Japanese Dialects

Japanese Dialects: As with any language, Japanese has its share of regional dialects. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo (標準語, lit. "standard language"), and while it was based initially on Tokyo speech, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many 弁(-ben), or dialects.

Eastern Japanese Dialects

HokkaidōThe residents of Hokkaido Prefecture are (relatively) recent arrivals from all parts of Japan, and this combination of influences has resulted in a set of regionalisms sometimes called Hokkaido-ben. Hokkaido-ben appears to have been influenced most significantly by Tohoku-ben, not surprising due to Hokkaido's geographic proximity to north eastern Honshu. Characteristics of Hokkaido-ben include speech that contains fewer gender-specific differences, a rich vocabulary of regionalisms, and alternatives to "desu". There is a tendency toward rapid, abbreviated speech patterns, as is not uncommon in other rural areas of Japan. Overall, Hokkaido-ben is not dramatically different from what is called standard Japanese. Most native speakers of Hokkaido-ben can easily switch to standard Japanese when the situation calls for it. However, Hokkaido-ben is different enough that the prepared ear has an advantage in understanding it.

Here are some examples of words and phrases common in Hokkaido that are less common in standard Japanese:

-be or -bee as volitional suffix (common to Tohoku-ben) dabe — isn't it (desho) (tebukuro o) haku — wearing gloves, using the verb traditionally reserved for shoes sa - often used instead of ne (final particle soliciting confirmation or agreement) dabe sa -- (roughly) indeed, isn't it? (desho ne) o-ban desu — good evening (common to Tohoku-ben) shibareru — freezing cold weather, hard freeze namara — very kowai — I am tired. (gomi o) nageru — discard (trash) literally, "to throw" trash waya — dreadful menkoi — cute futtsuku - sticking to, adhering to tekkurikaeru - stumble and fall (skiing) bakuru - swap, trade hankakusai — fool zangi — fried chicken nuggets dosanko — Hokkaido native, 3 or more generations

TōhokuTōhoku-ben is spoken in Tōhoku, the northeastern region of Honshu. Toward the northern part of Honshu, Tōhoku-ben can differ so dramatically from standard Japanese that it is rendered with subtitles. It is considered by some to be a slow and "clumsy" dialect with connotations of dawdling or idleness.

A notable linguistic feature of Tōhoku-ben is its neutralization of the high vowels /i/ and /u/, so that the words Sushi, "susu" (ash), and "shishi" (lion) are rendered homophonous, where they would have been distinct in other dialects. It is for this reason that Tōkoku-ben is somewhat pejoratively referred to as "zuzu-ben".

In addition, all unvoiced stops become voiced intervocalically, rendering the pronunciation of the word "kato" (trained rabbit) as [kado]. However, unlike the high vowel neutralization, this does not result in new homophones, as all voiced stops are pre-nasalized, meaning that the word "kado" (corner) is roughly pronounced [kando].

Tsugaru Shimokita Nambu Sendai

Akita Yamagata, Yamagata-ben Echigo

Kantō

IbarakiIbaraki dialect, Ibaraki-ben, is characterized by dakuten insertion, effecting a voiced syllable. For example, byōki, illness, becomes something like byōgi. Also characteristic of Ibaraki-ben in many areas is a decreased distinction between i and e sounds, so that iro enpitsu becomes ero inpitsu among many speakers. The final particles ppe, be, and he are perhaps most well-known. They derive from literary beshi (now beki in standard Japanese). The pitch accent of Ibaraki dialect is also fairly different from standard Japanese, typically rising at the end of statements and falling in questions. Below are a few words which are rather ubiquitous among speakers of the Ibaraki dialect:

anme — related to literary aru mai, and to nai darō in standard Japanese, meaning "(I suppose) not". Its opposite is appe, from aru and ppe arutte — walking (instead of aruite) daiji — daijōbu in standard Japanese, meaning "alright", and unrelated to the identically-pronounced standard word for "important" dere(suke) — lazy foolish person goja((ra)ppe) — silly foolish person medo — hole -me — suffix for small animals (e.g. hē-me, "fly"; kan-me, "turtle"); used differently from the abusive -me in standard Japanese odome — child

TokyoThe speech of modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese, though in fact Tokyo dialect differs from hyōjungo in a number of areas. Noticeable earmarks of Tokyo dialect include the frequent use of さ (sa, roughly analogous to "like" as used in American English slang),　じゃん (jan, a contraction of ja nai, "Isn't that right?") and つう (tsuu) in place of 言う (iu, "to say" or "is called"). It is also not uncommon for Tokyo dialect to change the -る (-ru) stem of the present progressive to -ん (-n), as in つってんのー　(tsutten nō, "[someone] is saying") vs. 言っているのよ (itte iru no yo) of standard Japanese.

