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Proto-Ryukyuan language

Proto-Ryukyuan is the reconstructed ancestor of the Ryukyuan languages, probably associated with the Gusuku culture in the early second millennium AD.[citation needed]

Proto-Ryukyuan
Reconstruction ofRyukyuan languages
RegionJapan, possibly in Kyushu or Tokara islands[citation needed]
Reconstructed
ancestor
Lower-order reconstructions
  • Proto-Amami-Okinawa/Proto-Northern-Ryukyuan
  • Proto-Sakishima

Background

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Main article: Ryukyuan languages

The modern Ryukyuan languages are spoken on the Ryukyu Islands, from the Amami Islands to Yonaguni. All Ryukyuan varieties are endangered.[citation needed]

Phonology

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Consonants

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The following consonants can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:[1]

Proto-Ryukyuan consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal *m *n
Stop *p, *b *t, *d *k
Fricative *s, *z
Tap *r [ɾ]
Approximant *w *j
  • Proto-Japonic *-p- generally lenites to *-w-, as in PJ *kapa 'river' > PR *kawa 'well'[citation needed] It is irregularly preserved in some words, mostly adjectives, which lead Thorpe to suggest a geminate consonant blocking lenition.[2][3] However, nouns that don't sound emphatic also receive this irregular conservatism.
  • Approximants in proto-Japonic preceding a high vowel are merged to a zero consonant in proto-Ryukyuan, such as PJ *upai 'above' > *uwe > PR *ue. [4]
  • No Ryukyuan dialects preserve the yotsugana distinction; in this case, it means that older *di ~ *zi and *du ~ *zu merge as *zi and *zu.[5]
    • One possible exception is that a special word for "to take off (clothes)" exists in very few Miyako dialects[5] (< *padok-): e.g. Hirara /padukɿ/[6][7]. The regular conventions of proto-Ryukyuan would require an irregular change in the consonant *zu- > *do-.

Vowels

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The following vowels can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:[8]

Proto-Ryukyuan vowels
Front Central Back
Close *i *u
Mid *e *o
Open *a

All Ryukyuan languages have raised the mid-vowels *e and *o, but not all have merged these sounds with *i and *u. The dialects go through different developments depending on the preceding consonant. In various Northern Ryukyuan dialects, *i will often palatalize the preceding consonant.[9] To give an example, Shuri ʔitɕi 'pond'[10] < PR *ike, but Shuri ʔiku- 'how many?'[11] < PR *eku.

Reflexes of PR *i, *e, *u, and *o[12]
Proto-Ryukyuan Amami (Koniya) Okinawa (Nakijin-Yonamine) Miyako (Ōgami) Yaeyama (Ishigaki-Shika) Yonaguni
*i ʔi, N ˀi, ʲi, N ɿ,[13] ɯ, s, N, ∅ ɿ, N, ∅ i, N, ∅
*e ʰɨ, i ʰi, i i i i
*u ˀu, N u, N u, N, ∅ u, N, ∅ u, N, ∅
*o ʰu u u u u

Proto-Ryukyuan merged the Proto-Japonic diphthong *əi > *e.

Prosody

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Proto-Ryukyuan has at least three reconstructed tone classes, classified as class A, B, and C respectively. Class A regularly corresponds to the initial high register in Middle Japanese.

The correspondences of class B and C are somewhat complex. While both can regularly correspond to the initial low register in Middle Japanese, there exists a split that exists for the following low register accent classes in Middle Japanese[14]: class 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.4, and 3.5. Accent classes 3.6 and 3.7 almost always correspond to class C in Ryukyuan.

Most dialects often have a penultimate tone on a class C noun. On the other hand, some dialects, such as the Asama dialect in Toku-no-Shima, and the Shuri dialect in Okinawa, exhibit long vowels of the penultimate syllable; for Shuri, it is only exhibited in disyllables.

Vocabulary

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Thorpe (1983) reconstructs the following pronouns in Proto-Ryukyuan. For the first person, the singular and plural are assumed based on the Yonaguni reflex.

  • *a, 'I' (singular)
  • *wa 'we' (plural)
  • *u, *e 'you' (singular)
  • *uya, *ura 'you' (plural)
Ryukyuan numerals
Proto-Ryukyuan Amami Ōshima (Yuwan)[15] Shuri (Okinawa)[16] Hatoma (Yaeyama)[17] Miyako Yonaguni[18]
1 *pito tïï- tii- pusu- pitii- tʼu-
2 *puta taa- taa- huta- ftaa- tʼa-
3 *mi mii- mii- mii- mii- mii-
4 *yo juu- juu- juu- juu- duu-
5 *{i/e}tu ïcï- ici- ici- itss- ici-
6 *mu muu- muu- muu- mm- muu-
7 *nana nana- nana- nana- nana- nana-
8 *ya jaa- jaa- jaa- jaa- daa-
9 *kokono kuunu- kukunu- (ku)kunu- kkunu- kuɡunu-
10 *towo tuu tuu tuu tuu tuu

Pellard (2015) reconstructs the following cultural vocabulary words for Proto-Ryukyuan.

