Re: Usso (was: website birth (Nice job Ferko))

From: "Nik Taylor"

> laokou wrote:
> > Even kids run around saying "suka~~~n" for "suki jya nai".
> By "~" do you mean length?  So that you could also write "sukaaaan"?
Yes.

> > Other favorites are "ikiotta" for "itte ita"
> Where did this come from?  Is that specific to that form, or does that
> dialect use -otta for -te ita?  And if so, what's the present?
Don't know where it came from. It crosses the whole tense:

kakiotta   kaite ita  was writing
nomiotta  nonde ita  was drinking
etc.

Present? I never really analyzed it. I was just picking it up as I went
along. There *is* the form:

Shichyoo  for  shite iru  is knowing
(best pronounced /StSo:/)

so perhaps there are forms like

kaichoo for kaite iru
nonjyoo for nonde iru

but I can't say (though now that I've written it down, some forms like this
are bubbling to the surface).

> > and the ubiquitous "soo bai"
> How's that used?
Looking at it, I think I misspelled. It should be "baai". It's a real
Japanese word, coming from the Chinese "chang3he2", and it means "situation,
condition". In Chikuhooben, you tack it on to the end of a sentence, and I
think it has the effect of "...(na)n desu." So, one could say:

Shichoo bai.

for

Shiteru yo. or Shiteru n da.

Soo bai.

is

Soo da yo. or Soo nan desu.

So, by extrapolation, I would guess a sentence like

Watashi wa niku o kaite iru n desu.

could be rendered

Ore niku kaichoo baai.

But I never tried it out on the natives. Foreigners speaking dialects weirds
out the natives (as, I suspect, a Chinese speaking Suhthuhn dahlect might
take me aback).

But while we're on a roll:

"chi" in place of "to" or "te" for marking indirect discourse.

Sukan chi. (best pronounced /ska:ntS/

He said he didn't like it.

"yutta" (maybe "iutta") for "itta" (in its sense of "said", not "went:).

Tadaima chi yutta.  (Tadaima-tte itta.)

He said, "I'm back (home)!"

Kou

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