Editing Japanese dialects

{{Short description|Dialects of the Japanese language}}
{{Infobox language family
|name=Japanese
|region=[[Japan]]
|familycolor=altaic
|fam1=[[Japonic languages|Japonic]]
|child1=[[Eastern Japanese]]
|child2=[[Western Japanese]]
|child3=[[#Kyushu Japanese|Kyūshū]]
|child4=''[[Hachijō language|Hachijō]]'' ?
|glotto=japa1256
|glottoname=Japanesic
|glotto2=nucl1643
|glottorefname2=Japanese
|map=Japanese dialects-en.png
|mapcaption=Map of Japanese dialects (north of the heavy grey line)
}}
The {{nihongo|[[dialect]]s|方言|hōgen}} of the [[Japanese language]] fall into two primary clades, Eastern (including modern capital [[Tokyo]]) and Western (including old capital [[Kyoto]]), with the dialects of [[Kyushu]] and [[Hachijō Island]] often distinguished as additional branches, the latter perhaps the most divergent of all.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|p=196}} </ref> The [[Ryukyuan languages]] of [[Okinawa Prefecture]] and the southern islands of [[Kagoshima Prefecture]] form a separate branch of the [[Japonic languages|Japonic family]], and are '''not''' Japanese dialects, although they are sometimes referred to as such.

The setting of Japan with its numerous islands and mountains has the ideal setting for developing many dialects.<ref name=":0">{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|p=185}} </ref>

{{TOC limit|limit=3}}

==History==
Regional variants of Japanese have been confirmed since the [[Old Japanese]] era. The ''[[Man'yōshū]]'', the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, includes poems written in dialects of the capital ([[Nara, Nara|Nara]]) and eastern Japan, but other dialects were not recorded. The compiler included ''azuma uta'' ("eastern songs") that show that eastern dialect traits were distinct from the western dialect of Nara.<ref name=":0" /> It is not clear if the capital of Nara entertained the idea of a standard dialect, however, they had an understanding which dialect should be regarded as the standard one, the dialect of the capital.<ref name=":0" />

The recorded features of [[Eastern Old Japanese|eastern dialects]] were rarely inherited by modern dialects, except for a few [[language island]]s such as [[Hachijō-jima|Hachijo Island]]. In the [[Early Middle Japanese]] era, there were only vague records such as "rural dialects are crude". However, since the [[Late Middle Japanese]] era, features of regional dialects had been recorded in some books, for example ''[[Arte da Lingoa de Iapam]]'', and the recorded features were fairly similar to modern dialects. In these works, recorded by the Christian missionaries in Japan, they regard the true colloquial Japanese as the one used by the court nobles in Kyōto. Other indications for the Kyōto dialect to be considered the standard dialect at that time are glossaries of local dialects that list the Kyōto equivalent for local expressions.<ref name=":0" />

The variety of Japanese dialects developed markedly during the [[Early Modern Japanese]] era ([[Edo period]]) because many feudal lords restricted the movement of people to and from other fiefs. Some isoglosses agree with old borders of ''[[Han system|han]]'', especially in Tohoku and Kyushu. Nevertheless, even with the political capital being moved to Edo (i.e. Tōkyō) the status of the Kyōto dialect was not threatened immediately as it was still the cultural and economic center that dominated Japan. This dominance waned as Edo began to assert more political and economic force and made investments in its cultural development. At the end of the eighteenth century the Japanese that was spoken in Edo was regarded as standard as all glossaries from this period use the Edo dialect for local expressions.<ref name=":1">{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|p=186}} </ref>

In the [[Meiji era|Meiji period]] the Tōkyō dialect was assuming the role of a standard dialect that was used between different regions to communicate with each other. The Meiji government set policies in place to spread the concept of {{nihongo|標準語|hyōjun-go||"standard language"}}. One of the main goals was to be an equal to the western world and the unification of the language was a part to achieve this. For the ''hyōjun-go'' the speech of the Tōkyō middle class served as a model. The Ministry of Education at this time made text books in the new standard language and fostered an inferiority complex in the minds of those who spoke in dialects besides the Tōkyō dialect. One example is a student who was forced to wear a "[[dialect card|dialect tag]]" around the neck.<ref name=":1" /> 
From the 1940s to the 1960s, the period of [[Statism in Shōwa Japan|Shōwa nationalism]] and the [[Japanese economic miracle|post-war economic miracle]], the push for the replacement of regional [[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]] with Standard Japanese reached its peak.

