The Kansai dialect, or Kansai-ben, is the group of Japanese dialects native to the Kansai, or Kinki, region of western Japan, centered on the Keihanshin metropolitan area formed by Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe and home to some 20 million people, the second most populous urban region in Japan after greater Tokyo. Popularly typified by Osaka-ben, the speech of Osaka, though each city and prefecture within the region carries its own distinct variant, the dialect group is often described as vowel-strong in contrast to the consonant-strong character of standard Tokyo Japanese. Grammatically it replaces the standard copula da with ya and the standard negative ending -nai with -hen or -n, and its vocabulary includes words such as metcha for very and the fondly used aho for fool, alongside pervasive use of the honorific suffix -haru.
Facts
Regionthe Kansai, or Kinki, region of Japan, centered on the metropolitan areas of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe and extending roughly 50 kilometers around this Keihanshin area 1 Speaker Communitynative to the second most populous urban region of Japan after the Tokyo area, with roughly 20 million residents; Osaka speech, Osaka-ben, is the variety most closely identified with the dialect group as a whole, though each city and prefecture carries its own variant 1 Distinguishing Featuresa pitch-accent and rhythm pattern often described as vowel-strong against the consonant-strong character of Tokyo speech, with vowel reduction largely avoided and monomoraic nouns commonly lengthened; the copula ya in place of standard da; negative verb forms built with -hen or -n rather than standard -nai; extensive use of the honorific suffix -haru; vocabulary such as hokasu for throw away, metcha for very and the affectionately used aho for fool 1 Classification
Variety Kind Kansai Dialect
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Source Wikipedia: Kansai Dialect
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Kansai Dialect
Wikimedia FoundationBackground section
The Kansai dialect is typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, referred to as Osaka-ben.
Variety kind, Kansai Dialect entity page
The Kansai dialect, or Kansai-ben, is the group of Japanese dialects native to the Kansai, or Kinki, region of western Japan, centered on the Keihanshin metropolitan area formed by Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe and home to some 20 million people, the second most populous urban region in Japan after greater Tokyo.
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