The , commonly called , originate in relatively recent settlement from mainland Japan. The greater part of Hokkaidō was settled from a mix of areas, especially the
Tōhoku and
Hokuriku region
The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...
s, from the Meiji period onwards, so that various Japanese dialects became mixed together on Hokkaidō.
The relationship of Hokkaidō dialect to the rest of Japanese—and whether there even is a coherent Hokkaidō dialect—are the subject of debate. Shibata (2003) mentions three theories:
[Takeshi Shibata, in 月刊言語 ''Gekkan Gengo'', January 2003, vol. 32, no. 1, pp 26–29]
#Inland varieties are part of the
Kantō dialect, while coastal varieties are part of the
Tōhoku dialect
#There is a single Hokkaidō dialect, which is a distinct branch of Eastern Japanese
#There is a Hokkaidō dialect, but it descends from Niigata dialect (one of the
Tōkai–Tōsan dialects), a transitional form with Western Japanese features.
Tōhoku influence is strongest in coastal areas, especially on the
Oshima Peninsula in the south, where the local variety is commonly called . The urban dialect of
Sapporo is quite close to
Standard Japanese. Western features may have been brought by merchants from
Kansai
The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...
and
Hokuriku following the
Kitamaebune ("northern-bound ships") trading route.
Also spoken on Hokkaidō is the
Ainu language
Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate ...
, which was in wide use there before Japanese settlement and still has a few elderly speakers.
Expressions
*The ''-re'' imperative form for ichidan verbs and s-irregular verb instead of Standard form ''-ro''
*The volitional and presumptive suffix ''-be''; from Tohoku dialect
*The presumptive suffix ''-sho'' or ''-ssho''; contraction of Standard polite presumptive form ''deshō''
*''tōkibi'' for "corn" instead of Standard ''tōmorokoshi''; also used in many Japanese dialects
*''shibareru'' for "to freeze, freezing cold" instead of Standard ''kogoeru''; from Tohoku dialect
*''nageru'' for "to throw away" instead of Standard ''suteru''; from Tohoku dialect; ''nageru'' means "to throw" in Standard
*''waya'' for "fruitless, no good" instead of Standard ''dame''; from Western Japanese
*''shitakke'' for casual "good-bye" or "then" instead of Standard ''(sore) ja''
*''namara'' for "very" instead of Standard ''totemo''; since the 1970s from Niigata dialect
References
{{Japanese language
Japanese dialects
Culture in Hokkaido