After World War II, the concept of {{nihongo|共通語|Kyōtsū-go||"common language"}} was introduced, which differed from the concept of the standard language insofar that it is heavily influenced by the standard language but it retains dialectal traits. Across Japan, the 'common language' productively used in everyday speech can differ from region to region but it is still mutually intelligible.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|p=187}} </ref>

Now Standard Japanese has spread throughout the nation, and traditional regional varieties are declining because of education, television, expansion of traffic, urban concentration, etc, in a process known as [[dialect levelling]]. However, regional varieties have not been completely replaced with Standard Japanese. The spread of Standard Japanese means the regional varieties are now valued as "nostalgic", "heart-warming" and markers of "precious local identity", and many speakers of regional dialects have gradually overcome their sense of inferiority regarding their natural way of speaking. The contact between regional varieties and Standard Japanese creates new regional speech forms among young people, such as [[Okinawan Japanese]].<ref>{{Cite book | author = Satoh Kazuyuki (佐藤和之) |author2=Yoneda Masato (米田正人) | title = Dōnaru Nihon no Kotoba, Hōgen to Kyōtsūgo no Yukue | publisher = The Taishūkan Shoten (大修館書店) | year = 1999 | location = Tōkyō | language = ja | isbn = 978-4-469-21244-0 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Mark|year=2019|chapter=Studies of Ryukyu-substrate Japanese|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/41138518|editor1=Patrick Heinrich|editor2=Yumiko Ohara|title=Routledge Handbook of Japanese Sociolinguistics|language=en|pages=441–457|place=New York|publisher=Routledge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Clarke|first=Hugh|chapter=Language|editor-last=Sugimoto|editor-first=Yoshio|title=The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2009|location=Cambridge|pages=56–75|doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521880473|isbn=9781139002455}} P. 65: "[...] over the past decade or so we have seen the emergence of a new
''lingua franca'' for the whole prefecture. Nicknamed ''Uchinaa Yamatuguchi'' (Okinawan Japanese) this new dialect incorporates features of Ryukyuan phonology, grammar and lexicon into modern Japanese, resulting in a means of communication which can be more or less understood anywhere in Japan, but clearly marks anyone speaking it as an Okinawan."</ref>

==Mutual intelligibility==
In terms of [[mutual intelligibility]], a survey in 1967 found the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding [[Ryūkyūan languages]] and [[Tohoku dialects]]) to students from Greater Tokyo are the [[Kiso, Nagano (town)|Kiso]] dialect (in the deep mountains of [[Nagano Prefecture]]), the [[Himi, Toyama|Himi]] dialect (in [[Toyama Prefecture]]), the [[Kagoshima dialect]] and the [[Katsuyama, Okayama|Maniwa]] dialect (in the mountains of [[Okayama Prefecture]]).<ref name="Dialect Intelligibility 1967"/> The survey is based on recordings of 12- to 20- second long, of 135 to 244 [[phoneme]]s, which 42 students listened and translated word-by-word. The listeners were all [[Keio University]] students who grew up in the [[Kanto region]].<ref name="Dialect Intelligibility 1967">{{cite journal|title=On Dialect Intelligibility in Japan|first=Joseph K.|last=Yamagiwa|author-link=Joseph K. Yamagiwa|journal=Anthropological Linguistics |date=1967|volume=9|issue=1|pages=4, 5, 18|jstor=30029037}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Intelligibility to students from Tokyo and [[Kanto region]] (Date: 1967)<ref name="Dialect Intelligibility 1967"/>
|-
| scope="col" | '''Dialect''' || [[Osaka City]] || [[Kyoto City]] || [[Tatsuta, Aichi]] || [[Kiso, Nagano (town)|Kiso, Nagano]] || [[Himi, Toyama]] || [[Maniwa, Okayama]] || [[Ōgata, Kōchi]] || [[Kanagi, Shimane]] || [[Kumamoto City]] || [[Kagoshima City]]
|-
| scope="col" | '''Percentage''' || 26.4% || 67.1% || 44.5% || 13.3% || 4.1% || 24.7% || 45.5% || 24.8% || 38.6% || 17.6%
|}

