Editing Kansai dialect (section)

=== Kyoto ===
[[File:Kyoto dialect banner in Demachi.JPG|thumbnail|A banner in Kyoto dialect. The advertisement of shopping street, ''Maido okoshiyasu. Kyō mo ē mon arimasu e'' translates as "Welcome. We have nice goods every day"]]
'''Kyōto-ben''' (京都弁) or '''Kyō-kotoba''' ([[:ja:京言葉|京言葉]]) is characterized by development of politeness and indirectness expressions. Kyoto-ben is often regarded as elegant and feminine dialect because of its characters and the image of [[Gion]]'s ''[[geisha]]'' (''geiko-han'' and ''[[Maiko (geiko)|maiko]]-han'' in Kyoto-ben), the most conspicuous speakers of traditional Kyoto-ben.<ref name="Sato 2009">Ryoichi Sato ed (2009). {{nihongo|都道府県別全国方言辞典|Todōfuken-betsu Zenkoku Hōgen Jiten}}.</ref> Kyoto-ben is divided into the court dialect called ''Gosho kotoba'' (御所言葉) and the citizens dialect called ''Machikata kotoba'' (町方言葉). The former was spoken by court noble before moving the Emperor to Tokyo, and some phrases inherit at a few [[monzeki]]. The latter has subtle difference at each social class such as old merchant families at [[Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto|Nakagyo]], craftsmen at [[Nishijin]] and [[geiko]] at [[Hanamachi]] ([[Gion]], [[Miyagawa-chō]] etc.)

Kyoto-ben was the ''de facto'' standard Japanese from 794 until the 18th century and some Kyoto people are still proud of their accent; they get angry when Tokyo people treat Kyoto-ben as a provincial accent.<ref name="Sato 2009"/> However, traditional Kyoto-ben is gradually declining except in the world of ''geisha'', which prizes the inheritance of traditional Kyoto customs. For example, a famous Kyoto copula ''dosu'', instead of standard ''desu'', is used by a few elders and ''geisha'' now.<ref>Nobusuke Kishie and Fumiko Inoue (1997). {{nihongo|京都市方言の動態|Kyōto-shi Hōgen no Dōtai}}</ref>

The verb inflection ''-haru'' is an essential part of casual speech in modern Kyoto. In Osaka and its environs, ''-haru'' has a certain level of politeness above the base (informal) form of the verb, putting it somewhere between the informal and the more polite ''-masu'' conjugations. However, in Kyoto, its position is much closer to the informal than it is to the polite mood, owing to its widespread use. Kyoto people, especially elderly women, often use -''haru'' for their family and even for animals and weather.<ref>Kayoko Tsuji (2009). {{nihongo|「ハル」敬語考 京都語の社会言語史|Haru Keigo-kō Kyōto-go no Shakaigengo-shi}}. {{ISBN|978-4-89476-416-3}}。</ref>

'''Tango-ben''' ([[:ja:丹後弁|丹後弁]]) spoken in northernmost Kyoto Prefecture, is too different to be regarded as Kansai dialect and usually included in Chūgoku dialect. For example, the copula ''da'', the Tokyo-type accent, the honorific verb ending -''naru'' instead of -''haru'' and the peculiarly diphthong {{IPA|[æː]}} such as {{IPA|[akæː]}} for ''akai'' "red".