Ishigagi City Dialect: view article

Ishigagi City Dialect (石垣市方言, ishigagi-shi puang-ngyang) is a dialect of Mikyoan spoken on Ishigagi Island, particularly in more Urban Areas. Ishigagi City Dialect is a fairly recent innovation, having only really appeared in the 1950's and 1960's in the heart of Ishigagi City, diverging from Standard Miykoan which it was once the base for. Under the Yobosu Dictatorship, the dialect was suppressed for being a 'bastardization' of Mikyoan and its English Loans, however, has managed to survive today.

By speakers of Standard Mikyoan, Ishigagi City Dialect may come off as rude or vulgar, particularly from older people, due to the connotation it has gained under Yobosu Dictatorship as well as the large imported vocabulary from English. Much of the Ishigagi City Dialect comes from American Media such as American rap, pop music, movies, and television. Because of this, even basic Mikyoan vocabulary, such as the word for "my" has been altered in the Ishigagi City Dialect (私반 → 마, huateoshi-ban → ma.) Ishigagi City Dialect is often used in Mikyoan Dramas and Cinema to portray characters as having a tough city background or as part of the Mikyoan Mafia (the Yakusa.)

Features

Grammar
Ishigagi City Dialect in its more standardized forms differs primarily in some vocabulary, however, in the informal registers is where Ishigagi City Dialect's divergence from Standard Mikyoan is immediately noticeable. Some noticeable features include:
→ The absence of the second and third person pronouns, even with friends and family
→ Dropping the particle 화, and instead using 가 for both topics and subjects
→ Ignoring any and all formality levels in speech, and instead using the Dictionary Form of a verb when speaking to anyone
→ Simplification of honorific titles to just three:
-신 for addressing someone older or the same age
-친 for addressing someone younger
-先生 (-성섕) for addressing a teacher or professor
→ Loss of conjugation for time, relying on context and adverbs instead
→ Usage of the suffix -레/-라/-로 -re/-ra/-ro to form an imperative, rather than the standard -세 -se
→ Use of the phrase 没有 mei hyu to express not having something (loaned from Chinese)

Phonology
→ Merger of the rhotic /ɹ/ with [l]
→ Merger all allophones of <ㅎ> to [x] or [h] (depending on the speaker)
→ Shift of <ㅐ> from /ɛ̈/ to [æ] or [e] (depending on the speaker)
→ Simplification of [ɯ̞ᵝ] to [ɯ]
→ 차이-챃 Merger (Chai-Chah Merger)
- /ai/ → [a:h] 아이 → 앟
- /ei/ → [e:h] 에이 → 엫
- /oi/ → [o:h] 오이 → 옿
- /ɯi/ → [ɯ:h] 우이 → 웋
- /ʌi/ → [ʌ:h] 어이 → 엏
- /ɛ̈i/ → [æ:h ~ ɛjə:h] 애이 → 앻
*This only occurs in the dialects of some younger speakers and is not considered correct by most adult speakers
→ Intervocalic /b/ and /g/ can shift into [m ~ β] and [ŋ ~ ɣ] respectively. Voiced nasals are more common amongst younger speakers of the dialect, while voiced fricatives have become slightly dated
→ Intervocalic /d/ can disappear intervocalically in the sequences /ado/ or /edo/ (ex. 엘라도 /elado/ [e̞läo̞̯]), especially in areas with significant numbers of Spanish speakers and Lyko migrants
→ Intervocalic /t/ and /d/ shift to [ɾ] for some speakers, especially in Northern Ishigagi
→ Final <ㅁ>, <ㅇ> merge after rounded vowels into [ŋ͡m] (ex. 몸홍 [mäŋ͡mhäŋ͡m])
→ Final <ㄴ> shifts after rounded vowels to [n͡m] (ex. 논바 [no̞n͡mpä]
→ [ɕ], [t͡ɕʰ], and [d͡ʑ] tend to simplify to [s], [tsʰ], and [ts] in clusters (ex. 만숀 /mänɕo̞n/ [mänso̞n͡m], 혼초 /ho̞nt͡ɕʰo̞/ [ho̞n͡mtsʰo̞], 만지 /mänd͡ʑi/ [mäntsi],)

