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The , commonly called 東北弁 ''Tōhoku-ben'', is a group of the
Japanese dialects The dialects of the Japanese language fall into two primary clades, Eastern (including Tokyo) and Western (including Kyoto), with the dialects of Kyushu and Hachijō Island often distinguished as additional branches, the latter perhaps the most div ...
spoken in the
Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku ret ...
, the northeastern region of
Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island ...
. Toward the northern part of Honshū, the Tōhoku dialect can differ so dramatically from standard Japanese that it is sometimes rendered with subtitles in the nationwide media and it has been treated as the typical rural accent in
Japanese popular culture Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be ...
.


Phonetics

A notable
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
feature of the Tōhoku dialect is its neutralization of the high vowels "i" and "u" (Standard and ), so that the words ''
sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...
'', ''susu'' ('soot'), and ''shishi'' ('lion') are rendered homophonous, where they would have been distinct in other dialects. In light of this, Tōhoku dialect is sometimes referred to as ''Zūzū-ben''. The vowels tend to be neutralized to in Northern Tohoku dialect and in Southern Tohoku dialect. In addition, all
unvoiced In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies vo ...
stops become
voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...
intervocalically, rendering the pronunciation of the word ''kato'' ('trained rabbit') as . However, unlike the high-vowel neutralization, this does not result in new homophones, as all voiced stops are
prenasalized Prenasalized consonants are phonetic sequences of a nasal and an obstruent (or occasionally a non-nasal sonorant such as ) that behave phonologically like single consonants. The primary reason for considering them to be single consonants, rather ...
, meaning that the word ''kado'' ('corner') is pronounced . This is particularly noticeable with , which is nasalized fully to with the stop of the hard "g" almost entirely lost, so that ''ichigo'' 'strawberry' is pronounced . Standard Japanese can do this with too (see
Japanese phonology The phonology of Japanese features about 15 consonant phonemes, the cross-linguistically typical five-vowel system of , and a relatively simple phonotactic distribution of phonemes allowing few consonant clusters. It is traditionally describ ...
), but not with the other stops. This distribution of medial voicing and prenasalization is thought to be a conservative pronunciation reflecting the original
Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Ja ...
state. The consonant inventory is identical to that of Standard Japanese but with a different distribution. In Standard Japanese, the palatal series was produced with palatalisation of alveolar consonants before the front vowel /i/ and the semivowel /j/; s => ɕ, t => tɕ, d => dʑ. However, in the Tōhoku dialect they were formed by the palatalisation of /k/ and /g/ and the semivowel /j/; k => tɕ, g => dʑ (kigahatteiru => chihatteɾu; benkyou => benchou) and a shift of /ç/ which was formed by palatalisation of /h/ before /i/ and the semivowel /j/, towards /ɕ/ (hito => shito).


Grammar

In grammar, a volitional and presumptive suffix -''be'' or -''ppe'' is widely used in the region. It is a transformation of -''beki'', a conjugated form of an archaic suffix -''beshi''. Since the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six m ...
, a slogan ''Ganbappe!'' ("Let's buckle down!") has often been used in the disaster area. A directional particle ''sa'' is also widely used in the region. It is a transformation of ''sama'' ("direction") and almost equivalent to standard ''ni'' or ''e''. A
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...
proverb " Kyō ''e'',
Tsukushi Tsukushi may refer to: Places *Tsukushi Province, old Japanese province, subsequently divided into **Chikuzen Province, old Japanese province, part of Fukuoka Prefecture without south and east Fukuoka **Chikugo Province, old Japanese province, th ...
''ni'', Bandō ''sa''" says that the particle ''sa'' was once widely used in Kanto region.


Sub-dialects

The Tōhoku dialects can be broken down geographically and by former ''han'' domains: * Northern Tohoku **
Tsugaru dialect The is a Japanese dialect spoken in western Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's ma ...
(western
Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the ea ...
, the former
Tsugaru Domain Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Hon ...
) ** Nambu dialect (eastern Aomori Prefecture and northern
Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectu ...
, the former Nanbu Domain) *** Morioka dialect (centered
Morioka city is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...
) *** Shimokita dialect (
Shimokita Peninsula is the remote northeastern cape of the Japanese island of Honshū, stretching out towards Hokkaidō. Overview It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, Tsugaru Strait to the north and Mutsu Bay to the west and south. Shaped like an axe ...
, northeastern Aomori Prefecture) ** Akita dialect (
Akita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its geographic area is 1 ...
) ** Shōnai dialect (northwestern
Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the nort ...
, the former Shonai Domain) ** Hokuetsu dialect (northeastern
Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and N ...
) * Southern Tohoku ** Sendai dialect (
Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the n ...
especially
Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date M ...
) ** Southern Iwate dialect (southern Iwate Prefecture) *** Kesen dialect ( Kesen district, southeastern Iwate Prefecture) ** Yamagata Nairiku dialect (
Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the nort ...
) *** Murayama dialect (central Yamagata Prefecture, centered
Yamagata city is the capital city of Yamagata Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,772 in 103,165 households, and a population density of 650 persons per km2. The total area of the city i ...
) *** Yonezawa dialect or Okitama dialect (southern Yamagata Prefecture, centered Yonezawa city) *** Shinjō dialect or Mogami dialect (northeastern Yamagata Prefecture, centered Shinjō city) ** Fukushima dialect (eastern
Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...
) ** Aizu dialect (
Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...
region in western Fukushima Prefecture) In addition, the Eastern Kantō dialects and the coastal dialects of Hokkaidō have many Tōhoku features.


See also

* Kirikirijin - a satirical novel in 1981 featuring Tohoku culture. * Umpaku dialect - another ''Zuzu-ben'' in western Japan.


References


External links


Center for the Study of Dialectology, Tohoku University


{{DEFAULTSORT:Tohoku Dialect Japanese dialects Tōhoku region