Okinawan language

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Not to be confused with Okinawan Japanese.
Okinawan
沖縄口
Spoken in Japan
Region Okinawa Island
Total speakers 984,285
Language family Japonic
Language codes
ISO 639-1 None
ISO 639-2 mis
ISO 639-3 ryu – [[]]
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Okinawan (沖縄口 [ʔutɕinaːɡuti]; Okinawan: uchinaa-guchi, Japanese: okinawa-guchi) is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa[1], as well as the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kume-jima, Tonaki, Aguni, and a number of smaller islands located to the east of the main island of Okinawa.

It is divided into two main groups: Central (Standard, Shuri-Naha) and Southern. The Shuri dialect was standardized during the era of the Ryukyu Kingdom, during the reign of King Shō Shin (1477-1526). It was the official language used by royalty and aristocracy. All of the songs and poems in the language from that era are written in the Shuri dialect.

The speech of Northern Okinawa is usually considered a separate language; see Kunigami language.

Contents

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowels

Okinawan has three short vowels, /a i u/, and five long vowels, /aː eː iː oː uː/. Note that /u/ is rounded, unlike in Japanese.

[edit] Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ
Nasal m n ɴ
Tap or flap ɾ
Fricative ɸ s h
Approximant j w
Laryngeal approximant ʔj ʔw

[edit] Syllabary

(Technically, these are moræ, not syllables.)

'i 'e 'a 'o 'u 'ya 'yo 'yu ― 'wa 'n
[ʔi] [ʔe] [ʔa] [ʔo] [ʔu] [ʔja] [ʔjo] [ʔju] [ʔɰa] [ʔn]
[ʔm]
i e a o u ya yo yu we wa n
[i]
[ji]		 [e]
[je]		 [a] [o]
[wo]		 [u]
[wu]		 [ja] [jo] [ju] [ɰe] [ɰa] [n]
[m]
[ŋ]
[ɴ]
hi he ha ho fu hya hyo hyu ― fa
[çi] [çe] [ha] [ho] [ɸu] [ça] [ço] [çu] ― [ɸa]
gi ge ga go gu gya ― ― gwe gwa
[ɡi] [ɡe] [ɡa] [ɡo] [ɡu] [ɡja] ― ― [ɡʷe] [ɡʷa]
ki ke ka ko ku kya ― ― kwe kwa
[ki] [ke] [ka] [ko] [ku] [kja] ― ― [kʷe] [kʷa]
chi che cha cho chu ― ― ― ― ―
[t͡ɕi] [t͡ɕe] [t͡ɕa] [t͡ɕo] [t͡ɕu] ― ― ― ― ―
ji je ja jo ju ― ― ― ― ―
[d͡ʑi] [d͡ʑe] [d͡ʑa] [d͡ʑo] [d͡ʑu] ― ― ― ― ―
shi she sa so su sha ― shu ― ―
[ɕi] [ɕe] [sa] [so] [su] [ɕa] ― [ɕu] ― ―
di de da do du ― ― ― ― ―
ri re ra ro ru
[di] [de] [da] [do] [du] ― ― ― ― ―
[ɾi] [ɾe] [ɾa] [ɾo] [ɾu]
ti te ta to tu ― ― ― ― ―
[ti] [te] [ta] [to] [tu] ― ― ― ― ―
mi me ma mo mu mya myo ― ― ―
[mi] [me] [ma] [mo] [mu] [mja] [mjo] ― ― ―
bi be ba bo bu bya byo byu ― ―
[bi] [be] [ba] [bo] [bu] [bja] [bjo] [bju] ― ―
pi pe pa po pu pya ― pyu ― ―
[pi] [pe] [pa] [po] [pu] [pja] ― [pju] ― ―

In accordance to the now widely popular Hepburn romanization, the preceding syllabary is a modification of the original romanization system used in the Okinawago jiten (Okinawan language Dictionary) originally published in 1963. For comparison, see the table below:

IPA Okinawago jiten Hepburn Notes
[j] j y
[ɸu] hu fu
[ɸa] hwa fa
[ʔ] ʔ As Standard Japanese does not possess true glottal stops, there is no standard for romanizing them. Many authors will choose to completely omit them, while others might use an apostrophe (').
[d͡ʑ~ʑ] z j
[t͡ɕ] c ch
[ɕ] s, sj sh
Moraic /ɴ/ ɴ n
[ː] e ¯ Some authors may choose to double the vowel rather than use a macron over the vowel. Compare mii, mī, and mie.
Gemination q Double the consonant

[edit] Correspondences with Japanese

Japanese Okinawan Notes
/e/ /i/ [ti] not [t͡ɕi]
/o/ /u/ [tu] not [tsu], [du] not [dzu]
/ai/ /eː/
/ae/
/au/ /oː/
/ao/
/aja/
/k/ /k/ /ɡ/ also occurs
/ka/ /ka/ /ha/ also occurs
/ki/ /t͡ɕi/ [t͡ɕi]
/ku/ /ku/ /hu/, [ɸu] also occurs
/si/ /si/ /hi/, [çi] also occurs
/su/ /si/ [ɕi]; formerly distinguished as [si]
/hi/ [çi] also occurs
/tu/ /t͡ɕi/ [t͡ɕi]; formerly distinguished as [tsi]
/da/ /ra/ [d] and [ɾ] have merged
/de/ /ri/
/do/ /ru/
/ni/ /ni/ Moraic /ɴ/ also occurs
/nu/ /nu/
/ha/ /hwa/ /pa/ also occurs, but rarely
/hi/ /pi/ ~ /hi/
/he/
/mi/ /mi/ Moraic /ɴ/ also occurs
/mu/ /mu/
/ri/ /i/ /iri/ unaffected
/wa/ /wa/ Tends to become /a/ medially

[edit] Grammar

Okinawan dialects retain a number of grammatical features of classical Japanese, such as a distinction between the terminal form (終止形) and the attributive form (連体形), the genitive function of が ga (lost in the Shuri dialect), the nominative function of ぬ nu (Japanese: の no), as well as honorific/plain distribution of ga and nu in nominative use.

書く kaku
to write
Classical Shuri
Irrealis 未然形 書か kaka- kaka-
Continuative 連用形 書き kaki- kachi-
Terminal 終止形 書く kaku kachun
Attributive 連体形 書く kaku kachuru
Realis 已然形 書け kake- kaki-
Imperative 命令形 書け kake kaki

One etymology given for the -un and -uru endings is the continuative form suffixed with uri (Classical Japanese: 居り wori, to be; to exist): -un developed from the terminal form uri; -uru developed from the attributive form uru, i.e:

  • kachuru derives from kachi-uru;
  • kachun derives from kachi-uri; and
  • yumun (Japanese: 読む yomu, to read) derives from yumi + uri.

A similar etymology is given for the terminal -san and attributive -saru endings for adjectives: the stem suffixed with さ sa (nominalises adjectives, i.e. high → height, hot → heat), suffixed with ari (Classical Japanese: 有り ari, to exist; to have), i.e:

  • takasan (Japanese: 高い takai, high; tall) derives from taka-sa-ari;
  • achisan (Japanese: 暑い atsui, hot; warm) derives from atsu-sa-ari; and
  • yutasaru (good; pleasant) derives from yuta-sa-aru.

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Japanese

  • 平山輝男編著　『全国方言辞典〔１〕: 県別方言の特色』　角川書店、1983年（昭和58年）

[edit] References

  1. ^ Uchinaa is the Okinawan name for the island 沖縄, which is called Okinawa in Japanese.

[edit] External links

[edit] English

[edit] Japanese

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_language"
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