Edogawa-ben, the fast-fading dialect of old families from Eastern Tokyo around the Edogawa river, is another example of a Tokyo dialect that differs from standard Japanese. This dialect is primarily known for the inability to pronounce or distinguish some phonemes which are considered wholly distinct in all other Japanese dialects. Most famous is the decreased distinction between "hi" and "shi", so that "hidoi" (terrible) becomes "shidoi", and "shichi" (seven) becomes "hichi". Though it also includes a few distinctive words, today it is largely indistinguishable from the standard speech of Tokyo other than the phonemic difference.

Tōkai-Tōsan

Nagano-Yamanashi-ShizuokaShizuoka Enshū

Gifu-AichiMino Hida dialect

dashikan — bad, no good

Nagoya

Nagoya-ben is a dialect spoken in and around the city of Nagoya. It is similar to Kansai-ben in intonation, but to Tokyo-ben in accent. Instead of "shitte iru?" Nagoya residents will say "shittoru?" They attach unique suffixes to the end of sentences: "-gaya" when surprised, "-te" for emphasis, "-ni" to show off one's knowledge, and "-dekan" for disappointment. Some Nagoya words: "ketta" for "jitensha", "tsukue o tsuru" to 'move a desk', "dera-" or "dora-" for "sugoi" or "tottemo". A Tokyo resident: "Sou ni kimatteru janai" Nagoya resident: "Sou ni kimattoru gaya." "Gan" is not typical Nagoya-ben. It is rather slang used by the younger Nagoya residents.

MikawaMikawa-ben is spoken in the east half of Aichi prefecture while Nagoya-ben is in the west half. The two dialects are very similar for people from other areas of Japan. But Mikawa and Nagoya people claim that the dialects are completely different. Mikawa people also claim that Mikawa-ben is the basis of Tokyo Japanese because it was made up in Edo period by samurai from this area.

Hachijō Island

Western Japanese

HokurikuKaga Noto Sado Island

ToyamaToyama-ben is spoken in Toyama prefecture. Instead of the standard, shitte imasuka? or colloquial shitte iru? for "Do you know?" Toyama-ben speakers will say, shittorukke? Other regional distinctions include words like kitokito for fresh and delicious.

Other distinctions include the negative past tense being formed differently from standard Japanese as follows:

Standard Japanese: konakatta (did not come) Toyama-ben: konda (did not come)

Standard Japanese: inakatta (was not) Toyama-ben: oranda (was not) (n.b.,Toyama-ben uses "oru" instead or "iru" to express "existence")

Standard Japanese: tabenakatta (did not eat) Toyama-ben: tabenda (did not eat)

Standard Japanese: shinakatta (did not do) Toyama-ben: senda (did not do)

The distinction made is that the negative past tense in Toyama-ben is formed by adding to the stem of the verb the "nu" suffix, indicating a negative, followed by a "da" indicating the past tense or completed action. "Nu" becomes "n".

FukuiFukui-ben is the dialect of Fukui prefecture. Speakers of Fukui-ben tend to talk in an up-and-down, sing-songy manner. It is considered a relatively rural dialect, yet it is not without its own rough, home-spun elegance.

Examples of Fukui-ben include:

hoya hoya, meaning hai (yes) or so desu yo (that is true) mmmmm-do, instead of ē-to (let's see, or well) tsuru tsuru, meaning "very," or "a lot" (as in, "tsuru tsuru ippai," or this glass is very full, almost overflowing) jami jami describes poor reception on a TV. The usual term is suna arashi "sandstorm."

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Kinki (Kansai)

Kansai-ben (関西弁) is a dialect spoken in the Kansai region of Japan. Though sometimes erroneously referred to as

Osaka-ben (in reference to Osaka, the second-largest city in Japan and the economic force of the Kansai region),

Kansai-ben features a number of regional differences: to draw a broad generalization, Osaka-ben can be considered

"brash," Kyoto-ben "lilting" and Kobe-ben "melodious."

Banshū

Ōmi

Ise

Shima

Osaka

Osaka-ben belongs to the kansai family of dialects. The terminology is confusing, as people often use Kansai-ben

interchangeably with Osaka-ben. Even those in the know may confuse true Osaka-ben with Kansai-ben.

Kyoto

Kyoto-ben is a soft and melodic Kansai variant. Traditional Kyoto dialect uses -taharu or -teharu (e.g. nani shitaharu

no?) in its sentence endings, though -yasu and -dosu are also common. See Kansai-ben for more. To end a verb in -

taharu is also often considered to be more formal and is almost exclusively used by women. Ending a verb in -taaru

is said to have the same effect but useable by men, though it is not very common.

