Yamagata dialect

Japanese dialect spoken in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Yamagata dialect
Murayama dialect
Native to	Japan
Region	Yamagata
Language family	Japonic Japanese Eastern Japanese Tōhoku Southern Yamagata dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	`yama1262`
IETF	`ja-u-sd-jp06`

The Yamagata dialect (山形弁, Yamagata-ben) is the local dialect spoken in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.^[1]^[2] It is a form of Tōhoku-ben, and can be broken down into sub-regional branches that vary from area to area within Yamagata. Dialects in Yamagata Prefecture are roughly divided into two types: Inland and Shonai (coastal).

Yamagata-ben was used for comic effect in the Japanese film Swing Girls, 2004, to suggest that the film was set in a rural, 'backward' location. However, some Yamagata residents feel that the film used the dialect in an unnatural and patronising way. The dialect has also had Japan-wide exposure through Daniel Kahl, an American who has made a TV career as the gaijin talent who can speak fluent Yamagata-ben.

References

^ Asahi, Yoshiyuki; Usami, Mayumi; Inoue, Fumio (2022-04-04). Handbook of Japanese Sociolinguistics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 643. ISBN 978-1-5015-0147-0.
^ Kageyama, Taro; Jacobsen, Wesley M. (2016-07-25). Transitivity and Valency Alternations: Studies on Japanese and Beyond. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 188. ISBN 978-3-11-047715-3.

Japanese language

Earlier forms

Dialects

Eastern	Hokkaidō Tōhoku Northern Nanbu Tsugaru Akita Southern Kesen Nairiku Kantō Western Gunma Kanagawa Tokyo Eastern Ibaraki Tochigi Northern Izu Islands Tōkai–Tōsan Nagano-Yamanashi-Shizuoka Shizuoka Narada Echigo Nagaoka Gifu-Aichi Nagoya Mikawa Mino Hida
Western	Hokuriku Kaga Kanazawa Shiramine Kansai Awaji Banshū Kishū Okuyoshino Shikoku Iyo Tosa Sanuki Chūgoku San'yō Bingo East San'in Inshū Umpaku
Kyūshū	Hōnichi Ōita Hichiku Chikuzen Hakata Kumamoto Nagasaki Saga Tsushima Satsugū
Other	Amami Japanese Okinawan Japanese

Pidgins and creoles

Japonic languages

Eastern Old Japanese Hachijō grammar
Ryukyuan	Northern Amami Ōshima Southern Amami Ōshima Kikai Kunigami Okinawan Okinoerabu Tokunoshima Yoron Southern Miyako Tarama Yaeyama Yonaguni

Writing system

Logograms	Script reform Kanbun Kanji by stroke count Kanji radicals by frequency by stroke count Kokuji Ryakuji Ateji
Kana	Hiragana Katakana Furigana Okurigana Gojūon Man'yōgana Hentaigana Sōgana Kana ligature
Orthography	Braille Kanji Punctuation Kanazukai Historical kana Modern kana Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai Yotsugana Transcription into Japanese
Encoding	EUC EUC-JP ISO/IEC 2022 JIS 0201 0208 0211 0212 0213 Shift JIS Unicode Hiragana Kana Extended-A Kana Extended-B Kana Supplement Small Kana Extension Katakana Katakana Phonetic Extensions Other ARIB STD B24 Enclosed EIS Extended shinjitai Half/Full