Japanese dialects

are comprised of 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" means "Osaka dialect") and sometimes also called -kotoba (言葉,ことば, ex. "Kyo-kotoba" means "Kyoto dialect").

Some casual pronunciation is common to most dialects of Japanese. Much as English has unofficial contractions such as going to becoming gonna, Japanese has fairly standard ways to create less formal pronunciations. Such as -ai or -oi becoming -ee (eg. dekinai becoming dekinee or sugoi becoming sugee); this is most commonly used with -nai words. Another common contraction is R absorption: wakaranai becoming wakannai (or wakannee, by the previous rule).

Eastern Japanese

Hokkaidō dialect

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.

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.

The types of Tōhoku dialect can be broken down geographically:

• Northern Tohoku
• Tsugaru dialect (western Aomori Prefecture)
• Nambu dialect (eastern Aomori Prefecture and northernmost of Iwate Prefecture)
• Shimokita dialect (northeastern Aomori Prefecture, around the Shimokita Peninsula)
• Iwate dialect (northern Iwate Prefecture)
• Morioka dialect (around the city of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture)
• Akita dialect (Akita Prefecture)
• Shōnai dialect (northwestern Yamagata Prefecture, around the former Shonai Domain)
• Southern Tohoku
• Sendai dialect (Miyagi Prefecture)
• Iwate dialect (southern Iwate Prefecture)
• Kesen dialect (southeastern Iwate Prefecture)
• Yamagata dialect or Murayama dialect (central Yamagata Prefecture)
• Yonezawa dialect or Okitama dialect (southern Yamagata Prefecture)
• Mogami dialect or Shinjo dialect (northeastern Yamagata Prefecture)
• Fukushima dialect (central Fukushima Prefecture
• 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. 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
• Tokyo dialect (Tokyo)
• Yamanote dialect (old upper-class dialect)
• Shitamachi dialect or Edo dialect (old working-class dialect)
• Tama dialect (western Tokyo)
• Saitama dialect (Saitama Prefecture)
• Chichibu dialect (Saitama Prefecture, around Chichibu)
• Gunma dialect or Jōshū dialect (Gunma Prefecture)
• Kanagawa dialect (Kanagawa Prefecture)
• Bōshū dialect (southern Chiba Prefecture)
• Eastern Kantō
• Ibaraki dialect (Ibaraki Prefecture)
• Tochigi dialect (Tochigi Prefecture)
• 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)
• Okushin dialect (northernmost area)
• Hokushin dialect (northern area)
• Tōshin dialect (eastern area)
• Chūshin dialect (central area)
• 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)
• Chita dialect (along the Chita Peninsula)
• Nagoya dialect (centered around Nagoya)
• Mikawa dialect (eastern Aichi Prefecture)
• West Mikawa
• 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

Types of Hokuriku dialect:

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

The Kansai dialect is a dialect spoken in the Kansai region. The dialect features a number of regional differences: to draw a broad generalization, the Osaka dialect can be considered "brash", the Kyoto dialect "lilting" and the Kobe dialect "melodious".

• Kyoto dialect (southern Kyoto Prefecture, especially the city of Kyoto)
• Gosho dialect (old Kyoto Gosho dialect)
• Muromachi dialect (old merchant dialect in central area of the city of Kyoto)
• Gion dialect (geiko dialect of Gion)
• Osaka dialect (Osaka Prefecture)
• Semba dialect (old merchant dialect in the central area of the city of Osaka)
• Kawachi dialect (eastern Osaka Prefecture)
• Senshū dialect (southern Osaka Prefecture)
• Kobe dialect (city of Kobe)
• Nara dialect or Yamato dialect (Nara Prefecture)
• Oku-yoshino dialect or Totsukawa dialect (southernmost Nara Prefecture)
• Tamba dialect (central of Kyoto Prefecture, and eastern Hyōgo Prefecture)
• 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)
• Ise dialect (central Mie Prefecture)
• Shima dialect (eastern Mie Prefecture)
• Iga dielect (western Mie Prefecture)
• Wakasa dialect (southern Fukui Prefecture)

Chūgoku dialect

Types of Chūgoku dialect include:

