and nouns. Some examples are shown below.

(321)

kono

huta

atu-ku-te

mot-e-nɛ

this

lid

hot-adj-and

have-poss-neg

‘This lid is so hot that (I) can’t hold (it).’

(322)

kono

inu

hutarasi-ku-nɛ

this

dog

??-adj-neg

‘This dog doesn’t behave well.’

(323)

wa

sense⸗de⸗nɛ-ɡa-tta⸗jo

1sg

teacher⸗copneg-adj-pstfp

‘I was not a teacher.’

11.6 TAM

Tense, aspect, and modality expressions are listed in Table 7.13. The basic order is aspect, followed by tense, followed by modality. Some of those are suffixes and clitics; others are verbs, adjectival expressions, and sentence-final particles.

Table 7.13

Tense, aspect, modality expressions

Aspect

Tense

Modality

-tera (prog)

-ta (pst)

jonta, ɡotta (infr)

-ttemaru (pfv)

-ta-tta (epst)

-ttɛ (des), sonta ‘nearly’

-u (npst)

be, besi, bja, bjon (infr)

Yakame et al. (2005) point out that -ta indicates simple past, and when -tta is added, it indicates that the event described was experienced by the speaker. This is shown by the contrast between (324) and (325). In (325), it is implied that the speaker actually saw the garbage.

(324)

kinona

koɡo⸗sa

ɡomi

ar-ta

yesterday

here⸗all

garbage

exist-pst

‘Yesterday there was garbage here.’ (Yakame et al. 2005: 54)

(325)

kinona

koɡo⸗sa

ɡomi

ar-ta-tta

yesterday

here⸗all

garbage

exist-pstepst

‘Yesterday there was garbage here (and I saw it).’ (Ibid.)

The marker -tera attaches to verbs to add a progressive meaning as in (255). Additionally, it can also follow adjectival expressions to indicate that the state is temporal. For example, compare (326) and (327). (326) expresses a temporary state and the morpheme -tera is felicitous, whereas (327) expresses a permanent state (relative to human life) and -tera is infelicitous.

(326)

ittsɨmo

sizɯka-na

hito⸗a

kjo⸗a

zɨmbɯ

niŋijaɡa-tera

always

quiet-adj

person⸗nom

today⸗top

really

talkative-prog

‘The person who is usually calm is talkative today.’

(327)

ano

hito⸗dakkja

ittsɨmo

niŋijaɡa-{da⸗kkja/*tera}

that

person⸗top

always

talkative-{copfp/prog}

‘That person is always talkative.’

The detailed usages for each expression need further study. See, for example, Takeda (2000) and Takata (2003) for tense, aspect, and modality systems of closely related dialects.

11.6.1 Discourse Marker

Common discourse markers are listed in (328). Details of the usage of each marker are not yet understood. The markers ⸗i and ⸗sɛ can attach to nouns in addition to sentences. As far as I aware, the other particles attach only to the end of sentences.

(328) ⸗i (⸗fp), ⸗sɛ (⸗fp), ⸗zɨ (⸗hrs), ⸗kja (⸗fp), ⸗nɨsɨ (⸗plt)

The marker nɨsɨ varies widely within the Nambu dialect. I encountered nasɨ and naʃi in areas outside Noheji, and there may be more variation.

11.7 Information Structure and Its Formal Encodings

The particle ⸗a may have originated from either ⸗wa (⸗top) or ⸗ɡa (⸗ŋa) (⸗nom), either of which would be a natural but irregular sound change in this dialect. It could be from ⸗wa (⸗top) because ⸗a does not always follow nominatives in the closely related Shimokita, as shown in (329). The noun phrase kono kaʃi ‘this sweet’ is not nominative but accusative, and is topicalized in this case.

(329)

kono

kaʃi⸗a

wa

kat-te

ki̥-ta

dem.prox

sweet⸗a

1sg

buy-seq

come-pst

‘Regarding this sweet, I bought (it).’ (Nakagawa 2020: p. 54)

It is difficult to speculate that all examples of ⸗a are topics; clear cases of focus, such as the answer to a question and Brand-New NPs (Prince 1981), can also be coded by ⸗a.

(330)

biriketu⸗da⸗no

hanako⸗a/∅

biriketu⸗da⸗jo

who

youngest⸗copnmlz

Hanako⸗a/∅

youngest⸗copfp

‘Who is the youngest child (in your family)?’—‘Hanako is the youngest.’

Moreover, it can code Brand-New NPs, which are not typically followed by a topic marker. In idioms like (331) and (332), for example, Brand-New NPs (which have not been mentioned in the discourse or shared between the speaker and the addressee) such as ‘flavor’ and ‘liver’ are coded by ⸗a.

