Prolonged sounds in place of an を

Question

I have noticed them in speech in several expressions:

ざまあみろ

手エ、出して

気イ抜くなよ

They are clearly an informal (if i have got it right) variant of を. But how common is this phenomenon? What restrictions apply to the preceding noun, if any? And does this occur with は，が… as well?

Answer 1

It's not a variant of を. It's an elongated 手/気/etc, and を is still omitted. This type of elongation very commonly happens with a single-mora word before omitted を (both in fiction and real conversations), but it can happen also before omitted が, は, etc.

• ざまぁないな。 (ざまはないな。)
• 手ぇ出ちまったんだ。 (手が出てしまったんだ。)
• 気ぃ抜けてんじゃない？ (気が抜けてるんじゃない？)
• 国ぃ帰ったら… (国へ帰ったら…)

See:

• 手えふった - what is the "え” here?
• What do the 「ああなる」and「気いします」mean?