==Classification==
[[File:Japonic languages (schematic).png|thumb|Eastern Japanese dialects are blue, Western Japanese tan. [[Tōkai–Tōsan dialect|Green dialects]] have both Eastern and Western features. Kyushu dialects are orange; southern Kyushu is quite distinctive.{{image reference needed|date=November 2022}}]]
[[File:Japan pitch accent map.png|thumb|{{legend|#CD8080|Kyoto type (tone+downstep)}}
{{legend|#94CF97|Tokyo type (downstep)}}
Map of [[Japanese pitch accent|Japanese pitch-accent]] types. The divide between Kyoto and Tokyo types is used as the Eastern–Western Japanese boundary in the main map.{{image reference needed|date=November 2022}}]]

There are several generally similar approaches to classifying Japanese dialects. Misao Tōjō classified mainland Japanese dialects into three groups: Eastern, Western and Kyūshū dialects. Mitsuo Okumura classified Kyushu dialects as a subclass of Western Japanese. These theories are mainly based on grammatical differences between east and west, but [[Haruhiko Kindaichi]] classified mainland Japanese into concentric circular three groups: inside (Kansai, Shikoku, etc.), middle (Western Kantō, Chūbu, Chūgoku, etc.) and outside (Eastern Kantō, Tōhoku, Izumo, Kyushu, Hachijō, etc.) based on systems of accent, phoneme and conjugation.

===Eastern and Western Japanese{{anchor|Eastern Japanese}}{{anchor|Western Japanese}}===
A primary distinction exists between Eastern and Western Japanese. This is a long-standing divide that occurs in both language and culture.<ref>See also [[Ainu language]]; the extent of Ainu placenames approaches the isogloss.</ref> Tokugawa points out the distinct eating habits, shapes of tools and utensils. One example is the kind of fish eaten in both areas. While the Eastern region eats more salmon, the West consumes more seabream.<ref>Tokugawa (1981): Kotoba - nishi to higashi. Nihongo no sekai 8. Tokyo: Chuokoronsha. </ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|pp=198–199}}</ref>

The map in the box at the top of this page divides the two along phonological lines. West of the dividing line, the more complex Kansai-type [[Japanese pitch accent|pitch accent]] is found; east of the line, the simpler Tokyo-type accent is found, though Tokyo-type accents also occur further west, on the other side of Kansai. However, this [[isogloss]] largely corresponds to several grammatical distinctions as well: West of the pitch-accent isogloss:<ref name=shibatani197>{{Harvcoltxt|Shibatani|2008|page=197}}</ref>