Kobe

Kobe-ben is notable among Kansai dialects for conjugating the present progressive with the verb ending -ton or -tō.

For example, while the phrase "What are you doing?" in standard (and casual) Japanese would be Nani shite iru? in

Kobe-ben it would be Nani shiton? or Nani shitō? Like Osaka-ben, Kobe-ben uses the inflectional ねん (nen) to add

emphasis, such that 何言っているんだよ (Nani itteirundayo, "What (the heck) are you saying?") of standard

Japanese could become 何いうとーねん (Nani iutōnen) in Kobe-ben.

Chūgoku

Hiroshima

Okayama

Yamaguchi

Umpaku

Shikoku

Awa

Sanuki

Iyo

Kochi Prefecture

Tosa-ben is used in Kochi prefecture.

Shiga Prefecture

Gachakon (ガチャコン） is the local slang word for the Omitetsudo (ja:近江鉄道), a local train. It is named such

because it is said to go "gacha gacha gacha" as one rides it. -taharu is also used commonly in Shiga prefecture. One

must not mistake, though, there are many differences in speaking patterns between Kyoto and the cities of Shiga

Prefecture.

Kyūshū

Hōnichi

Kitakyūshū

Ōita

Miyazaki

Miyazaki

Examples of Miyazaki dialect include;

テゲ (tege) as opposed to とても (totemo) very

サミ (sami) as opposed to さむい (samui) cold

こせん (kosen) as opposed to でしょう (deshou) -isn't it?

今日はテゲサミこせん (Kyō wa tege sami kosen): Today's really cold, isn't it?

じゃがじゃが (jagajaga) That's right

Hichiku

Munakata

Chikugo

Chikuho

Saga

Nagasaki

Kumamoto

Hakata

Hakata-ben is the dialect of Fukuoka. Throughout Japan, Hakata-ben is famous, amongst many other idiosyncrasies,

for its use of -to? as a question, e.g., "What are you doing?", realized in Standard Japanese as nani o shite iru no?, is

nanba shiyotto? in Hakata.

Examples of Hakata-ben include:

asoban instead of asobou; "let's have fun"

batten instead of demo, kedo "but"

da ken instead of da kara "therefore"

yokarōmon instead of ii deshō "good, don't you think?"

bari instead of totemo "very"

shitōtchan instead of shiterunda "I'm doing it"

~shitōkiyo instead of shite kinasai "please do ~"; used with children

yokka yokka instead of ii yo "It's fine."

sogyan kanji instead of sonna kanji "Like that."

wakaran bai instead of wakaranai yo "I don't understand / don't get it."

umaka/samuka/atsuka instead of umai/samui/atsui "tasty/cold/hot"

Most other dialects in Kyushu share much in common with Hakata-ben, but the dialect of Kagoshima is strikingly

different from other Kyushu dialects.

Satsugū

Kagoshima

Satsuma-ben, the dialect of Kagoshima prefecture, is often called "unintelligible" because of distinct conjugations of

words and significantly different vocabulary. As the furthest place from Kyoto, it is likely that divergences in dialect

were accumulated in Satsuma making it sound strange.

There are several different dialect regions within Kagoshima prefecture.

There is a story, told both inside and outside Kagoshima, that Kagoshima dialect was consciously and deliberately

developed as a way of protecting against spies from other parts of Japan during the Edo period.

Ryukyu

In recent years, the majority of specialists working on the languages spoken in Japan have come to agree that the

speech of the Ryukyu Islands (the islands of Okinawa Prefecture and some of the islands of Kagoshima Prefecture)

is not a dialect of the Japanese language; rather, it comprises a separate branch of the Japonic family. In this view,

Japonic is split into two groups: Japanese, spoken throughout the Japanese islands, and Ryukyuan, found in the

Ryukyu Islands, south of Kyushu. Even so, there is great diversity within Japanese, and even greater within

Ryukyuan, and many native speakers from one area of Japan can find the speech of another area virtually

unintelligible.

There has also developed in the Ryukyus a dialect which is close to Standard Japanese, but which is influenced by

Ryukyuan languages. For example, "deeji" may be said sometimes instead of "taihen", or "haisai" instead of

"konnichiwa".

Japanese Dialects

There are dozens of dialects spoken in Japan. The plurality is due to the mountainous island

terrain and Japan's long history of both external and internal isolation. Dialects typically differ in

terms of pitch accent, morphology of the verb and adjectives, particle usage, vocabulary and in

some cases pronunciation. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is

uncommon.

