Okuyoshino dialect

Okuyoshino dialect
奥吉野方言
Dorogawa, near Tenkawa in southern Nara Prefecture
Native toJapan
RegionSouthern Nara Prefecture, Kansai
Japonic
  • Japanese
    • Western
      • Kansai
        • Okuyoshino dialect
Dialects
  • Totsukawa
  • Kitayama
  • Oto-Tenkawa
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Okuyoshino dialect area (burgundy)

The Okuyoshino dialect (Japanese: 奥吉野方言 okuyoshino hogen) is a Kansai dialect of Japanese spoken in several villages in the Okuyoshino region of southern Nara Prefecture. It is well-known as a language island, with various rare and unique characteristics.[1]

The dialect is currently spoken in the villages of Totsukawa, Kamikitayama, Shimokitayama, Tenkawa and Oto (now part of Gojo), and although it is classified as part of the neighbouring Nara dialect, the village of Nosegawa is also sometimes included in definitions.

  1. ^ 飯豊, 毅一 (1982). 講座方言学7 ―近畿地方の方言― (in Japanese). 国書刊行会. p. 117.