The Ibaraki dialect (

Shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in Simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as extensi ...

: , Kyujitai: ) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

spoken in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefectur ...

. It is noted for its distinctive use of the sentence-ending

particles In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...

(''be'') and (''ppe'') and an atypical intonation pattern that rises in neutral statements and falls in questions. It is also noted for its merging of certain vowels, frequent consonant voicing, and a relatively fast rate of speech.

Classification

Historically, the forms of Japanese spoken in the area that constitutes modern-day Ibaraki were not treated as a unified dialect until the formation of the prefecture in 1871. Conflicting opinions have existed regarding its classification, however. Along with the

Tochigi dialect The Tochigi dialect (Japanese: 栃木弁 ''Tochigi-ben'') is a Japanese dialect spoken in Tochigi prefecture. It is classified along with the Ibaraki dialect as an East Kanto dialect, but due to possessing various shared phonological and gram ...

, the Ibaraki dialect is considered a part of the wider North

Kantō dialect The Kantō dialects (関東方言 ''kantō hōgen'', 関東弁 ''kantō-ben'') are a group of Japanese dialects spoken in t