* The perfective form of ''-u'' verbs such as ''harau'' 'to pay' is ''harōta'' (or minority ''harota'' or ''haruta''), showing [[Onbin#Verb_stems|u-onbin]], rather than Eastern (and Standard) ''haratta''
** The perfective form of ''-su'' verbs such as ''otosu'' 'to drop' is also ''otoita'' in Western Japanese (largely apart from Kansai dialect) vs. ''otoshita'' in Eastern
* The imperative of ''-ru ([[Japanese consonant and vowel verbs|ichidan]])'' verbs such as ''miru'' 'to look' is ''miyo'' or ''mii'' rather than Eastern ''miro'' (or minority ''mire'', though Kyushu dialect also uses ''miro'' or ''mire'')
* The adverbial form of ''-i'' adjectival verbs such as ''hiroi'' 'wide' is ''hirō'' (or minority ''hirū''), showing [[Onbin#Adjective_endings|u-onbin]], for example ''hirōnaru'' (to become wide), rather than Eastern ''hiroku'', for example ''hirokunaru'' (to become wide)
* The negative form of verbs is ''-nu'' or ''-n'' rather than ''-nai'' or ''-nee'', and uses a different verb stem; thus ''suru'' 'to do' is ''senu'' or ''sen'' rather than ''shinai'' or ''shinee'' (apart from [[Sado Island]], which uses ''shinai'')<br/>[[File:Ja da ya.png|thumb|right|250px|Copula isoglosses. The blue–orange ''da/ja'' divide corresponds to the pitch-accent divide apart from Gifu and Sado.<br />(blue: ''da'', red: ''ja'', yellow: ''ya''; orange and purple: iconically for red+yellow and red+blue; white: all three.)]]
* The [[Copula (linguistics)|copula]] is ''da'' in Eastern and ''ja'' or ''ya'' in Western Japanese, though Sado as well as some dialects further west such as [[San'in region|San'in]] use ''da'' [see map at right]
* The verb ''iru'' 'to exist' in Eastern and ''oru'' in Western, though the Wakayama dialect also uses ''aru'' and some Kansai and Fukui subdialects use both
While these grammatical isoglosses are close to the pitch-accent line given in the map, they do not follow it exactly. Apart from Sado Island, which has Eastern ''shinai'' and ''da'', all of the Western features are found west of the pitch-accent line, though a few Eastern features may crop up again further west (''da'' in San'in, ''miro'' in Kyushu). East of the line, however, there is a zone of intermediate dialects which have a mixture of Eastern and Western features. Echigo dialect has ''harōta'', though not ''miyo'', and about half of it has ''hirōnaru'' as well. In Gifu, all Western features are found apart from pitch accent and ''harōta''; Aichi has ''miyo'' and ''sen'', and in the west ([[Nagoya dialect]]) ''hirōnaru'' as well: These features are substantial enough that Toshio Tsuzuku classifies Gifu–Aichi dialect as Western Japanese. Western Shizuoka (Enshū dialect) has ''miyo'' as its single Western Japanese feature.<ref name=shibatani197/>

The Western Japanese [[Kansai dialect]] was the [[prestige dialect]] when Kyoto was the capital, and Western forms are found in literary language as well as in honorific expressions of modern Tokyo dialect (and therefore Standard Japanese), such as adverbial ''ohayō gozaimasu'' (not ''*ohayaku''), the humble existential verb ''oru'', and the polite negative ''-masen'' (not ''*-mashinai''),<ref name=shibatani197/> which uses the Kyoto-style negative ending -n. Because the imperial court, which put emphasis on correct polite speech, was located in Kyoto for a long time, there was greater development of honorific speech forms in Kyoto, which were borrowed into Tokyo speech.<ref name=":2">Shibatani (2008: 200)</ref> Another feature that the modern Tokyo dialect shares with Kyoto is the preservation of the vowel sequences {{IPA|/ai/}}, {{IPA|/oi/}}, and {{IPA|/ui/}}: in Eastern dialects, these tend to undergo coalescence and be replaced by {{IPA|[eː]}}, {{IPA|[eː]}} and {{IPA|[iː]}} respectively.<ref>Shibatani (2008: 199)</ref>  Examples of words that originated in Kyoto and were adopted by Tokyo are ''yaru'' ("to give"), ''kaminari'' ("thunder") and ''asatte'' ("two days from today").<ref>Shibatani (2008: 200)</ref>

===Kyushu Japanese===
Kyushu dialects are classified into three groups, [[Hichiku dialect]], [[Hōnichi dialect]] and [[Kagoshima dialect|Satsugu (Kagoshima) dialect]], and have several distinctive features:

