Regional variation

• Note: It is possible to subdivide Shizuoka dialects into groups based on the former provinces that existed there historically, which results in three dialects: the ‘Izu dialect’, ‘Suruga dialect’ and ‘Enshū dialect’. It is also possible to subdivide using the Ōi River as a boundary between west and east to form an ‘Eastern dialect’, ‘West Suruga dialect’ and ‘Tōtōmi dialect’.^[1] Generally, however, the following subdivisions are proposed:^[2]

1. Eastern Shizuoka dialect - Includes areas east of the Fuji River; the Izu Peninsula and the eastern part of Suraga. It possesses features of both West Kanto and Nayashi dialects, including usage of the conjectural particle be (べ), not voicing certain vowels and the use of the particles zura (ずら) and ra (ら).^[2]
2. Central Shizuoka dialect - Includes areas west of the Fuji River and east of Kakegawa. Includes the western part of Suruga and the eastern part of Enshū. The particle be is noticeably absent, and there is a characteristic usage of the past tense form -ke (-け).
3. Western Shizuoka dialect - Found in areas west of Fukuroi and Mori. Includes all of Enshū save for its eastern region. In place of the invitational form zā (ざあ), which is commonly found in the Central Shizuoka dialect, the phrase maika (まいか) is used instead.
4. Ikawa dialect - Includes the upper reaches of the Ōi River and settlements such as the former village of Ikawa. Due to historical isolation, it retains various archaic expressions and also lacks a pitch accent.

Western and Eastern divide

Grammatical features are often employed as indicators to split Shizuoka dialects between Western and Eastern Japanese. Based on the usage of n (ん) (a western Japanese feature) over nai (ない) (Eastern Japanese), the border between Eastern and Western Japanese is located around Shimada and the Ōi River. In contrast, the Western Japanese imperative form -yo (-よ) (as opposed to -ro (-ろ) in Eastern Japanese) is heard west of the Fuji River in the Central Shizuoka and Western Shizuoka dialects, whilst the Western Japanese present continuous form -toru (-とる, cognate with -te iru (-ている) in Eastern Japanese) is found west of Lake Hamana.

General features

Most notably in the east of the prefecture, consecutive vowel sounds are often merged in the following manner:

• ai (あい) → ē (えぇ), yeā (えぁあ) or yeā (ゃあ).
• oi (おい) and ui (うい) also fuse in a manner similar to what is found in the Nagoya dialect.

Although not generally present in Shimada and west of the Ōi River, vowel merging is sometimes heard around Hamamatsu.^[3] For example:

• omae (おまえ you) → omyā (おめぁあ)
• zaisan (ざいさん property) → zyāsan (ぜぁあさん).

In the Eastern Shizuoka and Western Shizuoka dialects there is extensive unvoicing of vowel sounds, with a less pronounced trend in the Central Shizuoka dialect and the inner parts of Enshū (Misakubo and Sakuma) (save for in the upper reaches of the Ōi and Abe Rivers).^[3] Also, the object-marking particle wo (を) is not generally pronounced as o (お) as is the case in standard Japanese, but as uo (うお).

Pitch accent

Negative form

East of the Ōi River, the standard negative form -nai (-ない) is heard, along with -nē (ねぇ) and -nyā (-にゃあ), whilst west of the river, -n (-ん) is used. In the northern Sankan region, -nō (-のぉ) is also said. In the west of the prefecture, the intensifier negative -yashinai (-やしない) may have its ending portion substituted with -sen (せん), -hen (へん) or -shin (しん). Additionally, in all parts of Shizuoka, the negative suspended form -naide... (-ないで...) can become -nakkō... (-なっこぉ). For example: ikanaide (行かないで) → ikanakkō (行かなっこぉ).^[10][3]

Conclusive da (だ)

Throughout Shizuoka, the conclusive phrase no da (のだ) is contracted to simply da (だ). For example, iku no da (行くのだ variously: go (command), I'm going now (explanatory)) becomes iku da (行くだ) and akai no da (赤いのだ) becomes akai da (赤いだ).^[11]

Euphonic change of shi (し) → i (い)

