The Umpaku dialect is a group of Japanese dialects spoken in centralSan'in. The name Unpaku is constructed by extracting a representativekanji from Izumo and Hōki, the names of former provinces of this region. The Umpaku dialects are:
Umpaku dialect, especially Izumo-ben, uniquely among dialects in the Chūgoku region, superficially resembles Tōhoku dialects in pronunciation and is thus also called Zūzū-ben. It has neutralization of the high vowels "i" and "u".
Vowels
Voiceless vowel sounds are common in most western Japanese accents and this is no different in Izumo where they are commonly heard. In Izumo and western Hoki, just like the Tohoku dialects "i" and "u" sounds are centralized. "i" is commonly pronounced and "u".
Consonants
The dropping of "r" sounds
In Izumo and western Hoki dialects, "r" sounds are often dropped and replaced with an elongation of the previous vowel. e.g. dare > daa "who", arimasu > aamasu "there is". In particular this often happens to "ri" and "ru" sounds which are almost all replaced by this elongated sound. In some areas, shiroi "white" becomes shie and akeru "to open" becomes akyae. In Oki, these sounds are also replaced by sokuon such as sono tsumodda.
kariru "to borrow"; karu in other forms of western Japanese.
dandan "thank you"; arigatō in Standard Japanese. It is not used within the family, but rather in conversation with strangers, in much the same way as in Standard Japanese dōmo is used as an abbreviation.
gosu "to give "; kureru in Standard Japanese. E.g. X-san ga wa ni yasai o goita wa "Mr. X gave me vegetables." For a more polite form, goshinaru is also used。
kyotoi "scary, frightening"; kowai in Standard Japanese. E.g. maa, ano hito wa kyotoi wa! "Oh, that person is scary!", aa! kyoto, kyoto! nigetoku da wa! "Oh, how scary he is! Let's escape!"
chonboshi /chokkoshi "a little"; sukoshi or chotto in Standard Japanese.
gaina "giant"; sugoi or gotsui in Standard Japanese. The animation studioGainax is named for gaina.
banjimashite "good evening"; konbanwa in Standard Japanese.