Vowel Harmony
Ishigagi City Dialect is also known to have remnants of Vowel Harmony which have been lost in Standard Mikyoan.
→ Conjugation of Negative Verbs is done 3 ways, depending on if the preceding vowel is a front, back, or central vowel.
-케이 following ㅔ/ㅐ/ㅣ (eg. 델루 → 데케이)
-카이 following ㅏ (eg. 使루 → 使카이)
-코이 following ㅓ/ㅗ/ㅜ (eg. 心鼓動루 → 心鼓動코이)

Vocabulary

Loanwords
As mentioned, Ishigagi City Dialect, particularly in lower registers, relies heavily on English Loanwords, particularly from American English. While around 10% of Standard Mikyoan Vocabulary is said to come from English, the number nearly triples in Ishigagi City Dialect to around 30% of Vocabulary, and some estimates place the number of English Loanwords at 50-60% in Relaxed/Casual Speech.

In many instances, speakers of Ishigagi City Dialect may end up code-switching between English and Mikyoan, a phenomenon similar to that experienced in the Philippines by Tagalog speakers.

Ishigagi City Dialect's heavy usage on English Loanwords can be seen here:

Ex: "My boyfriend really likes American Rap"
Standard Mikyoan: 私반男友達가제잉자美國人랩훠好물 huateoshi-ban aotokumangjuajo-ga jeingja meiguok-yin raep-huo gong'nom'mul
Ishigagi City Dialect: 마 보이가 제잉자 어메리캔 랩훠 라익쿨 ma boi-ga jeingja amelikaen rep-huo laik'kul
(Ishigagi City Dialect is usually written with spaces, unlike the standard, in order to avoid confusion and ambiguity.)

Ex: "I don't have a boyfriend"
Standard Mikyoan: 私가男友達훠有루나 huateoshi-ga aotokumangjuajo-huo aollu
Ishigagi City Dialect: 私가 보이 没有 huateoshi-ga boi mei hyu

Shortening and Abbreviations
Shortening and abbreviating words is very common in Ishigagi City Dialect. Particularly with more contemporary and everyday vocabulary, it is common to shorten words to get across one's point faster. The previously mentioned words for 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' are themselves shortenings. Loanwords are more susceptible to being shortened than native words.
보이푸렌두 boipulendu → 보이 boi
거럴푸렌두 geoleolpulendu → 걸 geol
The words 보이푸렌두 and 거럴푸렌두 are seldom used these days and tend to sound very unnatural or robotic in casual speech.
Some more examples of shortened words include:
- 에어 콘디션어 e'eo-kondisheoneo → 에어콘 e'eokon "Air Conditioning"
- 인터넫 inteonet → 이넫 inet "Internet"
- 런추볷 leonchuboks → 복시 boksi "Lunchbox"
- 윈도쇼핑 windo-shoping → 윈딩 winding "Window shopping"
- 푸라이벋 수쿨 pulaibeot sukul → 퐈잇쿨 pwaiskul "Private school"
- 투터링 tuteoling → 토토로 totolo "Tutoring"
- 콘빈연수토 konbinyeonsuto → 콘비니 konbini "Convenience Store"
- 애수토로낟 aesutolonat → 앳투로 aestulo "Astronaut"
- 호모섹슈월 homoseksyuwol → 호모 homo "Homosexual"
- 체인징룸 cheinjing'lum → 첹룸 chenj'lum "Locker room"
- 피시컬 에주케이션 pishikeol ejukeisheon → 피지코 pijiko "Physical Education"
- 수마이얼 sumai'eol → 수말 sumal "Smile"
- 킨더가덴 kindeogaden → 기가덴 gigaden "Daycare"
- 주녀하이수쿨 junyeohaisukul → 주쿨 jukul "Middle School"
- 캠핑사읻 kaempingsait → 케이엣 kei-es "Camping site"
- 바어비큐 ba'eobikyu → 비비큐 bibikyu "Barbecue"