*as noted above, Eastern-style imperatives ''miro ~ mire'' rather than Western Japanese ''miyo''
*''ka''-adjectives in Hichiku and Satsugu rather than Western and Eastern [[Japanese adjectives|''i''-adjectives]], as in ''samuka'' for ''samui'' 'cold', ''kuyaka'' for ''minikui'' 'ugly' and ''nukka'' for ''atsui'' 'warm'
*the [[nominalization]] and question particle ''to'' except for Kitakyushu and Oita, versus Western and Eastern ''no'', as in ''tottō to?'' for ''totte iru no?'' 'is this taken?' and ''iku to tai'' or ''ikuttai'' for ''iku no yo'' 'I'll go'
*the directional particle ''sai'' (Standard ''e'' and ''ni''), though Eastern Tohoku dialect use a similar particle ''sa''
*the emphatic [[sentence-final particle]]s ''tai'' and ''bai'' in Hichiku and Satsugu (Standard ''yo'')
*a concessive particle ''batten'' for ''dakedo'' 'but, however' in Hichiku and Satsugu, though Eastern Tohoku Aomori dialect has a similar particle ''batte''
*{{IPA|/e/}} is pronounced {{IPA|[je]}} and palatalizes ''s, z, t, d,'' as in ''mite'' {{IPA|[mitʃe]}} and ''sode'' {{IPA|[sodʒe]}}, though this is a conservative ([[Late Middle Japanese]]) pronunciation found with ''s, z'' (''sensei'' {{IPA|[ʃenʃei]}}) in scattered areas throughout Japan like the Umpaku dialect.
*as some subdialects in Shikoku and Chugoku, but generally not elsewhere, the accusative particle ''o'' resyllabifies a noun: ''honno'' or ''honnu'' for ''hon-o'' 'book', ''kakyū'' for ''kaki-o'' 'persimmon'.
*{{IPA|/r/}} is often dropped, for ''koi'' 'this' versus Western and Eastern Japanese ''kore''
*[[vowel reduction]] is frequent especially in Satsugu and [[Gotō Islands]], as in ''in'' for ''inu'' 'dog' and ''kuQ'' for ''kubi'' 'neck'
*Kyushu dialects share some lexical items with Ryukyuan languages, some of which appear to be innovations.{{sfnp|de Boer|2020|p=55}} Some scholars have proposed that Kyushu dialects and Ryukyuan languages are the same language group within the Japonic family.{{sfnp|de Boer|2020|p=52}}

Much of Kyushu either lacks pitch accent or has its own, distinctive accent. Kagoshima dialect is so distinctive that some have classified it as a fourth branch of Japanese, alongside Eastern, Western, and the rest of Kyushu.

===Hachijō Japanese===
{{main|Hachijō language}}
A small group of dialects spoken in [[Hachijō-jima]] and [[Aogashima]], islands south of Tokyo, as well as the [[Daitō Islands]] east of Okinawa. Hachijō dialect is quite divergent and sometimes thought to be a primary branch of Japanese. It retains an abundance of inherited ancient Eastern Japanese features.

===Cladogram===
The relationships between the dialects are approximated in the following [[cladogram]]:<ref>{{Harvp|Pellard|2009}} and {{Harvp|Karimata|1999}}.</ref>

{{clade
  |label1=[[Japanese language|Japanese]]
  |1={{clade
       |1={{clade
           |label1=[[Kyushu dialect|Kyūshū]]
           |1={{clade
                |1=[[Kagoshima dialect|Kagoshima]]
                |2=[[Hichiku dialect|Hichiku]]
                |3=[[Hōnichi dialect|Hōnichi]]
              }}
           |label2=[[Western Japanese|Western]]
           |2={{clade
                |1=[[Chūgoku dialect|Chūgoku]]
                |2=[[Umpaku dialect|Umpaku]]
                |3=[[Shikoku dialect|Shikoku]]
                |4=[[Kansai dialect|Kansai]]
                |5=[[Hokuriku dialect|Hokuriku]]
              }}
           |label3=[[Eastern Japanese|Eastern]]
           |3={{clade
                |1=[[Tōkai–Tōsan dialect|Tōkai–Tōsan]]
                |2={{clade
                     |1=[[Kantō dialect|Kantō]]
                     |2=inland [[Hokkaido dialects|Hokkaidō]]
                   }}
                |3={{clade
                     |1=[[Tōhoku dialect|Tōhoku]]
                     |2=coastal [[Hokkaido dialects|Hokkaidō]]
                   }}
              }}
          }}
  |2=[[Hachijō language|Hachijō]]
}}
}}

== Theories ==

=== Theory of Peripheral Distribution of Dialectal Forms ===
West geographically separated areas seem to have been influenced by Eastern traits. The phonology of Tokyo has influenced Western areas like San-in, Shikoku and Kyushu. Eastern morpho-syntactic and lexical characteristics are also found in the West. These instances cannot be explained as borrowing from the Kyoto speech as Tokyo did because between the regions Eastern traits are not contiguous and there is no evidence that regions had contact with Tokyo. One theory argues that the Eastern type speech was spread all over Japan at the beginning and later Western characteristics developed. The eastward spread was prevented through the geography of Japan that divides East and West that separated the cultures in each of them socio-culturally until this day.<ref name=":2" />

