It's pretty obvious that the consonants J and Y have a close relationship throughout the Indo-European languages. (Y often has a J sound in Spanish, Germans pronounce J as Y, etc.)
I recently realized that this phenomenon is also present in the Japanese language. Many ending particles begining in J have become Y in the Kansai-region dialects.
For example: "Soujaro?" is an archaic word meaning "Isn't it?". In modern standard Japanese, it has become "Soudaro?". In the Kansai dialect, it is "Soyaro?".
There are so many other examples of this happening in the transition from old Japanese to the Kansai-region dialects, but I won't go into them. Korean also has some similar things, but it's not as clearly defined as in Japanese.
I always thought that this phenomenon was purely an Indo-European characteristic, but it turns up in Japanese, and sometimes in Korean. I was wondering if this J-Y (or vice-versa) transition occures in other non-Indo-European languages.
I recently realized that this phenomenon is also present in the Japanese language. Many ending particles begining in J have become Y in the Kansai-region dialects.
For example: "Soujaro?" is an archaic word meaning "Isn't it?". In modern standard Japanese, it has become "Soudaro?". In the Kansai dialect, it is "Soyaro?".
There are so many other examples of this happening in the transition from old Japanese to the Kansai-region dialects, but I won't go into them. Korean also has some similar things, but it's not as clearly defined as in Japanese.
I always thought that this phenomenon was purely an Indo-European characteristic, but it turns up in Japanese, and sometimes in Korean. I was wondering if this J-Y (or vice-versa) transition occures in other non-Indo-European languages.