• Hiroshima dialect (western Hiroshima Prefecture)
• Bingo dialect (eastern Hiroshima Prefecture)
• Fukuyama dialect
• Okayama dialect (Okayama Prefecture)
• Yamaguchi dialect (Yamaguchi Prefecture)
• Iwami dialect (western Shimane Prefecture)
• Tottori dialect (eastern Tottori Prefecture)
• Tajima dialect (northern Hyōgo Prefecture)
• Tango dialect (northernmost part of Kyoto Prefecture)

The Hiroshima dialect is regarded as a very manly sounding dialect. That is to say, tough and hard. Common variations include ja (じゃ) instead of da (だ), no (の) instead of ne (ね), and, like Kyushu, it uses ken (けん) instead of kara (から). Putting them together, jakenno (じゃけんの) is often applied to the end of sentences instead of da, even though the meaning of jaken (じゃけん) is literally dakara (だから).

The Yamaguchi dialect contains more yōons and diphthongs compared to other dialects in Japan. Above all, the consonant "ch" is frequently used. The ending -choru (～ちょる) is often used instead of -te iru (～ている) in standard Japanese, and -cha (～ちゃ) is also used instead of the standard da.

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-ben and Tottori-ben 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-ben or Awa-ben
• Kagawa-ben or Sanuki-ben
• Iyo-ben (Ehime)
• Kōchi-ben or Tosa-ben
• Hata-ben (Westernmost of Kochi)

Kyūshū

Hōnichi dialect

"Honichi" means "Buzen (Eastern of Fukuoka and Northern of Oita), Bungo (Southern of Oita) and Hyuga (Miyazaki)".

Types of Hōnichi dialect include:

• Kitakyūshū-ben
• Ōita-ben
• Miyazaki-ben

Miyazaki is most noted for its intonation, which is very different from that of standard Japanese. At times it can even seem to employ the opposite (inverse) pattern of intonation. Miyazaki dialect shares similarities with other Kyūshū dialects such as: と ("to") replacing the question particle か ("ka")

Hichiku dialect

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

Types of Hichiku dialect include:

• Hakata-ben (Fukuoka City)
• Chikugo-ben (Southern Fukuoka)
• Ōmuta-ben
• Yanagawa-ben
• Chikuho-ben (Central Fukuoka Prefecture)
• Saga-ben
• Nagasaki-ben
• Sasebo-ben
• Kumamoto-ben
• Hita-ben (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.

Tsushima-ben is a Kyūshū dialect spoken within the Tsushima Subprefecture of Nagasaki Prefecture. Tsushima dialect is often unintelligible to speakers of standard Japanese, but can be understood by speakers of other Kyūshū dialects. Due to historical reasons and the geographical proximity of Korea, Tsushima-ben has borrowed many words from Korean.

Korean loanwords in Tsushima dialect

Tsushima dialect	Korean derivation	Standard Japanese	English gloss
ヤンバン yanban	양반(兩班) yangban	大地主 ōjinushi	Landlord, land-owner (Note that in Korean yangban is a Korean elite class)
チング, チングィ chingu, chingui	친구(親舊) chingu	友達 tomodachi	Friend
トーマンカッタ tōmankatta	도망(逃亡)갔다 domang gatta	夜逃げ yonige	Escaping at night (or running from debt) (Note that the Korean source, domang gatta, is actually a 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 chiisai	Small
バッチ batchi	바지 baji	ズボン zubon	Pants

Satsugū dialect

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

Types of Satsugū dialect include:

• Satsuma-ben
• Osumi-ben
• Morogata (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

Hachijō dialect

A small group of dialects 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

Linguists 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 Kyūshū. 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 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".

References

• ふるさとの方言 (The dialects of Hometown)
• 全国方言WEB　ほべりぐ (All Japan Dialects WEB HOBERIGU)
• Dialectological Circle of Japan
• ONISHI Takuichiro Dialectological Cosmos
• なるほど!よくわかる!東北弁講座 (Tohoku-ben Lecture)
• Kansai Dialect Self-study Site for Japanese Language Learner
• めざせNATIVE関西人「関西ことば辞典」 ('The Kansai Language Dictionally' in Let's Become a NATIVE Kansai Person)
• 新電人房「関西弁講座」 ('Kansai-ben Lecture' in Shindenbo)
• 京言葉 (Kyoto Language)
• 全国大阪弁普及協会 (All Japan Osaka-ben Popularization Association)
• 対馬と韓国文化「言語」 ('Language' in Tsushima and Korean Culture)