# Japanese/Dialects

```
!A map of Japanese
copula.{width="320"} Many
learners of Japanese begin their studies thinking that the language is a
single standard, spoken across the whole nation. While it is true that
nearly all Japanese nationals can speak the standard language, it is by
no means their every day language. This long and mountainous archipelago
has over the centuries given rise to a great number of dialects with
their own distinct accent, intonation and vocabulary.

Before the Tokugawa Shogun (徳川将軍) moved to Edo (江戸, modern day
Tokyo) in 1603, the main place of government was Kyoto (京都), and
standard Japanese was the ancestor of today\'s Kyoto dialect. Modern
standard Japanese, hyōjungo (標準語) is basically the dialect of Tokyo.
This is used in schools and media throughout the country. Other
varieties of Japanese are often considered provincial and like in every
language, each bears connotations of archetypes.

!A map of Japanese
dialects.{width="320"}

## Eastern Japanese

-   Hokkaidō Dialect
-   Tōhoku Dialect
    -   Northern
        -   Tsugaru
            Dialect
    -   Southern
-   Kantō Dialect
    -   (Japanese/Dialects/Yokohama?)
-   Tōkai Dialect
    -   (Japanese/Dialects/Mikawa)
-   Hokuriku Dialect
    -   Japanese/Dialects/Ishikawa
    -   Japanese/Dialects/Toyama

## Western Japanese

-   Hokuriku Dialect
    (Talk:Japanese/Dialects/Ishikawa?)
    -   (Japanese/Dialects/Toyama)
-   Kinki (Kansai) Dialect
    -   Japanese/Dialects/Osaka
-   Chūgoku Dialect
-   Umpaku Dialect
-   Shikoku Dialect
-   Kyūshū
-   Hōnichi Dialect
-   Hichiku Dialect
-   Satsugū Dialect

## Hachijō Island

-   Hachijō Dialect

## Ryūkyū

-   (Japanese/Dialects/Okinawa?)