From the northern island of Hokkaido to the southern islands of Okinawa, Japan is rich in various regional dialects. The Japanese dialects can be divided into the Eastern and Western dialects.

While the Easterners say "yano-assatte" (the day after tomorrow), "shoppai" (salty) and "-nai" (not), the Westerners use "shi-asatte," "karai" and "-n" or "-nu." The consonants are more emphasized in the East, whereas the vowels are more carefully pronounced in the West. And the Japanese high-low tonal accents sometimes take different forms between the eastern and western dialects.

The dialects of Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto and the eastern part of Chubu are the Eastern Dialects, while those of the western part of Chubu (including Nagoya City), Kansai (including Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe Cities), Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa are the Western Dialects. The Japanese common language used to be based on the dialects of the Kansai region, but since the 17th century is based on the dialect of Tokyo in the Kanto region, as Japan's political and economic centre moved from Kyoto and Osaka to Edo, present-day Tokyo.

Extremely geographically separated dialects such as Tohoku-ben and Tsushima-ben may not be intelligible to other dialect speakers. The dialect used in Kagoshima in southern Kyushu is famous for being unintelligible not only to speakers of standard Japanese but to speakers of nearby dialects in northern Kyushu as well.

The Ryukyuan languages used in and around Okinawa bilingually mostly by the elderly are related to Japanese, but the two are mutually unintelligible. Due to the close relationship they are still sometimes said to be only dialects of Japanese, but linguists consider them to be separate languages.

However, recently, Standard Japanese have been prevalent nationwide some because of TV. Young generation usually speak mixed language of standard and local dialects.

Japanese dialects (方言 hōgen?) comprise many regional variants. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo (標準語, lit. "standard language") or kyōtsūgo (共 通語, lit. "common language"), and while it was based initially on the Tokyo dialect, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many dialects. Dialects are commonly called -ben (弁, 辯, ex. "Osaka-ben" 大阪弁 means "Osaka dialect") and sometimes also called -kotoba (言葉,ことば, ex. "Kyo-kotoba" means "Kyoto dialect").

From the 19th century into the 1960s, some dialects and other Japonic languages were suppressed, as detailed below.

Eastern Japanese

Hokkaidō dialect

Map of Japanese dialects and Japonic languages

The residents of Hokkaidō are (relatively) recent arrivals from all parts of Japan, and this combination of influences has resulted in a set of regionalisms sometimes called Hokkaidō dialect (北海道弁 Hokkaidō-ben). The Hokkaidō dialect appears to have been influenced most significantly by the Tōhoku dialect (東北弁 Tōhoku-ben), not surprising due to Hokkaidō's geographic proximity to northeastern Honshū. Characteristics of the Hokkaidō dialect include speech that contains fewer gender-specific differences, a rich vocabulary of regionalisms, and alternatives to desu (です). There is a tendency toward rapid, abbreviated speech patterns, as is not uncommon in other rural areas of Japan. Overall, the Hokkaidō dialect is not dramatically different from what is called standard Japanese. Most native speakers of Hokkaidō dialect can easily switch to standard Japanese when the situation calls for it. However, the Hokkaidō dialect is different enough that the prepared ear has an advantage in understanding it. Ainu language is the language which used to be spoken by the native people of Northern Tohoku and Hokkaido region before Japanese settled there from Heian era to Meiji era.

Tōhoku dialect

The Tōhoku dialect is spoken in Tōhoku Region, the northeastern region of Honshū. Toward the northern part of Honshū, the Tōhoku dialect can differ so dramatically from standard Japanese that it is sometimes rendered with subtitles. It is considered by some southern inhabitants of Japan to be a slow and "clumsy" dialect with connotations of dawdling or idleness.

A notable linguistic feature of the Tōhoku dialect is its neutralization of the high vowels "i" and "u", so that the words sushi, susu (soot), and shishi (lion) are rendered homophonous, where they would have been distinct in other dialects. It is for this reason, in addition to the tendency of Tōhoku dialect speakers to draw out their vowels, that the Tōhoku dialect is somewhat pejoratively referred to as "Zūzū-ben".

In addition, all unvoiced stops become voiced intervocalically, rendering the pronunciation of the word "kato" (trained rabbit) as [kado]. However, unlike the high vowel neutralization, this does not result in new homophones, as all voiced stops are pre-nasalized, meaning that the word "kado" (corner) is roughly pronounced [kando]. This is particularly noticeable with the "g" sound, which is nasalized sufficiently that it sounds very much like the English "ng" as in "thing", with the stop of the hard "g" almost entirely lost, so that ichigo 'strawberry' is pronounced [ɨzɨŋo].

