Tokyo dialect

The Tokyo dialect (東京弁 Tōkyō-ben) is a Japanese dialect spoken in modern Tokyo. The dialect in modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese, though in fact the Tokyo dialect differs from standard Japanese in a number of areas. Noticeable earmarks of the dialect include the frequent use of sa (さ), which is roughly analogous to "like" as used in American English slang;　jan (じゃん), which is a contraction of ja nai ka (じゃないか isn't that... more

The Tokyo dialect (東京弁 Tōkyō-ben) is a Japanese dialect spoken in modern Tokyo. The dialect in modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese, though in fact the Tokyo dialect differs from standard Japanese in a number of areas. Noticeable earmarks of the dialect include the frequent use of sa (さ), which is roughly analogous to "like" as used in American English slang;　jan (じゃん), which is a contraction of ja nai ka (じゃないか isn't that right?) and came from the Shizuoka and Kanagawa dialects; and tsū (つう) in place of to iu (と言う to say or is called). It is also not uncommon for the Tokyo dialect to change the -iru (～いる) stem of the present progressive to -n (～ん), as in tsutten nō (つってんのー　[someone] is saying) versus to itte iru no yo (と言っているのよ) of standard Japanese. The Shitamachi dialect (下町言葉 Shitamachi-kotoba), or Edo dialect (江戸弁 Edo-ben), a fast-fading dialect of old families from the eastern Tokyo area of Shitamachi, is another example of a Tokyo dialect that differs... less