Reviewing the literature and recommended readings in LIN5000 has been interesting. The sheer volume of information to digest is a little daunting, and it still feels like we're only skimming the surface. I particularly liked the sections on dialects. Japan is a place that is rife with dialects. Where I live there are several dialects that are identifiable, mainly by neighborhood. In my previous apartment in Futami they spoke a working class version of Japanese, Banshu-ben, which is a sub-dialect of Kansai-ben. In my new neighborhood it is a little more refined Osaka-ben, probably because I'm in more of a business/farming community. Futami was a little more blue collar fishing and construction town, so it is interesting to see that reflected in the language.
I also noticed that living in a foreign country and learning another language makes the deliniations between dialects much more apparent to me than when I lived in America. Maybe it has to do with the size of the countries as well as how people migrated through. In Japan people have been living in the same places for a long time, and it seems like geography plays a big part in how dialects where formed rather than immigration.
I also noticed that living in a foreign country and learning another language makes the deliniations between dialects much more apparent to me than when I lived in America. Maybe it has to do with the size of the countries as well as how people migrated through. In Japan people have been living in the same places for a long time, and it seems like geography plays a big part in how dialects where formed rather than immigration.
0 Responses to “Dialects”
Post a Comment