The types of Tōhoku dialect can be broken down geographically:

Northern Tohoku

o Tsugaru dialect (western) Aomori Prefectureo Nambu dialect (eastern Aomori Prefecture and northernmost of Iwate Prefecture)o Shimokita dialect (northeastern Aomori Prefecture, around the Shimokita

Peninsula)o Iwate dialect (northern Iwate Prefecture)

Morioka dialect (around the city of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture)o Akita dialect (Akita Prefecture)o Shōnai dialect (northwestern Yamagata Prefecture, around the former Shonai

Domain) Southern Tohoku

o Sendai dialect (Miyagi Prefecture)o Iwate dialect (southern Iwate Prefecture)

Kesen dialect (southeastern Iwate Prefecture)o Yamagata dialect or Murayama dialect (central Yamagata Prefecture)o Yonezawa dialect or Okitama dialect (southern Yamagata Prefecture)o Mogami dialect or Shinjo dialect (northeastern Yamagata Prefecture)o Fukushima dialect (central Fukushima Prefectureo Aizu dialect (western Fukushima Prefecture)

Kantō dialect

The Kantō dialect (関東弁 Kantō-ben) has some common features to the Tōhoku dialect, such as "-be" (～べ) and "-nbe" (～んべ) being used to end sentences. Eastern Kantō dialect is especially similar to Tōhoku dialect. So some linguists insist that Eastern Kantō dialect(such as the Ibaraki dialect and the Tochigi dialect) should be classified as the Tōhoku dialect. Tokyo and the suburbs' local dialects are steadily declining because standard Japanese started spreading in Kantō earlier than in other areas.

Types of Kanto dialect include:

Western Kantō o Tokyo dialect (Tokyo)

Yamanote dialect (old upper-class dialect) Shitamachi dialect or Edo dialect (old working-class dialect)

o Tama dialect (western Tokyo)o Saitama dialect (Saitama Prefecture)

Chichibu dialect (Saitama Prefecture, around Chichibu)o Gunma dialect or Jōshū dialect (Gunma Prefecture)o Kanagawa dialect (Kanagawa Prefecture)o Bōshū dialect (southern Chiba Prefecture)

Eastern Kantō o Ibaraki dialect (Ibaraki Prefecture)o Tochigi dialect (Tochigi Prefecture)o Chiba dialect (Chiba Prefecture)

Tōkai-Tōsan dialect

The Tōkai-Tōsan dialect is separated into three groups: Nagano-Yamanashi-Shizuoka, Echigo and Gifu-Aichi.

Nagano-Yamanashi-Shizuoka

Nagano dialect or Shinshū dialect (Nagano Prefecture) o Okushin dialect (northernmost area)o Hokushin dialect (northern area)o Tōshin dialect (eastern area)o Chūshin dialect (central area)o Nanshin dialect (southern area)

Izu dialect (eastern Shizuoka Prefecture around the Izu Peninsula) Shizuoka dialect (central Shizuoka Prefecture) Enshū dialect (western Shizuoka Prefecture) Yamanashi dialect (Yamanashi Prefecture)

Echigo

Niigata dialect (around the city of Niigata) Nagaoka dialect (central Niigata Prefecture) Jōetsu dialect (western Niigata Prefecture) Uonuma dialect (southern Niigata Prefecture)

Gifu-Aichi

Mino dialect (southern Gifu Prefecture) Hida dialect (northern Gifu Prefecture) Owari dialect (western Aichi Prefecture)

o Chita dialect (along the Chita Peninsula)o Nagoya dialect (centered around Nagoya)

Mikawa dialect (eastern Aichi Prefecture) o West Mikawao East Mikawa

Western Japanese

The dialects of western Japan have some common features that are markedly different from standard Japanese. Of course, not all dialects in western Japan use these features, but some extend from Kinki to Kyushu, sometimes even Okinawa. Some examples are oru (おる) instead of iru (いる), ja (じゃ) or ya (や) instead of da (だ), and the negative form -n (～ん) as in ikan

(行かん "don't go") instead of -nai (～ない) as in ikanai (行かない). These features are sometimes derived from Old Japanese.

Hokuriku dialect

Main article: Hokuriku dialect

Types of Hokuriku dialect:

Kaga dialect (southern Ishikawa Prefecture, formerly known as Kaga Province) o Kanazawa dialect (around the city of Kanazawa)

Noto dialect (northern Ishikawa Prefecture, formerly known as Noto Province) Toyama dialect or Etchū dialect (Toyama Prefecture) Fukui dialect (northern Fukui Prefecture) Sado dialect (Sado Island)

Kinki (Kansai) dialect

Main article: Kansai dialect

The Kansai dialect is a dialect spoken in the Kansai region. The dialect features a number of regional differences.

