Tokyo Dialect - Overview

Overview

Traditional dialects in downtown of Tokyo can roughly classify into two groups, Yamanote dialect (山の手言葉, Yamanote kotoba?) and Shitamachi dialect (下町言葉, Shitamachi kotoba?). The Yamanote dialect is a well-mannered dialect of old upper-class from Yamanote area. Standard Japanese was built around the Yamanote dialect in Meiji period. The Shitamachi dialect is a frank dialect of old working-class from Shitamachi area. The Shitamachi dialect keeps features of Edo Chōnin (Edokko) speech, so also called Edo dialect (江戸言葉, 江戸弁, Edo kotoba, Edo-ben?). Tokyo style rakugo is typically played in Shitamachi dialect. Roughly speaking, the difference between Yamanote dialect and Shitamachi dialect looks like the difference between RP and Cockney in English.

The origin of Tokyo dialect dates back to the establishment of Edo by Tokugawa Ieyasu. With the establishment of Edo, people gathered from all over the nation and various dialects brought. The Kyoto dialect was the de facto standard Japanese and had strong influence on the formation of Edo dialect in the early Edo period, but Edo grew the largest city in Japan and became the new de facto standard Japanese in the late Edo period. Because of its unique history, especially relations with Kyoto dialect, Tokyo is a language island in Kantō region. For example, traditional Kanto dialects have been characterized by the use of volitional and presumptive suffix -be, but it is hardly used in Tokyo.