Code Switching

Word Order
Code-switching between Ishigagi City Dialect and English tends to follow SOV word order, but with a more English-centric view over other aspects of grammar. Prepositions tend to be entirely from English, instead of using any Mikyoan prepositions, and more complex sentences can take on an English-centric word order. English transition words are also very common in Ishigagi-English code-switching.

→ "To" 콘비니 行자？ 'to' konbini ikuja? - Do you want to go to the convenience store?
→ 마 親親스 "foreigners" 델 ma yayaseu "foreigners" del - My parents are foreigners
→ "We-not-you" 食베이마양 "we-not-you" tabeimayang - We (exclusive) are eating
→ 朴"say go" bak "say go" - Park says we should get going

Features
While switching between Ishigagi City Dialect and English, features from one language can bleed into the other. One example of this is the plural marker -스 -seu (from English -s) which is not present in Standard Mikyoan, as it does not mark nouns for plurality.

Another feature in Code-Switching is the distinguishing of the exclusive first-person plural pronoun and the inclusive first-person plural pronoun. The inclusive form is said as "we-ye-you", whereas the exclusive form is said as "we-not-you." This feature is present in Mikyoan, but is slightly more literary than colloquial, unlike in Ishigagi City Dialect where it is standard in all registers.

Perceptions and Criticisms
Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching was not recognized until the mid-2000s, nearly a decade after the fall of the Yobosu Regime.

Because younger people are more likely to use Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching, there is somewhat of an age gap between those who accept and promote its usage and those who are against its usage. People who advocate for the use of Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching are often younger and claim that its usage promotes both English and Mikyoan (two of the official languages of Mikyo) and stretches speakers' minds, making them more flexible. The typical Ishgiagi City resident will switch between English, Code-Switching, and Mikyoan several times in one day, so a common claim is that it's natural to code-switch. Many opponents to the usage and advocacy of Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching claim that switching between the two diminishes the ability of both languages and that if usage of Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching continues there could come a time when nobody in the city speaks Mikyoan.

The use of Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching is banned in universities, government offices, and discouraged in public schools, however, it is not outright prohibited. In cafes, stores, restaurants, and many clubs the use of Ishigagi City-English Code-Switching is not only common but often expected, and the use of anything else can come off as robotic or unnatural to many speakers.

Influence of Immigrant Langauges

Chinese Influence
While more than half of Standard Mikyoan vocabulary comes from Chinese, the situation in Ishigagi City Dialect is somewhat different. Because Chinese migrants and traders have a long history in Ishigagi, some phrases and vocabulary have been loaned from more southern varieties, especially Hokkien and Cantonese, as opposed to Standard Mikyoan which loans almost exclusively from Middle Chinese and Mandarin. Some examples of Southern Chinese influence on Ishigagi City Dialect include:

- 茄汁 (케접, kejeop) - Ketchup, from Cantonese 'ke4 zap1'
- 柑橘 (감괃, gamguat) - Tangering, from Cantonese 'gam1 gwat1'
- 白菜 (페차이, pechai) - Chinese cabbage, from Hokkien 'pe̍h-chhài'
- 硼砂 (펭세, pengse) - Borax, from Hokkien 'phêng-se'
- 斧頭 (푸테우, puteu) - Axe, from Hakka 'pú-thèu'
- 豆油 (타오야오, taoyao) - Soy sauce, from Cantonese 'dau6 jau4'

Spanish Influence
Ishigagi City Dialect is influenced somewhat by Spanish, primarily Carribean Spanish. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

Comments