Kyoto dialect (southern Kyoto Prefecture, especially the city of Kyoto) o Gosho dialect (old Kyoto Gosho dialect)o Muromachi dialect (old merchant dialect in central area of the city of Kyoto)o Gion dialect (geiko dialect of Gion)

Osaka dialect (Osaka Prefecture) o Semba dialect (old merchant dialect in the central area of the city of Osaka)o Kawachi dialect (eastern Osaka Prefecture)o Senshū dialect (southern Osaka Prefecture)

Kobe dialect (city of Kobe) Nara dialect or Yamato dialect (Nara Prefecture)

o Oku-yoshino dialect or Totsukawa dialect (southernmost Nara Prefecture) Tamba dialect (central of Kyoto Prefecture, and eastern Hyōgo Prefecture)

o Maizuru dialect (city of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture) Banshū dialect (southwestern Hyōgo Prefecture) Shiga dialect or Ōmi dialect (Shiga Prefecture) Wakayama dialect or Kishū dialect (Wakayama Prefecture and southern Mie Prefecture) Mie dialect (mainly Mie Prefecture)

o Ise dialect (central Mie Prefecture)o Shima dialect (eastern Mie Prefecture)o Iga dialect (western Mie Prefecture)

Wakasa dialect (southern Fukui Prefecture)

Chūgoku dialect

Chūgoku dialect is separated into two groups by copula.

copula ja (じゃ) group o Aki dialect or Hiroshima dialect (western Hiroshima Prefecture)o Bingo dialect (eastern Hiroshima Prefecture)

Fukuyama dialecto Okayama dialect (Okayama Prefecture)o Yamaguchi dialect (Yamaguchi Prefecture)

copula da　 (だ) group o Iwami dialect (western Shimane Prefecture)o Inshuu dialect or Tottori dialect (eastern Tottori Prefecture)o Tajima dialect (northern Hyōgo Prefecture)o Tango dialect (northernmost part of Kyoto Prefecture)

Although Kansai dialect uses copula ya (や), Chūgoku dialect uses ja (じゃ) or da (だ). Chūgoku dialect uses ken (けん) or kee (けえ) instead of kara (から) meaning because. けん is also used in Umpaku dialect, Shikoku dialect and Kyūshū dialect. In addition, Chūgoku dialect uses yoru (よる) in progressive aspect and toru (とる)　or choru (ちょる)　in perfect aspect. For example, "taro wa benkyo shi yoru" (太郎は勉強しよる) means "Taro is studying",and "taro wa benkyo shi toru" (太郎は勉強しとる)　means "Taro has studied" while standard Japanese speakers say "taro wa benkyo shi te iru" (太郎は勉強している)　in both situations. ちょる is used mostly in Yamaguchi dialect.

Umpaku dialect

"Umpaku" means "Izumo (Eastern of Shimane) and Hoki (Western of Tottori)".

Types of Umpaku dialect include:

Izumo-ben (Eastern of Shimane) Yonago-ben (Western of Tottori)

Izumo-ben, unique from both southern Shimane's Iwami dialect and Inshuu dialect to the east, is a very thick dialect that superficially resembles Tohoku dialects and is thus also called "Zuu zuu ben". The most representative expressions from Izumo-ben include だんだん ("dan-dan") to mean thank you, ちょんぼし　("chonboshi") in place of すこし ("sukoshi") and 晩じまして ("banjimashite") as a greeting used an hour before or after sunset. けん ("ken") is used in place of から ("kara"), even by younger speakers. ごす ("gosu") is used in place of くれる ("kureru") and おる ("oru") is used in non-humble speech as in much of western Japan.

Shikoku dialect

Types of Shikoku dialect:

Tokushima dialect or Awa dialect (Tokushima Prefecture) Sanuki dialect (Kagawa Prefecture) Iyo dialect　 (Ehime Prefecture) Tosa dialect　 or Kochi dialect (Kochi Prefecture)

o Hata Dialect (Hata district, Westernmost of Kochi)

Shikoku dialect has many similarities to Chūgoku dialect in grammar. Shikoku dialect uses ken (けん)　instead of kara (から), and よる in progressive aspect and とる or ちょる　in perfect aspect. Some people in Kōchi Prefecture uses kin (きん),kini (きに),　or ki (き)　instead of けん, yoo (よー)　or yuu(ゆう) instead of よる, and choo (ちょー)　or chuu　(ちゅう) instead of とる or ちょる.

The largest difference between Shikoku dialect and Chūgoku dialect is in pitch accent. Shikoku dialect uses Kyoto-Osaka-type accent, but Chūgoku dialect uses Tokyo-type accent. So accent in Shikoku dialect is similar to Kansai dialect.