[[Kunio Yanagita]] began his discussion for this theory in analysing the local variants for the word "snail". He discovered that the newest words for snail are used in the proximity of Kyoto, the old cultural center, and older forms are found in outer areas. Since the spreading of newer forms of words is slow, older forms are observable in the areas farthest away from the center, creating in effect a situation in which older forms are surrounded by newer forms. His theory in the case of Japan argues that the spread of newer forms happens in a circular pattern with its center being the cultural center. However, this theory can only be true if the characteristics located in peripheral areas are reflections of the historical ones.<ref>Shibatani (2008: 202) </ref>

=== Origin of Japanese ===
While it is generally accepted that languages in Western Japan are older than the Tokyo dialect, there are new studies that challenge this assumption. For example, there exists a distinction between five word classes in the Osaka-Kyoto dialect while there is no such distinction made in other parts of Japan in the past.<ref>Shibatani (2008: 211—212)</ref> Tokugawa argues that it is unlikely that the Osaka-Kyoto speech would be first established and other systems of speech would not be affected by it. Therefore, he states that the Osaka-Kyoto speech created the distinction afterwards. He concludes that either Western Japan accent or the Eastern variant "could be taken the parent of Central Japan accent."<ref>Tokugawa (1972: 314)</ref>

The Kyoto speech seems to rather have conserved its speech while peripheral dialects have made new innovations over time. However, peripheral dialects have features that are reminiscent of historical forms. The language of peripheral areas form linguistic areas of older forms that come from the central language while its phonetics are distinct from the central language. On the other hand, the central area has influenced other dialects by the propagation of innovative forms.<ref>Shibatani (2008: 214) </ref>

