Fundamental Research on the Base Dialect of the Tokyo Metropolitan Dialect

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520506
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese linguistics
• Research Institution: Kanda University of International Studies
• Principal Investigator: KIGAWA Yukio 神田外語大学, その他の研究科, 教授 (50327186)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUNO Mariko 國學院大學, 文学部, 教授 (90170018)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 首都圏方言 / アクセント / ラ行音の撥音化 / 母音の無声化 / 東京語

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to explore the base dialect of the Tokyo Metropolitan dialect, the present study investigated the phonological, accentual, grammatical and lexical propertied of the dialects spoken at the western and southern extremities of the Tokyo metropolitan area: Odawara City in Kanagawa Prefecture and Tateyama City in Chiba Prefecture. As a result, this study found (1) that old accent patterns in the Tokyo dialect are observed in the two dialects and (2) that the two dialects share phenomena such as syllabic nasalization in the ra-row sounds. This study also showed that assimilation of the dialects in the two areas into the common language/the Tokyo dialect is in progress, and the original dialects in the two areas has gradually disappeared, especially, among younger people.

Free Research Field

日本語学