Kyūshū

Hōnichi dialect

Hōnichi-ben is found in a region encompassing Buzen (Eastern Fukuoka and Northern Oita), Bungo (Southern Oita) and Hyuga (Miyazaki).

Sub-dialects of Hōnichi-ben include:

Kitakyūshū dialect(Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture) Ōita dialect (Ōita Prefecture) Miyazaki dialect (Miyazaki Prefecture)

Miyazaki dialect is most noted for its intonation, which is very different from that of Standard Japanese. At times it can employ a pattern of intonation seemingly inverse to that of Standard Japanese. Miyazaki-ben shares with other Kyūshū dialects similarities such as: と (to) replacing the question particle の (no).

Hichiku dialect

"Hichiku" means "Hizen (Saga and Nagasaki), Higo (Kumamoto), Chikuzen (West Fukuoka) and Chikugo (South Fukuoka)"

Types of Hichiku dialect include:

Hakata dialect (Fukuoka City)

Chikugo dialect (Southern Fukuoka) o Ōmuta dialecto Yanagawa dialect

Chikuho dialect (Central Fukuoka Prefecture) Saga dialect (Saga Prefecture) Nagasaki dialect

o Sasebo dialecto Hirado dialect (Hirado Island, west of Nagasaki)

Kumamoto dialect Hita dialect (Western Oita)

Hakata-ben is the dialect of the Hakata of Fukuoka City. Throughout Japan, Hakata-ben is famous, amongst many other idiosyncrasies, for its use of "-to?" as a question, e.g., "What are you doing?", realized in Standard Japanese as "nani o shite iru no?", is "nan ba shiyotto?" or "nan shitōtō?" in Hakata. Hakata-ben is also being used more often in Fukuoka in television interviews, where previously standard Japanese was expected.

Most other dialects in Kyūshū share much in common with Hakata-ben, but the dialect of Kagoshima is strikingly different from other Kyūshū dialects. For example, the yotsugana (ジ, ヂ, ズ, ヅ), which are pronounced as 2 different phonemes in most dialects, are 4 separate phonemes in the Kagoshima dialect.

Tsushima-ben is a Kyūshū dialect spoken within the Tsushima Subprefecture of Nagasaki Prefecture. Tsushima dialect includes several words unintelligible to speakers from the other parts of Japan because Tsushima-ben has borrowed several words from Korean due to historical international exchanges and the geographical proximity of Korea. However Tsushima-ben shares most of its basic words with those of other Kyushu dialects.

Korean loanwords in Tsushima dialect

Tsushima

dialect

Korean

derivation

Standard

JapaneseEnglish gloss

ヤンバン

yanban

양반(兩班)

yangban

金持ち

kanemochi

Rich person

(Note that in Korean yangban is a Korean elite class)

チング, チン

グィ

chingu, chingui

친구(親旧)

chingu

友達

tomodachiFriend

トーマンカッ도망(逃亡)갔

다

夜逃げ Escaping at night (or running from debt)

(Note that the Korean source, tomang gatta, is actually a

タ

tōmankattatomang gatta yonige verbal phrase meaning "ran away; escaped")

ハンガチ

hangachi

한가지

hangaji

ひとつ

hitotsu

One (item)

(Note that the Korean word actually means "one kind, one

type, a sort (of)")

チョコマン

chokoman

조그만

jogeuman

小さい

chiisaiSmall

バッチ

batchi

바지

baji

ズボン

zubonPants

Satsugū dialect

"Satsugū" means "Satsuma (Western of Kagoshima) and Osumi (Eastern of Kagoshima)"

Types of Satsugū dialect include:

Satsuma-ben Osumi-ben Morokata (Southwesternmost of Miyazaki)

Satsuma-ben, the dialect of Satsuma area of Kagoshima prefecture, is often called "unintelligible" because of distinct conjugations of words and significantly different vocabulary. As the farthest place from Kyoto, it is likely that divergences in dialect were accumulated in Satsuma making it sound relatively distinct. There are several different dialect regions within Kagoshima prefecture.

There is a story, told both inside and outside Kagoshima, that Kagoshima dialect was consciously and deliberately developed as a way of protecting against spies from other parts of Japan during the Edo period when many samurai noble people lived within Kagoshima and conducted important business within it.

Hachijō Island

A small group of dialects are spoken in Hachijōjima and Aogashima, islands south of Tokyo.

Usually Hachijō Dialect is regarded as an independent "root branch" itself for its unique characteristics, especially the abundance of inherited ancient Japanese features, in spite of its small population.

