Mino dialect

The Mino dialect (美濃弁, Mino-ben) is a Japanese dialect spoken in the southern area, made up of the former area known as Mino Province, of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is also referred to as the Tōnō dialect (東濃弁 Tōnō-ben) by residents of the Tōnō region of the prefecture, which is the eastern part of the former province. It is sometimes also referred to as the Gifu dialect (岐阜弁 Gifu-ben), but that can sometimes include Hida dialect, which is in the northern part of Gifu Prefecture.

Generally speaking, it has many words and grammatical structures that are shared with other nearby dialects, such as the Nagoya and Mikawa dialects in neighboring Aichi Prefecture. However, it also shares features with the Kansai dialect.

Grammar

Up until the Taishō period, the Mino dialect used ja (じゃ) for copulas and adjectival nouns, and the Mino dialect was occasionally referred to as a "ja-language in Mino" (美濃のじゃ言葉 Mino no ja-kotoba). However, because of the influence of the Kansai dialect, the modern Mino dialect generally uses ya (や) and is compared to the Nagoya dialect which uses da (だ) for copulas and adjectival nouns.