(331) kibi⸗a wari ‘flavor⸗a bad (creepy)’

(332) kɨmo⸗a jageru ‘liver⸗a burn (exasparating)’

Therefore, I conclude that ⸗a in this dialect is a nominative marker, rather than ambiguous between topic and nominative markers. However, a single exception to this generalization has been found, (326), where two ⸗a-coded nouns appear in a row as in hito⸗a kjo⸗a. In this case, kjo⸗a should be interpreted as ‘today⸗top’.

The morphemes ⸗dakkja and ⸗daba are examples of topic particles. As shown in (333) and (334), ⸗dakkja can code both S and P; it can also code other elements but examples are omitted because of limitations on space.

(333)

taro⸗dakkja

i⸗de

ne-tera⸗jo

Taro⸗top

house⸗loc

sleep-progfp

‘Regarding Taro, (he) is sleeping at home.’

(334)

taro⸗dakkja

sakita

eɡi-maɛ⸗de

mi-ta⸗jo

Taro⸗top

a.while.ago

station-front⸗loc

see-pstfp

‘Regarding Taro, (I) saw (him) in front of the station a while ago.’

It seems that the topic marker ⸗dakkja is formed from the copula ⸗da followed by the subordinate suffix ⸗kkja ‘then’ (see § 12.1).

The morpheme ⸗daba is also a topic marker; in addition to the topicalization function, it also appears to have a contrastive function.8 This is especially clear in example (335), where the usual state of the teacher and his/her state today are contrasted. (336) is less clear, but ‘around here’ could be considered to be contrasted with other areas.

(335)

ittumo⸗daba

jasasi⸗tatte

kjo⸗no

sense

okkane-ɡa-tta⸗kkja

usually⸗cntr

friendly⸗conc

today⸗gen

teacher

scary-adj-pstfp

‘The teacher who is usually friendly is scary today.’

(336)

kono

hen⸗daba

nani

mmɛ?

this

area⸗cntr

what

tasty

‘Around here, what is tasty?’

I speculate that ⸗daba consists of the copula ⸗da followed by a conditional suffix -ba.

Focus is not overtly coded by particles in this dialect; instead, it is expressed using a cleft construction. See Nakagawa (2020) for more about this in a related dialect.

12 The Complex Sentence

12.1 Clause-Combining Strategies

Below is a list of some clause-combining suffixes. Note that this is not an exhaustive list. All these suffixes follow a clause and indicate the relation between that clause and the following one. There are two kinds of concessive suffixes (⸗(ke)ⁿdomo, ⸗tatte) and two kinds of reason suffixes (⸗mono, ⸗site). The differences between the similar suffixes are still not clear.

(337) ⸗(ke)ⁿdomo (conc), ⸗tatte (conc), ⸗mono (rsn), ⸗site (rsn), ⸗dogo⸗de ‘?’, -(r)eba (cond), ⸗si (add), -te ‘and’, ⸗kkja ‘then’

12.2 Quotatives

Declarative and direct speech are coded using quotative ⸗tte or ⸗tto.

(338)

her-eba

her-ta-tte

her-are-ru-si …

speak-cond

speak-pst-qt

speak-pass-npst-and

‘If I speak, I would be said to have spoken I spoke, (if I don’t speak, I would also be accused, so it’s better to speak than not to speak. Either way I would be accused.)’

(339)

i

ur-ttɛ⸗tto

omo-ru-kedo

ome

do

omo-ru?

house

sell-want⸗qt

think-npst-conc

2sg

how

think-npst

‘I am thinking I want to sell my house. What do you think?’

⸗tte and her-u ‘speak’ are conflated into ⸗tte-ru, which I call a quotative verb. An example is given in (340). However, it is not clear whether the verb has other forms such as the negative form, although I have found the past-tense form ⸗tte-tta.

(340)

sore-ⁿdo⸗no

name

{nan⸗tteru/nan⸗tte heru}⸗no

that-plgen

name

{what⸗say.qt/what⸗qt speak}⸗nmlz

‘What are their names?’

Content and polar questions are quoted using ⸗ɡa, as exemplified in (341).

(341)

de-ɡa

de-ru⸗be⸗ɡa

oᵐbe-teru?

who-indef

answer-npstinfrq

remember-prog

‘(If you make phone call,) do (you) remember who will answer (the phone)?’

12.3 Insubordination

All the clause-combining suffixes listed in (337) can also close a sentence, but such sentences imply that the speaker has not finished the sentence. Example (342) is relatively clear. When speaker A asks why B is angry, speaker B answers the question with a reason clause or leaves the sentence unfinished with ‘and …’.

(342) a. (Why are you so angry?)

b.

odotto

sara

{kasi-ta-site/

kasi-ta-n⸗da-mono/

kasi-te⸗i}

younger.brother

plate

{break-pst-rsn/

break-pst-nmlzcop-rsn/

break-and-fp}

‘Because (my) younger brother broke a plate …’

A similar strategy can be applied without any explicit question like (342a).