Ryūkyū

Main article: Ryukyuan languages

There is no agreement over whether speech of the Ryukyu Islands (the islands of Okinawa Prefecture and some of the islands of Kagoshima Prefecture) is a dialect of the Japanese language or a separate branch of the Japonic family. The former view refers to Ryukyuan as Ryukyu dialect (Ryūkyū hōgen 琉球方言) or Southern Island dialect (Nantō hōgen 南島方言) while the later view refer Ryukyuan as the Ryukyu language.

It should, however, be noted that there is no clear demarcation of language and dialect in linguistics and many old Japanese dialects would be (and often are) classified as languages by European standards[citation needed]. Moreover, within East Asian languages, Chinese in particular, many dialects would be classified as languages and are often associated with regional nationalism as is the case in Europe.

There is a regular relationship between vowel pronunciation in standard Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects.[citation needed]

Standard Japanese Ryukyuan language（Ryukyuan dialects）

え /e/ い /i/

お /o/ う /u/

あい /ai/、あえ /ae/ えー /e:/

あう /au/、あお /ao/おー /o:/

As an example of Ryukyuan dialects, the Shuri dialect pronounces the following words as such:

雨（あめ, ame）→アミ, ami 船（ふね,fune）→フニ, funi 心（こころ, kokoro）→ククル,kukuru 夜（よる, yoru）→ユル, yuru 兄弟（きょうだい, kyōdai）→チョーデー,kyōdē 帰る（かえる, kaeru）→ケーユン, kēyun（or, ケーイン, kēin） 青い（あおい, aoi）→オーサン, ōsan

Okinawan dialects contain a lot of archaic Japanese words and grammar. For example, the consonant 'H' in standard Japanese is pronounced as 'φ' or 'p' in Okinawan dialects in the same way as ancient Japanese spoken in the Nara or Kyoto in the Muromachi period.

Standard Japanese Miyako・Yaeyama dialect

は /ha/ ぱ /pa/

ひ /hi/ ぴ /pi/、ぴぅ /pï/

ふ /fu/ ぷ /pu/、ぴぅ /pï/

へ /he/ ぴ /pi/

ほ /ho/ ぷ /pu/

In some areas some consonants before and after the consonant /i/ palatalize.

The consonant /k/ palatalizes to be consonant /ch/（e.g.「息, iki」→「イチ, ichi」）. The consonants /g/, /t/, /d/ are pronounced as /z/, /ch/, /zj/, respectively（e.g.「宜野湾,

ginowan」→「ji:no:n」）.

Standard Japanese Ryukyuan language（Ryukyuan dialects）

き /ki/ ち /chi/

いか /ika/、いた /ita/ いちゃ /icha/

ぎ /gi/ じ /zji/

いが /iga/、いだ /ida/いじゃ /izja/

The syllable 'ri' is pronounced as 'i'. The syllables 're' and 'ri' are, however, pronounced the same as in standard Japanese when they appear before the vowel /i/.

Japanese Ryukyuan language（Ryukyuan dialect）

り /ri/ い /i/

いり /iri/ いり /iri/

The consonant 'w' between vowel 'a' is not pronounced（e.g. "泡盛", awamori → "アームイ", a:mui).

Japanese Ryukyuan language（Ryukyuan dialect）

あわ /awa/あー /a:/

In this way, Okinawa is pronounced ウチナー uchina:.

There is great diversity within Japanese, and even greater diversity within Ryukyuan. Many native speakers from one area of Japan can find the speech of another area virtually unintelligible. There has also developed in the Ryūkyūs a dialect called Okinawan Japanese which is close to standard Japanese, but which is influenced by Ryukyuan languages. For example, "deeji" may be said sometimes instead of "taihen", or "haisai" instead of "konnichiwa".

Suppression

See also: Ryukyuan languages#Modern history

From the 19th century into the 1960s,[citation needed] Japan had an official policy of suppression certain dialects and the Ryukyuan languages in schools. The language of instruction was Standard Japanese, and the punishment for using a language other than Standard Japanese (either a dialect or other Japonic language; these were not distinguished) was to wear a necklace with a dialect card (方言札?), stating that the child had spoken in dialect and was a bad student.

This was used particularly in Okinawa, and in the Tōhoku region, among others.[citation needed]

Though deemed a linguicide by some, this policy was often supported by parents,[citation needed] who hoped that it would assist their children in gaining employment.

This specific punishment was taken from the 19th French language policy of Vergonha,[citation

needed] especially by Jules Ferry, where the regional languages such as Occitan (Provençal), Catalan, or Breton were suppressed in favor of French; see also Welsh Not, for a similar system in Wales.

Compare also the language policies of Korea under Japanese rule.