I wanted to post this in r/LearningJapanese but it wouldn’t let me because of a lack of participation. I tried searching “Japanese” for other subreddits and it just led me to p*** so sorry for asking here lol.
I live in naichi but my family’s roots are in Okinawa. Everyone says Okinawans are known for saying “sa” at the end of their sentences, but I feel like I hear more younger naichis (especially high school/college aged ones) saying “sa” after every other word lol. Can anyone clear this up for me?
For example, I can imagine hearing a naichi high schooler saying something like, 「今日はさ、学校でさ、彼がいなくてさ、めっちゃ凹んでたの！」 But since I’ve been in Okinawa I don’t think I’ve picked up on the nuance of the さ used here! (Example sentences would be appreciated).
by WHinSITU
5 comments
I’ll have a look tomorrow in my textbook but I think it is just a habitual filler word used in the dialect. It’s similar to the word “like” that some people overuse in some dialects. If you listen enough to how people use it you’ll be able to copy the way they speak but if you are looking for a grammatical rule it’s possible that there isn’t one.
You know I thought the same. Also live in naichi, I have family in Okinawa (actually here at the moment) but I feel I hear “sa” more often in other parts of Japan, even though my wife always brings up Okinawa is known for sa sa all the time. I don’t hear it that way.
Yes they do. It is a common Okinawan accent quirk that most of Japan recognizes. When I teach English to adult students, it is an example of what we think of as “native speaker “ Japanese and the crazy accents of “native speaker” English. My point is always that Japanese concentrate too much on native speakers when native speakers often sound very different.
My dad is Kobe, Mother is Shiga. Born in Southern LA. Grew up in Okinawa. I have weird Japanese.
Take this answer with a grain of salt, since I’m not Japanese/Okinawan but have/spend time with Okinawan family.
From my understanding, the さ used in standard Japanese is functionally different from the さ used in the Okinawan dialect.
In standard Japanese, it acts as a filler particle, not unlike the word “like” in English. Taking the sentence you provided as an example, it could be translated as:
> “So, like, today… Like at school, right? Well, like, my boyfriend wasn’t there, so I was like super depressed!”
The さ used in Okinawa is more akin to じゃん in standard Japanese (or やん if you’re in Kansai). It’s used to provide emphasis/insert emotion. As a simple example, take the following sentence:
> もういいじゃん！
This could be translated as:
> Ugh, that’s enough!
In Okinawa, however, it would be:
> もういいさ！
Same function, different sound.
It is, however, uniquely Okinawan (as far as I can tell), and since じゃん and its equivalents are very frequently used in colloquial Japanese overall, that’s where the image of Okinawans saying さ all the time comes from.
TL;DR
Okinawan さ is basically じゃん in standard Japanese.