12.4 Clause-Chaining Structure

With a rich array of suffixes indicating the relations between sentences and insubordination, the dialect also has clause-chaining especially in narratives and monologues. Examples of clause-chaining are to be found in the Appendix.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Mitsuse Tsunoka, who kindly donated her time to be a consultant. Also, Nobuko Kudo and Setsu Kamiharako always spoke to me in the Nambu dialect and provided a lot of interesting data. I thank the reviewers, Kan Sasaki and Wayne Lawrence, who gave insightful advice and raised many interesting questions. I also thank Yuko Urabe and Danning Wang, who made comments to my paper. Needless to say, any remaining deficiencies are the responsibility of the author.

Appendix: Sample Text (Nosaka 2009)

(343)

muɡaʃi

muɡaʃi

nohedʒisa

otonosamaŋa

merasɨ̥kkoba

hede

kɨ̥tazɨ

muɡasi

muɡasi

nohezi⸗sa

o-tono-sama⸗ŋa

merasi-kko⸗ba

he-te

ki-ta⸗zɨ

long.ago

long.ago

Noheji⸗all

hon-governor-honnom

girl.child-dimacc

accompany-and

come-psthrs

‘A long time ago, a governor came to Noheji with a little girl.’

(344)

osamuraisamano

hiŋekko

nobide

kimonokkomo

kɨ̥tanaɡu

natterattazɨ

o-samurai-sama⸗no

hiŋe-kko

nobi-te

kimono-kko⸗mo

kitana-ɡu

nar-tera-tta⸗zɨ

hon-samurai-hongen

beard-dim

grow-and

clothing-dimadd

dirty-adj

become-prog-psthrs

‘The samurai grew an untidy beard and wore dirty clothes.’

(345)

nuɡui

nazɨdamono

naŋe

tabide

asaɡenaikurai

tsɨ̥karederattazɨ

nuɡu-i

nazu⸗da-mono

naŋe

tabi⸗de

asaɡ-e-nai⸗kurai

tukare-tera-tta⸗zɨ

hot-adj

summer⸗cop-rsn

long

travel⸗loc

walk-poss-neg⸗amount

tired-prog-psthrs

‘Because it was a hot summer, they were too tired to walk further after a long trip.’

(346)

nodokko

kawaide

idadoɡode

nodo-kko

kawai-te

i-ta-doɡode

throat-dim

dry-and

exist-pst-since

‘Since they were thirsty,’

(347)

ojakode

miwanoŋawano

ki̥ʃisa

ʃaŋandakkja

oja-ko⸗de

biwano-ŋawa⸗no

kisi⸗sa

sjaŋam-ta⸗kkja

parent-child⸗loc

Biwano-river⸗gen

bank⸗all

crouch-pst⸗then

‘the father and the child crouched down and’

(348)

ɡabuɡabutte

mizɨkkoba

nondazɨ

ɡabu~ɡabu⸗tte

mizu-kko⸗ba

nom-ta⸗zɨ

gulp~gulp⸗qt

water-dimacc

drink-psthrs

‘gulped water.’

1

Regarding ‘mouth’, it can be pronounced as both [kɯ̥tʃi] (as in (233c)) and [kɯdʒi] (as in 230), depending on whether the high vowel devoicing rule (237) is applied or not.

2

The reviewer pointed out that /ɨ/ could be analyzed as /ɯ/ because [ɨ] and [ɯ] seem to show complementary distribution; [ɨ] appears after alveolar consonants and [ɯ] appears elsewhere. Since I do not have enough data to support or to reject this hypothesis, I shall retain /ɨ/ as a phoneme for now.

3

In the Morioka dialect (Takeda 2020: 22, for example, both su- and sa- are reported as negative forms.

4

However, the morpheme -ra appears to have lost the meaning of past tense, and I simply gloss -tera as -prog.

5

W. Lawrence suggested that the free form [nda] ‘yes, it is’, which is pronounced with full /n/ and stem from [soːda], can be evidence for my argument, although [nda] violates the syllable structure for Nambu.

6

Kohei Nakazawa (p.c.) points out that the demonstrative verbs kesu, sesu, and esu can be reconstructed as ko-joo(ni) su, sa-joo(ni) su, and a-joo(ni) su, respectively. At some point in the history, o-j changed into e and the -oo(ni) part was elided.

7

W. Lawrence suggests that if the locative ⸗de and the instrumental ⸗de can be used in the same clause, they would be different morphemes. I leave this as open question because of the limition of my data.

8

I became aware of this in an elicitation session with Michinori Shimoji and his students. I am grateful that they came up with wonderful questions.

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