The is the local dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 spoken in Yamagata Prefecture

Yamagata Prefecture

-Fruit:Yamagata Prefecture is the largest producer of cherries and pears in Japan. A large quantity of other kinds of fruits such as grapes, apples, peaches, melons, persimmons and watermelons are also produced.- Demographics :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is a form of Tōhoku-ben, and can itself 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

Swing Girls

is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker Shinobu Yaguchi about the efforts of a group of high school girls to form a jazz band....

, 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

Daniel Kahl

Daniel Kahl is an American of German descent and a foreign TV personality in Japan. He is famous for speaking fluent Yamagata-ben, the very rural dialect of Yamagata Prefecture...

, an American who has made a TV career as the gaijin talent who can speak fluent Yamagata-ben.

Sample

List of Yamagata-ben words (not all of which are spoken throughout the prefecture):

• oshoushina - thank you
• oshoshi- thanks
• arigatou sama - thank you
• sasukune - no problem/ you're welcome
• domosu - thank you / greeting
• kiyotsu - take care
• ohayosu - G'morning
• oban desu - Good evening
• obanwasu - G'morning
• oban kata - Good evening
• hisashibe - it's been a while (since we last met)
• n dasu - it is so
• n da - yes
• n ne - no
• na shite -why is this?
• omoshaibe - interesting
• muzurikado -difficult
• jonda - great! skillful!
• igube - let's go
• aibe - let's go
• migi sa muzaru- turn right
• migi sa muziru- turn right
• hidari sa muzaru- turn left
• hidari sa muziru- turn left
• shaikosunna- stop interfering/bothering me
• sawannazu!- don't touch me!
• tentsu- lie
• agarashai - welcome
• ke- a statement made to offer one food
• ku- a statement made accepting one's offer of food
• ～nan da be? (～nan desu ka?) - ...is what?
• n dakara - therefore
• agae/agayae- please eat

Yamagata-ben can viewed as a dialect with "a slovenly appearance"