Japanese
Japanese is documented on Dialect Atlas across 8 dialects, including Hakata-ben, Hiroshima-ben, Hokkaido-ben.
Dialects of Japanese
- Hakata-benFukuoka dialectThe dialect of Fukuoka and the Hakata district on northern Kyushu. Recognisable for sentence-final particles like "to" and "tai".
- Hiroshima-benGeibi dialectThe Chūgoku-region dialect of Hiroshima and surrounding Geibi area. Known to many Japanese viewers through Hiroshima-set film and television.
- Hokkaido-benThe variety spoken across Hokkaido. A relatively young dialect shaped by 19th-century settlement, mostly close to Standard Japanese but with Tōhoku and coastal influences.
- Kansai-benKansai dialect · Kinki dialect · Osaka-benThe major dialect group of the Kansai region, with Osaka as its modern centre. Strongly distinct from Tokyo Japanese in pitch accent, copula forms, and idiom. Kyoto-ben is treated separately here.
- Kyoto-benKyō-kotoba · Kyoto dialectThe Kyoto variety of Kansai Japanese. Historically the prestige speech of the imperial court, marked by softer cadence, distinct honorific forms, and a long literary heritage.
- Nagoya-benOwari dialectThe dialect of Nagoya and the Owari plain. Sits between the Tokyo and Kansai regions and shares features with both, while keeping a distinct vowel inventory.
- Tōhoku-benTōhoku dialect · Zūzū-benThe dialects of north-eastern Honshu around Sendai. Distinguished by reduced vowel contrasts and merged sibilants — historically caricatured as "zūzū-ben".
- Tokyo JapaneseHyōjungo · Standard JapaneseThe Tokyo-area variety that forms the basis of Standard Japanese (Hyōjungo). Carried nationwide by broadcasting, education, and government use.