Okinawan language

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{{language |name=Okinawan |nativename=Ucinaːguci, うちなーぐち |familycolor=Isolate |states=Japan |region=Okinawa Island |speakers=fewer than 2 million |fam1=Japonic |fam2=Ryukyuan |fam3=Amami-Okinawan |fam4=Southern Amami-Okinawan |iso2=mis |lc1=ryu|ld1=Central Okinawa|ll1=none |lc2=ams|ld2=Southern Amami-Oshima|ll2=Amami Oshima |lc3=kzg|ld3=Kikai|ll3=none |lc4=ryn|ld4=Northern Amami-Oshima|ll4=Amami Oshima |lc5=tkn|ld5=Tokunoshima|ll5=Tokunoshima, Kagoshima |lc6=okn|ld6=Oki-No-Erabu|ll6=none |lc7=xug|ld7=Kunigami|ll7=none |lc8=yox|ld8=Yoron|ll8=none |lc9=myi|ld9=Mina|ll9=none |lc10=rys|ld10=Yaeyama|ll10=none |lc11=yoi|ld11=Yonaguni|ll11=none}}

Okinawan (Okinawan: Ucinaːguci) is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa, 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 Ryukyuan Kingdom, during the reign of King Sho 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.

1 Phonology
2 Grammar
3 Bibliography
- 3.1 Japanese
4 External links
- 4.1 English
- 4.2 Japanese

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Phonology

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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.

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Consonants

	Blab.	Alv.	Pal.	Velar	Uvular	Glot.
Plosive	p b	t d		k g		Template:IPA
Nasal	m	n			Template:IPA
Tap or flap		Template:IPA
Fricative	Template:IPA	s				h
Approximant			j	w
Laryngeal approximant			Template:IPA	Template:IPA

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Syllabary

(Technically, these are morae, not syllables.)

ʔi	ʔe	ʔa	ʔo	ʔu	ʔja	ʔjo	ʔju		ʔwa	ʔɴ
[ʔi]	[ʔe]	[ʔa]	[ʔo]	[ʔu]	[ʔja]	[ʔjo]	[ʔju]		[ʔɰa]	[ʔn] [ʔm]
i	e	a	o	u	ja	jo	ju	we	wa	ɴ
[i] [ji]	[e] [je]	[a]	[o] [wo]	[u] [wu]	[ja]	[jo]	[ju]	[ɰe]	[ɰa]	[n] [m] [ŋ] [ɴ]
hi	he	ha	ho	hu	hja	hjo	hju	―	hwa
[çi]	[çe]	[ha]	[ho]	[ɸu]	[ça]	[ço]	[çu]	―	[ɸa]
gi	ge	ga	go	gu	gja	―	―	gwe	gwa
[gi]	[ge]	[ga]	[go]	[gu]	[gja]	―	―	[gʷe]	[gʷa]
ki	ke	ka	ko	ku	kja	―	―	kwe	kwa
[ki]	[ke]	[ka]	[ko]	[ku]	[kja]	―	―	[kʷe]	[kʷa]
ci	ce	ca	co	cu	―	―	―	―	―
[tʃi]	[tʃe]	[tʃa]	[tʃo]	[tʃu]	―	―	―	―	―
zi	ze	za	zo	zu	―	―	―	―	―
[dʒi]	[dʒe]	[dʒa]	[dʒo]	[dʒu]	―	―	―	―	―
si	se	sa	so	su	sja	―	sju	―	―
[ʃi]	[ʃe]	[sa]	[so]	[su]	[ʃa]	―	[ʃu]	―	―
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	mja	mjo	―	―	―
[mi]	[me]	[ma]	[mo]	[mu]	[mja]	[mjo]	―	―	―
bi	be	ba	bo	bu	bja	bjo	bju	―	―
[bi]	[be]	[ba]	[bo]	[bu]	[bja]	[bjo]	[bju]	―	―
pi	pe	pa	po	pu	pja	―	pju	―	―
[pi]	[pe]	[pa]	[po]	[pu]	[pja]	―	[pju]	―	―
										q
										[h] [j] [s] [t] [p]
										e
										[:]

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Correspondences with Japanese

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

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Grammar

Okinawan dialects retain a number of old grammatical features, 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-	kaci-
Terminal	終止形	書く	kaku	kacun
Attributive	連体形	書く	kaku	kacuru
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:

kacuru derives from kaci-uru;
kacun derives from kaci-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;
atsusan (Japanese: 暑い atsui, hot; warm) derives from atsu-sa-ari; and
yutasaru (good; pleasant) derives from yuta-sa-aru.