== Dialect articles ==
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+
!Dialect
!Classification
!Location
!Map
|-
|[[Akita dialect|Akita]]
|Northern [[Tōhoku dialect|Tōhoku]]
|[[Akita Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Akita.png|thumb|199x199px]]
|-
|[[Amami Japanese|Amami]]
|Japanese with a strong [[Ryukyuan languages|Ryukyuan]] influence
|Amami Ōshima
|[[File:Amami Ōshima Relief Map, SRTM.jpg|thumb|175x175px]]
|-
|[[Awaji dialect|Awaji]]
|[[Kansai dialect|Kinki]]
|[[Awaji Island]]
|[[File:Location-of-Awaji-island-en.png|thumb|180x180px]]
|-
|[[Banshū dialect|Banshū]]
|Kinki
|Southwestern [[Hyōgo Prefecture]]
|[[File:Provinces of Japan-Harima.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Bingo dialect|Bingo]]
|Sanyō, [[Chūgoku dialect|Chūgoku]]
|Eastern [[Hiroshima Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Bingo region.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Gunma dialect|Gunma]]
|West [[Kantō dialect|Kantō]]
|[[Gunma Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Gunma.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Hakata dialect|Hakata]]
|[[Hichiku dialect|Hichiku, Kyūshū]]
|[[Fukuoka|Fukuoka City]]
|[[File:Map of Japan with highlight on Fukuoka city.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Hida dialect|Hida]]
|[[Tōkai–Tōsan dialect|Gifu-Aichi, Tōkai-Tōsan]]
|[[Hida (region)|Northern Gifu Prefecture]]
|[[File:Regions of Gifu Prefecture.svg|thumb|Hida Region = Brown-yellow area]]
|-
|[[Hokkaido dialects|Hokkaidō]]
|Hokkaidō
|[[Hokkaido|Hokkaidō]]
|[[File:Map of Japan with highlight on 02edit Hokkaido prefecture.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Ibaraki dialect|Ibaraki]]
|East Kantō / Transitional Tōhoku
|[[Ibaraki Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Ibaraki.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Inshū dialect|Inshū]]
|East San'in, [[Chūgoku dialect|Chūgoku]]
|[[Inaba Province|Eastern Tottori Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Inshu.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Iyo dialect|Iyo]]
|[[Shikoku]]
|[[Ehime Prefecture]]
|[[File:Provinces of Japan-Iyo.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Kaga dialect|Kaga]]
|[[Hokuriku dialect|Hokuriku]]
|South and central [[Ishikawa Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Kaga dialect.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Kanagawa dialect|Kanagawa]]
|West Kantō
|[[Kanagawa Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Kanagawa.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Kesen dialect|Kesen]]
|Southern Tōhoku
|[[Kesen District, Iwate|Kesen District]], [[Iwate Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Kesen.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Mikawa dialect|Mikawa]]
|Gifu-Aichi, Tōkai-Tōsan
|Eastern [[Aichi Prefecture]]
|[[File:Provinces of Japan-Mikawa.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Mino dialect|Mino]]
|Gifu-Aichi, Tōkai-Tōsan
|Southern Gifu Prefecture
|[[File:Provinces of Japan-Mino.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Nagaoka dialect|Nagaoka]]
|Echigo, Tōkai-Tōsan
|Central [[Niigata Prefecture]]
|[[File:Nagaoka city.PNG|thumb|Green = Nagaoka City]]
|-
|[[Nagoya dialect|Nagoya]]
|Gifu-Aichi, Tōkai-Tōsan
|[[Nagoya]], Aichi Prefecture
|[[File:Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture Ja.svg|thumb|Purple area = Nagoya]]
|-
|[[Nairiku dialect|Nairiku]]
|Southern Tōhoku
|Eastern [[Yamagata Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Nairiku.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Nanbu dialect|Nambu]]
|Northern Tōhoku
|Eastern [[Aomori Prefecture]], northern and central Iwate Prefecture, [[Kazuno, Akita|Kazuno]] Region of Akita Prefecture
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Nanbu(2).png|thumb|Dark blue area = Nambu]]
|-
|[[Narada dialect|Narada]]
|Nagano-Yamanashi-Shizuoka, Tōkai-Tōsan
|[[Hayakawa, Yamanashi|Narada]], [[Yamanashi Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Narada.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Ōita dialect|Ōita]]
|[[Hōnichi dialect|Honichi]], Kyūshū
|[[Ōita Prefecture]]
|[[File:Map of Japan with highlight on 44 Oita prefecture.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Okinawan Japanese]]
|Japanese with Ryukyuan influence.
|[[Okinawa Islands]]
|[[File:Okinawa Islands map.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Saga dialect|Saga]]
|Hichiku, Kyūshū
|[[Saga Prefecture]], [[Isahaya, Nagasaki|Isahaya]]
|[[File:Map of Japan with highlight on 41 Saga prefecture.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Sanuki dialect|Sanuki]]
|Shikoku
|[[Kagawa Prefecture]]
|[[File:Map of Japan with highlight on 37 Kagawa prefecture.svg|thumb]]
|-
|[[Nanbu dialect|Shimokita]]
|Northern Tōhoku
|North-Eastern [[Aomori Prefecture]], Shimokita peninsula
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Nanbu(2).png|thumb|Light blue area = Shimokita]]
