Editing Tokyo (section)

=== Dialects ===
{{See also|Tokyo dialect}}
[[Japanese language|Japanese]] is the primary language spoken throughout the metropolis, though regional and socio-economic differences can be heard. Traditionally, dialects in Tokyo are classified into two groups: the Yamanote dialect and the Shitamachi dialect. The former has traditionally been spoken in the upper- and upper-middle-class residential area of Yamanote, which includes [[Banchō|Bancho]], [[Kōjimachi|Kojimachi]], [[Koishikawa]], [[Kudankita|Kudan]], [[Yotsuya]], [[Azabu]], and [[Akasaka, Tokyo|Akasaka]]. During the [[Edo period]], these neighborhoods were occupied by ''[[Daimyo]]'' and other powerful [[samurai]] families and the dialect evolved largely based on their way of speech. Standard Japanese pronunciation is largely based on this accent and spread across the country with the introduction of [[radio]]. The Shitamachi dialect, in contrast, has been associated with the ''[[Chōnin]]'' district of Shitamachi and retains many characteristics of the accents spoken there in the Edo era.<ref>Yoshifumi Tobita. ''[https://tohoku.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/75706/files/L2H050084.pdf The formation of the Tokyo dialect] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628140912/https://tohoku.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/75706/files/L2H050084.pdf |date=June 28, 2024 }}''. 1993. PhD Thesis. Tohoku University.</ref> However, socio-economic changes in the post-war period and the large influx of people moving from other areas have largely blurred these distinctions in recent years. It has been reported that young generations are not as aware of the differences in dialects as their parents' and grandparents' generations were.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ogino |first=Tsunao |date=1983 |title=Difference in Honorific Usage between the "Yamanote" Uptown and Traditional "Shitamachi" Downtown Districts in Tokyo |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/gengo1939/1983/84/1983_84_45/_article |journal=Gengo Kenkyu |volume=1983 |issue=84 |pages=45–76 |doi=10.11435/gengo1939.1983.84_45}}</ref>

The [[Hachijō language|Hachijō dialect]], spoken primarily in [[Hachijō-jima|Hachijōjima]] and [[Aogashima]], descended from 6th-8th century [[Eastern Old Japanese]] and has fewer than 1,000 speakers.<ref>Masayoshi Shibatani, 1990. ''The Languages of Japan'', p. 207.</ref><ref>Thomas Pellard. ''The comparative study of the Japonic languages. Approaches to endangered languages in Japan and Northeast Asia: Description, documentation and revitalization'', National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Aug 2018, Tachikawa, Japan. ffhal-01856152</ref> [[Bonin English]] is a creole spoken in the [[Bonin Islands|Ogasawara Islands]], derived from English and Japanese,<ref name="Long2006">{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Daniel |date=2006 |title=English on the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands |journal=[[American Speech]] |series=Publication of the American Dialect Society, 91 |publisher=[[American Dialect Society]] ([[Duke University Press]]) |volume=81 |issue=5 |isbn=978-0-8223-6671-3}}</ref> as the islands' population historically consisted of people of Japanese, British, American, Hawaiian, and Polynesian origins, mostly mixed-race.<ref name=":12">{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Daniel |date=2007 |title=When islands create languages or, Why do language research with Bonin (Ogasawara) Islanders? |url=https://shimajournal.org/issues/v1n1/e.-Long-Shima-v1n1.pdf |journal=Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=15–27 |issn=1834-6057}}</ref>