Gunma dialect
The Gunma dialect is a Japanese dialect spoken in Gunma Prefecture.
Outline
Along with the Chiba, Saitama, Tama and Kanagawa dialects it is considered a West Kanto dialect. Despite sharing the North Kantō region with Ibaraki and Tochigi, the dialects of these respective prefectures are linguistically considered East Kanto dialects and differ considerably from the Gunma dialect. There is dialectical variation within the prefecture, with three sub-regions being classified: the mountainous area in the north and west of the prefecture, the plain area in the centre and the Southwest area. The far southeastern Ōra District has intermediate features of West and East Kanto dialects. Similarly to the Saitama dialect, there is no weakening of g-starting mora.Grammar
Negation
The negation auxiliary verb nai, when attaching to the verb kuru, becomes kinai or kinē. However, in Agatsuma District it is conjugated to konai or konē.''be'' (べ) particle
The particle be, used to express volition, invitation and conjecture, is widely used in Kanto dialects, including Gunma. Historically, be was used in all three of these cases, but was influenced by the distinction between -u and darō in standard Japanese, leading to the emergence of a new dialectal phrase by the Showa Era, danbe, which became used for conjecture. When used to express volition, be attaches to the conclusive form of Godan verbs and to the imperfective form of Ichidan verbs. In Agatsuma, where the negative form of kuru, konai, is used, it is conjugated as kobe instead of kibe.Adjectives
For adjectives, be attaches to a syllabic nasal n affected -kari ending, to form examples such as the following:- too-kanbe.
- tsuyo-kanbe.
- too-kappe.
- tsuyo-kappe.
Recent shifts in usage
According to an investigation from 1980 to 2010 focussing on Gunma's younger generation, by 2010, the distinction between be and danbe had diminished and once more only be was now used to expressed volition, invitation and conjecture. In addition, a new dialectal expression, nbe, had begun to spread in 1980 from eastern Gunma and was now widespread across the prefecture. The same study also found that usage of the Ichidan verb and the had fallen markedly and the simple had spread in its place / tooe-be. In the 2010 younger generation sample, the , which is widely used across Kantō and Tōhoku, was predominantly used, followed by the Gunma-unique . Nbe is thought to have originated from the syllabic nasal-affected conclusive form; the ru in miru-be became n to form minbe, which had the nbe segment taken and used as a separate form.Pitch accent
Other than areas that have a vague accent or no accent at all, there is little disparity with the Tōkyō standard pitch accent. In urban areas, three-mora nouns such as asahi, inochi and kokoro have their first mora stressed, e.g. asahi, inochi, kokoro, in concurrence with the Tokyo standard. In rural areas, however, there is a tendency for speakers to stress the middle mora, e.g. asahi, inochi, kokoro. A 1984 investigation carried out in Takasaki found that the words asahi, kokoro, namida and hashira were middle-mora stressed. Some pitch accent differences with standard Japanese are shown in the table below.| Word | Tōkyō standard | Gunma dialect |
| akubi | akubi | akubi |
| ichigo | ichigo | ichigo |
| kame | kame | kame |
| kumo | kumo | kumo |
| hagi | hagi | hagi |
| hato | hato | hato |