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Okinawan scripts

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An example of traditional Okinawan writing circa 1471

Okinawan, spoken in Okinawa Island, was once the official language of the Ryukyu Kingdom. At the time, documents were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan.

Although generally agreed among linguists to be a distinct language, most Japanese, as well as some Okinawans, tend to think of Okinawan as merely a regional dialect of Japanese, even though it is not intelligible to monolingual Japanese speakers.[1] Modern Okinawan is not written frequently. When it is, the Japanese writing system is generally used in an ad hoc manner. There is no standard orthography for the modern language. Nonetheless, there are a few systems used by scholars and laypeople alike. None of them are widely used by native speakers, but represent the language with less ambiguity than the ad hoc conventions. The Roman alphabet in some form or another is used in some publications, especially those of an academic nature.

Systems

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Conventional usages

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The modern conventional ad hoc spellings found in Okinawa.

Council system

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The system devised by the Council for the Dissemination of Okinawan Dialect (沖縄方言普及協議会). [1]

University of the Ryukyus system

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This system was devised by Okinawa Center of Language Study, a section of University of the Ryukyus. Unlike others, this method is intended purely as a phonetic guidance, and basically only uses katakana. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article.

New Okinawan letters

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新沖縄文字 (Shin Okinawa-moji), devised by Yoshiaki Funazu (船津好明, Funazu Yoshiaki), in his textbook Utsukushii Okinawa no Hōgen (美しい沖縄の方言; "The beautiful Okinawan Dialect"; ISBN 4-905784-19-0). The rule applies to hiragana only. Katakana is used as in Japanese; just like in the conventional usage of Okinawan.

Basic syllables and kai-yōon (palatalized syllables)

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i u e o ya yu yo
(Initial) 1 [i]
[ji]
[u]
[wu]
[e]
[je]
[o]
[wo]
[ja] [ju] [jo]
(Elsewhere) (Not used) 2
Conventional い 
いぃ

うぅ 
をぅ

いぇ


うぉ
Council ゆぃ をぅ ゆぇ
Ryukyu Univ.
New Okinawan い゙ え゙
' 'a
a
'i
i
'u
u
'e
e
'o
o
'ya 'yu 'yo
(Initial) 1 [ʔa] [ʔi] [ʔu] [ʔe] [ʔo] [ʔja] [ʔju] [ʔjo]
(Elsewhere) [a] [i]
[ji]
[u]
[wu]
[e]
[je]
[o]
[wo]
Conventional
いぇ

うぉ
Council っや っゆ っよ
Ryukyu Univ. いぇ いゃ いゅ いょ
New Okinawan
k ka ki ku ke ko kya
[ka] [ki] [ku] [ke] [ko] [kja]
きゃ
g ga gi gu ge go gya
[ɡa] [ɡi] [ɡu] [ɡe] [ɡo] [ɡja]
ぎゃ
s sa si

(s-i)

su (sye)

se

so sya syu
[sa] [ʃi] [su] [ʃe] [so] [ʃa] [ʃu]
Others しぇ しゃ しゅ
Ryukyu Univ.
すぃ
しぇ
t ta ti tu te to
[ta] [ti] [tu] [te] [to]
Others てぃ とぅ
New Okinawan
d da di du de do
[da] [di] [du] [de] [do]
Others でぃ どぅ
New Okinawan
ts tsi tsu
[tsi]
[tʂi]
[tsu]
Ryukyu Univ. つぃ
z za zi

(dzi)

zu

(dzu)

ze zo
[dza] [dzi]
[dʐi]
[dzu] [dze] [dzo]
Others
Ryukyu Univ. づぃ
ty
c
tya
ca
tyi
ci
tyu
cu
tye
ce
tyo
co
[tʃa] [tʃi] [tʃu] [tʃe] [tʃo]
ちゃ ちゅ ちぇ ちょ
zy

dy

zya

dya

zyi

dyi

zyu

dyu

zye

dye

zyo

dyo

[dʒa] [dʒi] [dʒu] [dʒe] [dʒo]
Others じゃ じゅ じぇ じょ
Ryukyu Univ. じゃ
ぢゃ

じゅ
ぢゅ
じぇ
ぢぇ
じょ
ぢょ
n na ni nu ne no nya nyu
[na] [ɲi] [nu] [ne] [no] [ɲa] [ɲu]
にゃ にゅ
h ha hi hu

hwu

he ho hya hyu hyo
[ha] [çi] [ɸu] [çe] [ho] [ça] [çu] [ço]
ひゃ ひゅ ひょ
b ba bi bu be bo bya byu byo
[ba] [bi] [bu] [be] [bo] [bja] [bju] [bjo]
びゃ びゅ びょ
p pa pi pu pe po pya pyu
[pa] [pi] [pu] [pe] [po] [pja] [pju]
ぴゃ ぴゅ
m ma mi mu me mo mya myu myo
[ma] [mi] [mu] [me] [mo] [mja] [mju] [mjo]
みゃ みゅ みょ
r ra ri ru re ro
[ɾa] [ɾi] [ɾu] [ɾe] [ɾo]
1: At the beginning of a word.
2: University of the Ryukyus system is an exception, always using ゐ, をぅ, え, を (ヰ, ヲゥ, エ, ヲ) for [i], [u], [e], [o], and い, う, いぇ, お (イ, ウ, イェ, オ) for [ʔi], [ʔu], [ʔe], [ʔo], respectively.

Gō-yōon (labialised syllables)

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wa wi we
[ɰa] [ɰi] [ɰe]
Conventional うぃ うぇ
Council
Ryukyu Univ. ゑぃ
New Okinawan
' 'wa 'wi 'we
[ʔɰa] [ʔɰi] [ʔɰe]
Conventional うぃ うぇ
Council っわ っうぃ っうぇ
Ryukyu Univ. うゎ うゐ うぇ
New Okinawan
k kwa
qua
kwi
qui
kwe
que
[kʷa] [kʷi] [kʷe]
Conventional くぁ
くゎ
くぃ くぇ
Council くゎ
Ryukyu Univ. くゐ
New Okinawan
g gwa gwi gwe
[ɡʷa] [ɡʷi] [ɡʷe]
Conventional ぐぁ
ぐゎ
ぐぃ ぐぇ
Council ぐゎ
Ryukyu Univ. ぐゐ
New Okinawan
h fa
hwa
fi
hwi
fe
hwe
[ɸa] [ɸi] [ɸe]
Conventional ふぁ ふぃ ふぇ
Council
Ryukyu Univ. ふゎ
New Okinawan

Others

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n 3 4 5
' 'n
Conventional
Council っん
Ryukyu Univ.
New Okinawan
3: Hatsuon (moraic n)
4: Sokuon (geminated consonants)
5: Chōon (longer vowels): In conventional usages, longer vowels are sometimes spelled like in mainland Japanese as well; "ou" (おう) for ō, doubled kana for others. (e.g. うう for ū.)

References

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  1. ^ "Okinawan, Central". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
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