Unpaku Dialect

The is a group of Japanese dialects spoken in central San'in. The name ''Unpaku'' (雲伯) is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from ''Izumo'' (出雲) and ''Hōki'' (伯耆), the names of former provinces of this region.

The Umpaku dialects are:
* Izumo dialect (eastern Shimane Prefecture, formerly known as Izumo Province)
* Yonago dialect (western Tottori Prefecture centered on Yonago)
* Oki dialect ( Oki islands of Shimane Prefecture)

Pronunciation

Umpaku dialect, especially Izumo-ben, uniquely among dialects in the Chūgoku region, superficially resembles Tōhoku dialects in pronunciation and is thus also called ''Zūzū-ben''. It has neutralization of the high vowels "i" and "u".

Vowels

Voiceless vowel sounds are common in most western Japanese accents and this is no different in Izumo where they are commonly heard.
In Izumo and western Hoki, just like the Tohoku dialects "i" and "u" sounds are centralized. "i" is commonly pronounced and "u" .

Consonants

The dropping of "r" sounds

In Izumo and western Hoki dialects, "r" sounds are often dropped and replaced with an elongation of the previous vowel. e.g. ''dare'' > ''daa'' "who", ''arimasu'' > ''aamasu'' "there is". In particular this often happens to "ri" and "ru" sounds which are almost all replaced by this elongated sound. In some areas, ''shiroi'' "white" becomes ''shie'' and ''akeru'' "to open" becomes ''akyae''. In Oki, these sounds are also replaced by sokuon such as ''sono tsumodda'' (''sono tsumori da'').

Remnants of archaic sounds

; kwa, gwa
: The retention of /w/ in these syllables, prominent in Unpaku dialect, is non-standard in modern Japanese.
; f instead of h
: In the Heian period, all of the "h" row of sounds were pronounced with an "f" sound rather than with a "h" i.e. ''fa, fi, fu, fe, fo.'' Izumo still keeps this pronunciation. For example： ''fashi'' = ''hashi'' "chopsticks", ''febi'' = ''hebi'' "snake"
; se, ze
: In pronunciation "se" becomes "she" and "ze" becomes "je", similar to the Kyushu dialect.

Pitch Accent

Grammar

Vocabulary

* ''kariru'' (かりる) "to borrow"; ''karu'' in other forms of western Japanese.
* ''dandan'' (ダンダン) "thank you"; ''arigatō'' in Standard Japanese. It is not used within the family, but rather in conversation with strangers, in much the same way as in Standard Japanese ''dōmo'' is used as an abbreviation.
* ''gosu'' (ごす) "to give (to speaker)"; ''kureru'' in Standard Japanese. E.g. ''X-san ga wa ni yasai o goita wa'' "Mr. X gave me vegetables." For a more polite form, ''goshinaru'' is also used。
* ''kyotoi'' (きょとい) "scary, frightening"; ''kowai'' in Standard Japanese. E.g. ''maa, ano hito wa kyotoi wa!'' "Oh, that person is scary!", ''aa! kyoto, kyoto! nigetoku da wa!'' "Oh, how scary he is! Let's escape!"
* ''chonboshi'' (ちょんぼし)/''chokkoshi'' (ちょっこし) "a little"; ''sukoshi'' or ''chotto'' in Standard Japanese.
* ''gaina'' (がいな) "giant"; ''sugoi'' or ''gotsui'' in Standard Japanese. The animation studio Gainax is named for ''gaina''.
* ''banjimashite'' (ばんじまして) "good evening"; ''konbanwa'' in Standard Japanese.

References

External links

正しい?出雲弁講座

{{Japanese language

Japanese dialects