Yamagata dialect

Yamagata dialect
Murayama dialect
Native to	Japan
Region	Yamagata
Language family	Japonic Japanese Eastern Japanese Tōhoku Southern Yamagata dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	yama1262[1]

The Yamagata dialect (山形弁 Yamagata-ben) is the local dialect spoken in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It is a form of Tōhoku-ben, and can be broken down into sub-regional branches that vary from area to area within Yamagata.

Yamagata-ben was used for comic effect in the Japanese film Swing Girls, 2004, to suggest that the film was set in a rural, 'backward' location. However, some Yamagata residents feel that the film used the dialect in an unnatural and patronising way. The dialect has also had Japan-wide exposure through Daniel Kahl, an American who has made a TV career as the gaijin talent who can speak fluent Yamagata-ben.

References

1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Yamagata". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.