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Here is the sentence said by Kansai speaker who was capturing 2 boys who were chasing another guy.

まちいな あんさんたち。

I think the word would mean 待つ with particle な emphasizing the emotion but I would like to know what the exact Japanese standard dialect form of the word really is.

3 Answers 3

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In some dialects spoken in the western part of Japan, you can elongate the last vowel of the masu-stem to make an imperative form:

  • 歩きい。 (dialect) = 歩け。 Walk.
  • 見い。 (dialect) = 見ろ。 Watch.
  • [待ちい]{LHL}。 (dialect) = [待て]{HL}。 Wait.
  • [食べえ]{LHL}。 (dialect) = [食べろ]{LHL}。 Eat.

(From my personal experience, I feel this is mainly used in Chugoku/Shikoku region, but I may be wrong. See 西日本方言#文法)

You can attach various sentence-end particles like な, や, or よ, as usual.

(Attaching な to this kind of imperative may be specific to Osaka dialect. I found this article: 「大阪方言の命令形」に後接する終助詞ヤ・ナ (PDF))

  • すぐ来【き】いや。 (dialect) = すぐ来【こ】いよ。 Come at once.
  • はよう寝えよ。 (dialect) = はやく寝ろよ。 Go to bed now.
  • [待ちいな]{LHLL}。 (dialect) = [待てよ]{HLL}。 Wait.

Note that you can use な to form positive imperative in standard Japanese, too. But the last vowel of the masu-form is not elongated in the standard Japanese. Also see the difference in accents.

Using な in positive instead of negative imperative (e.g. 行きな)

  • [待ちな]{LHH}。 = [待て]{HL}。
  • [食べな]{LHH}。 = [食べろ]{LHL}。
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Pretty simple transformation into standard Japanese; you were on the right track:

待ちなさい、あなたたち。

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Just to add to Brandon's answer, 「あんさんたち」is rarely used by the younger generation these days. In my line of work I hear it every now and again, but only ever said by the older generation.

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