Dialogue and politeness level in 風の又三郎


I have two questions regarding the style of the classic story 風の又三郎 by 宮沢賢治.
([Full text available on
青空文庫](http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000081/files/462_15405.html))

1) Most of the characters use a dialect which I believe is 岩手弁, which comes
from the author's home region. Is this dialogue still spoken today in much the
same form, or has it aged/evolved over several centuries? Also, would this
dialogue in that era (around 1930s) be spoken by country people, city people,
or both?

2) The book is written with a surprising level of politeness I haven't seen
before. For example, most descriptive text uses 敬語, even to the extent where
ですます調 is used mid-sentence (i.e. ...行きますと...). Also, the teacher's speech when
speaking to children is overly polite (ex: ”静かにするのです" instead of ”静かにしなさい").
Is there a cultural/historical/regional reason for this extra politeness?




1) I'm not good at 東北弁 at all, but like any other dialects in Japan, 東北弁 is
rather quickly disappearing. I believe only old people in rural areas of
Tohoku region can speak fluent 東北弁 today. Even in this novel written more than
80 years ago, 東北弁 is used as a role-language that represents country kids (先生
uses standard Japanese).

2) Fairy tales and folklore (e.g., 桃太郎, シンデレラ) are usually conveyed in this
style. 宮沢賢治 is more like a 童話作家 than a 小説家, so I think this writing style was
natural to him. People may intentionally choose this writing style when they
write an allegorical story or children's story (for example, see
[蜘蛛の糸](http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000879/files/92_14545.html) by 芥川龍之介).




1) I'm not good at 東北弁 at all, but like any other dialects in Japan, 東北弁 is
rather quickly disappearing. I believe only old people in rural areas of
Tohoku region can speak fluent 東北弁 today. Even in this novel written more than
80 years ago, 東北弁 is used as a role-language that represents country kids (先生
uses standard Japanese).

2) Fairy tales and folklore (e.g., 桃太郎, シンデレラ) are usually conveyed in this
style. 宮沢賢治 is more like a 童話作家 than a 小説家, so I think this writing style was
natural to him. People may intentionally choose this writing style when they
write an allegorical story or children's story (for example, see
[蜘蛛の糸](http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000879/files/92_14545.html) by 芥川龍之介).