As far as Shizuoka’s border with Kanagawa Prefecture, there is euphonic change of the s-row mora shi (し) to i (い), such as in dashita (出した) →daita (出いた).^[12]

Volitional / invitational be (べ), zu/su (ず/す) and kka (っか)

Several different particles are used to express volition and invitation across Shizuoka. East of the Fuji River, the particle be (べ) is used, whilst west of the Fuji River (in the central and western parts of the prefecture), the particle zu (ず), as in ikazu (ka) (行かず(か)) is used instead. A similar particle, su (す), is spoken from Higashi-Suruga east of Kannami across the centre and west of Shizuoka.^[13] Kka (っか) is found mainly in central regions (Example: ikakka (行かっか)). In the far western city of Kosai, the form -ayo (-あよ) or -aka (-あか) may also be used (For example: ikāyo (行かあよ), ikaaka (行かあか)).^[11]

Invitational zā (ざあ) and mai (まい)

The invitational particle zā (ざあ), such as in ikazā (行かざあ shall we go?), is found in the Central Shizuoka dialect. Additionally, another invitational particle with the same meaning, mai (まい), such as in ikamai (ka) or ikimai (ka)) (行かまい(か) / 行きまい(か), is found predominantly in the west of the prefecture.^[11]

Conjectural zura (ずら), dara (だら), ra (ら) and tsura (つら)

The conjectural particles zura (ずら), dara (だら), ra (ら) and tsura (つら) are used across Shizuoka. The particles ra and zura are used in the same manner as darō (だろう) in standard Japanese, expressing conjecture about something in present or future tense. Although both ra and zura can attach to verbs and adjectives, only zura can attach to nouns.^[14] In contrast to ra and zura, tsura is used for expressing conjecture about something in the past (equivalent to -ta darō (-ただろう)). In eastern Shizuoka, be may be used in combination with these particles. Predominantly in the west and centre of the prefecture, the particle zu (ず) can be used to indicate something of high certainty (ikazu (行かず (she's) probably going to go). In recent years, the newer expressions dara (だら) and tara (たら or tadara (ただら) have been increasingly used in place of zura and tsura, respectively.^[13] Dara is believed to have originated from an attached ra on the copula, da (だ).^[14]

Past tense -ke (-け)

Until relatively recently in central Shizuoka, the verb and adjective ending -ke (-け) has been commonly used to express the past tense. For example, ikke (行っけ I went) or akakke (赤っけ It was red). Currently, however, -ke is less commonly used, and the form -takke (-たっけ) is more common (Example: ittakke (行ったっけ).^[15] Elsewhere, in the former towns of Misakubo and Sakuma, the past tense was expressed with -tsu (-つ) (Example: ittsu (行っつ).^[13]

Reason and motive

The word de (で), which indicates a reason or cause of something (much like kara (から)), is used throughout Shizuoka.^[11] It is widely spread across the Tōkai Region, with regional variants including: da (だ) (not to be confused with the copula da) monde (もんで), mondade (もんだで) and (east of Shizuoka City), nte (んて).^[11]

Adversative conjunctions

The adversative conjunction keredo (けれど but) has various forms, including kēga (けぇが) (used in central Shizuoka), kendo (けんど), ken (けん), kega (けが) and ga (が), among others.^[11]

Imperative form

The standard imperative form for Ichidan verbs, [stem form + ro (ろ)], is used in the east of the prefecture, whilst in central and western areas yo (よ) or yoo (よお) is used in the place of ro like in the following: okiro (起きろ wake up (command)) → okiyo / okiyoo^[11].

Potential form

Shizuoka dialects are so-called ra-nuki kotoba (ら抜き言葉 literally words without 'ra') in reference to the omission of ra (ら) from the verb structure -rareru (-られる), used to indicate the ability to do something (can / to be able to in English). In the west of the prefecture, an additional re (れ) sound may also be added.^[16] For example:

• taberarenai (食べられない I can't eat that) → taberenai (食べれない), tabererenai (食べれれない) or taberēnai (食べれぇない).
• okirareru (起きられる to be able to get up) → okireru (起きれる), okirereru (起きれれる) or okirēru (起きれぇる).