|-
|[[Shizuoka dialect|Shizuoka]]
|Nagano-Yamanashi-Shizuoka, Tōkai-Tōsan
|[[Shizuoka Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Shizuoka dialects.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Tochigi dialect|Tochigi]]
|East Kantō / Transitional Tōhoku
|[[Tochigi Prefecture]] (excluding [[Ashikaga, Tochigi|Ashikaga]])
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Tochigi.png|thumb]]
|-
|Tōkyō
|West Kantō
|[[Tokyo|Tōkyō]]
|[[File:Tokyo-Kanto definitions, 23 wards.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Tosa dialect|Tosa]]
|Shikoku
|Central and eastern [[Kōchi Prefecture]]
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Tosa.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Tsugaru dialect|Tsugaru]]
|Northern Tōhoku
|Western Aomori Prefecture
|[[File:Prefectures of Japan Tsugaru.png|thumb]]
|-
|[[Tsushima dialect|Tsushima]]
|Hichiku, Kyūshū
|[[Tsushima Island]], [[Nagasaki Prefecture]]
|[[File:Tsushima island en.png|thumb]]
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Japan|Languages}}
* [[Yotsugana]], the different distinctions of historical *zi, *di, *zu, *du in different regions of Japan
* [[Okinawan Japanese]] and [[Amami Japanese]], variants of Standard Japanese influenced by the [[Ryukyuan languages]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
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 |title=Kotoba no kagaku 9 |pages=13–85 |location=Tokyo |publisher=Mugi shobō}}
* {{cite thesis 
|last=Pellard 
|first=Thomas 
|date=2009 
|title=Ōgami: Éléments de description d'un parler du Sud des Ryūkyū 
|trans-title= Ōgami: Description of a Southern Ryukyuan language
|url=https://theses.hal.science/tel-00444150 
|type= 
|chapter= 
|publisher=Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales 
|docket= 
|oclc= 
|access-date=
|language=fr
}}
*{{cite book 
|last1=Pellard 
|first1=Thomas 
|editor1-last=Heinrich 
|editor1-first=Patrick 
|editor2-last=Miyara 
|editor2-first=Shinshō 
|editor3-last=Shimoji 
|editor3-first=Michinori 
|title=Handbook of the Ryukyuan languages: history, structure, and use 
|date=2015 
|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton 
|location=Berlin 
|isbn=9781614511618 
|pages=13–38 
|chapter-url=https://hal.science/hal-01289257/file/Pellard_2015_The_linguistic_archeology_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.pdf
|chapter=The Linguistic archeology of the Ryukyu Islands
|doi=10.1515/9781614511151
}}
* {{citation
  | surname = de Boer | given = Elisabeth
  | chapter = The classification of the Japonic languages | pages = 40–58
  | title = The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages
  | editor1-given = Martine | editor1-surname = Robbeets
  | editor2-given = Alexander | editor2-surname = Savelyev
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  }}
* {{cite book |last1=Shibatani |first1=Masayoshi |title=The languages of Japan |date=2008 |orig-date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521369183 |page=197 |edition=Reprint}}
* Tokugawa, M. (1972): Towards a family tree for accent in Japanese dialects. In: Papers in Japanese Linguistics 1:2, pp. 301—320.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikibooks|Japanese|Dialects}}
{{Wiktionary|Category:Regional Japanese}}
*[http://www.ninjal.ac.jp/english/ National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics] {{in lang|en}}
** [https://www2.ninjal.ac.jp/hogen/index.html 方言研究の部屋] ("Dialect research room") {{in lang|ja}}
** [https://mmsrv.ninjal.ac.jp/laj_map/ 日本言語地図] ("Linguistic Atlas of Japan") {{in lang|ja}}
** [https://mmsrv.ninjal.ac.jp/hogendanwa_siryo/en/index.html Datasets of "Texts of Tape-Recorded Conversations in Japanese Dialects"] {{in lang|en}}
** [https://mmsrv.ninjal.ac.jp/hogenrokuon_siryo/en/index.html Datasets of "Dialect Recording Series"] {{in lang|en}}
** [https://mmsrv.ninjal.ac.jp/hogendanwa_db/english/ Zenkoku Hougendanwa Database] {{in lang|en}}
** [https://www2.ninjal.ac.jp/past-publications/publication/catalogue/gaj_map/ 方言文法全国地図] ("Dialect grammar maps across Japan") {{in lang|ja}}
** [https://kikigengo.ninjal.ac.jp/en/ Endangered languages of Japan] {{in lang|en}}
* [http://dialectology-jp.org/ Dialectological Circle of Japan] {{in lang|ja}}
* [https://www2.sal.tohoku.ac.jp/hougen/ Center of the study of Dialectology. Tohoku University] {{in lang|ja}}
*[http://www.kansaiben.com/ Kansai Dialect Self-study Site for Japanese Language Learner] {{in lang|en}}
*[http://hougen.u-biq.org/ Japanese Dialects] {{in lang|en}}
*[http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/dialect/ 全国方言辞典] ("All Japan Dialects Dictionary") {{in lang|ja}}
*[https://cotoacademy.com/guide-to-japanese-dialects-western-eastern-kyushu-regions/ Guide to Japanese Dialects]

{{Japonic languages}}
{{Japanese language}}
{{Language varieties}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Japanese Dialects}}
[[Category:Japanese dialects| ]]