Accent
The accent of the Nagaoka dialect is classified as being among the outer range of the Tokyo accent group. With the development of modern media and transportation in recent years, there has been a trend, mostly among younger people, to use the middle range of the Tokyo accent group, which was originally used only in Itoigawa. For example, two-syllable words originally having a ''heiban'' accent, meaning a word ending with a high pitch that carries over to the following particle, have changed to an ''odaka'' accent, meaning the high pitch no longer carries over to the particle. Some additional difference from the standard Tokyo dialect:Grammar
''ga''
The postposition ''ga'' is probably the best known element of the Nagaoka dialect. It is typically placed at the end of sentences to alter the speaker's tone. It is basically equivalent to ''(no da) yo'' or ''no'' in standard Japanese. It is often pronounced with a lengthened vowel sound, i.e. ''gā'', written in Japanese as がー or がぁ. Features of ga: *When spoken with rising intonation it can often indicate a question, while falling intonation often shows the speaker's understanding or concent. *Unlike regular postpositions, additional postpositions can be added after ''ga'', such as ''ka'', ''ya'' and ''te''. *The copula ''da''/''desu'' and the polite form ''-masu'' can be abbreviated when ''ga'' is added, e.g. "This is Nagaoka." which would be rendered in standard Japanese as ''Koko wa Nagaoka na n da'' (ここは長岡なんだ) would be ''Koko wa Nagaoka n ga'' (ここは長岡んが) (Note that ''na'' has also been lost). Other auxiliary verbs are not removed.''te''
Like ''ga'', ''te'' is generally attached to the end of a sentence, and carries a meaning similar to ''(da) yo'' in standard Japanese. Unlike ''ga'', however, ''da'', ''desu'' and ''-masu'' are not removed when ''te'' is added, e.g. "This is Nagaoka", rendered in standard Japanese as ''Koko wa Nagaoka da yo'' (ここは長岡だよ) would be ''Koko wa Nagaoka da te'' (ここは長岡だて) in Nagaoka dialect.''ra''
The copula ''da'' and its derivative ''darō'' are replaced with ''ra'' and ''raro'', e.g. standard Japanese ''Sō darō?'' (そうだろう？) becomes ''Sō raro?'' (そうらろ？) in Nagaoka dialect.Vocabulary
Below is a list of example words from the Nagaoka dialect:References
{{Japanese language Japanese dialects Culture in Niigata Prefecture Nagaoka, Niigata