  • *kome B 'rice'
  • *mai A 'rice'
  • *ine B 'rice plant'
  • *momi A 'unhulled rice'
  • *mogi B 'wheat'
  • *awa B 'foxtail millet'
  • *kimi B 'broomcorn millet'
  • *umo B 'taro, yam'
  • *patake C 'field'
  • *ta B 'rice paddy'
  • *usi A 'cow'
  • *uwa C 'pig'
  • *uma B 'horse'
  • *tubo A 'pot'
  • *kame C 'jar'
  • *pune C 'boat'
  • *po A 'sail'
  • *ijako B 'paddle'

References

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  1. ^ Igarashi (2022), pp. 237–238.
  2. ^ Thorpe (1983), p. 60-61.
  3. ^ Kenan, 2024 & 83.
  4. ^ Igarashi (2022), pp. 237.
  5. ^ a b Kenan, 2024 & 84.
  6. ^ Originally written in the notation as パドゥキゥ [padukï]. However, even in Hirayama's notation of the Miyako vowels, it is actually supposed to be written as padukˢï.
  7. ^ Hirayama et al. (1992), p. 3825.
  8. ^ Thorpe (1983), p. 31.
  9. ^ Thorpe (1983), pp. 51–53.
  10. ^ National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2001), p. 246.
  11. ^ National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2001), p. 254.
  12. ^ Pellard (2013), pp. 84–85.
  13. ^ This is a special vowel in Miyako, variously described as apical, laminal, or fricative vowel.
  14. ^ The initial number denotes the number of morae in a noun. The number following the period is the accent class.
  15. ^ Numerals for counting inanimates.
  16. ^ Shimoji (2012), p. 357.
  17. ^ Lawrence (2012), p. 387.
  18. ^ Izuyama (2012), p. 429.

Bibliography

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  • Hattori, Shirō (2018). 日本祖語の再建 [Reconstruction of Proto-Japanese] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 9784000612685.
  • Hirayama, Teruo (1986). 琉球奄美方言の基礎語彙の総合的研究 [A Study of the Basic Vocabulary of the Amami Dialects in Ryukyuan] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kadokawa. ISBN 4-04-022200-8.
  • Igarashi, Yōsuke (2022). "Reconstruction of Ryukyuan tone classes of Middle Japanese Class 2.4 and 2.5 nouns". Open Linguistics. 8 (1). De Gruyter: 232–257. doi:10.1515/opli-2022-0193.
  • Izuyama, Atsuko (2012). "Yonaguni". In Tranter, Nicolas (ed.). The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge. pp. 412–457. ISBN 978-0-415-46287-7.
  • Kenan, Celik (2024). "UniCog: A Framework Proposal for the Dynamic Compilation of Comparative Data for the Reconstruction of proto-Ryukyuan". NINJAL Research Papers (in Japanese). 26. doi:10.15084/0002000156.
  • Lawrence, Wayne P. (2012). "Southern Ryukyuan". In Tranter, Nicolas (ed.). The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge. pp. 381–411. ISBN 978-0-415-46287-7.
  • National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2001). 沖縄語辞典 [Okinawan Dictionary] (in Japanese). Zaimushō Insatsu-kyoku.
  • Pellard, Thomas. "Ryukyuan perspectives on the proto-Japonic vowel system". Japanese/Korean Linguistics. 20. CSLI Publications: 81–96.
  • Pellard, Thomas. 2015. The Linguistic archeology of the Ryukyu Islands. In Heinrich, Patrick and Miyara, Shinsho and Shimoji, Michinori (eds.), Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages: History, Structure, and Use, 13–37. Berlin: DeGruyter Mouton.
  • Shimoji, Michinori (2012). "Northern Ryukyuan". In Tranter, Nicolas (ed.). The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge. pp. 351–380. ISBN 978-0-415-46287-7.
  • Thorpe, Maner Lawton (1983). Ryūkyūan Language History (doctoral dissertation). Los Angeles: University of Southern California. doi:10.25549/usctheses-c3-505374.
  • Vovin, Alexander (2012-08-07). "琉球祖語の語中における有声子音の再建について [On the reconstruction of the Proto-Ryukyuan voiced consonants]". National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (in Japanese).
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