Why are the Ryukyuan Languages Endangered?
CW: Mentions of war and violence
All of the native languages of the Ryukyu Islands (Uchinaaguchi, Myaakufutsu, Yanbaru Kutuuba, Shimayumuta, Yaimamuni, and Dunan-Munai) are UNESCO listed endangered languages. This means that the languages are not getting passed down from generation to generation, and are at a high risk of being lost completely without efforts to revitalize them. How did they get to this point?
The beginning of the decline of Shimakutuba (Ryukyuan languages) can be traced to 1879, which is when the Ryukyu Kingdom was forcibly annexed, i.e. colonized, by Japan. Upon this act, the Japanese government swiftly enacted assimilationist policies to integrate Ryukyuans into the Japanese nation-state. This involved banning Ryukyuan languages in all public spheres and, educating them only in the Japanese language. To Ryukyuans, Japanese was a foreign language, and if they spoke Shimakutuba in schools, they were punished for doing so. This punishment for speaking Shimakutuba often involved having to wear something called a “Hougen Fuda” (Dialect Tag) around their necks. Calling the Ryukyuan languages “hougen” (dialect) was a psychological tactic, still used even today, to erase and deny the existence of the languages. Even Shimanchu today refer to their native languages as “hougen”, unaware of how harmful and incorrect this term is. I asked several Japanese people and foreigners living in Japan if they knew Okinawa had its own languages- not a single person did.
Going back to the hougen fuda, typically, the unfortunate student who was given this punishment had to keep wearing it until another student was caught speaking Shimakutuba. Sometimes, kids would stomp on another kid’s foot to get them to say “Agaa!” which means “Ow!” in Uchinaaguchi in order to pass off the hougen fuda. As you could imagine, this experience was quite traumatic, and it caused Ryukyuans to associate their native languages with pain and punishment.
In addition, in public buildings (City Hall, etc), Ryukyuans sometimes wouldn’t get served if they spoke in Shimakutuba. They had to speak Japanese to get things done.
These experiences, as bad as they were, don’t even compare to what Ryukyuans went through in the Battle of Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the deadliest battles to have taken place during WWII. Nearly one out of every three Ryukyuans died in it. Most of those who died were civilians, or forcibly conscripted into the Japanese army. Japan intentionally built up their troops in Okinawa as a way to delay the US Army from entering “mainland” Japan. Okinawans were dispensable in the eyes of the Japanese state. Some Okinawans were pushed in front of Japanese soldiers to be used as human shields. Okinawans who spoke in Shimakutuba were sometimes suspected to be spies, and then shot.
With all of this trauma from speaking Shimakutuba, it is understandable why many Shimanchu decided not to pass it down to their children. They began developing an inferiority complex towards their own native language, as the Japanese language became more prestigious and economically advantageous. Shimakutuba is generally not taught in schools, and there isn’t much funding available for it. However, this is not to say there isn’t interest in it. In surveys, many Shimanchu youth state that they wish they could speak Shimakutuba in order to understand their grandparents. Without Shimakutuba, this intergenerational connection is getting broken, and young Shimanchu are unable to understand many things in their culture, such as sanshin music, Ryukyuan literature, poetry, historical records, etc. Without the language, we lose an essential component of our culture. The Ryukyuan identity is at stake.
This is why I am learning Uchinaaguchi. This is a language that should have been passed down to me if only my people were allowed to speak it. The more Uchinaaguchi I learn, the more I understand my culture. My grandparents have already passed on, but if I can speak Uchinaaguchi, I could know the sounds that came out of their mouths, and learn their Indigenous way of thinking through the language. I could feel more connected to them, and all of my ancestors.
I am fortunate to have learned why my heritage language is endangered, and to have the ability (time/money) to pursue learning it. However, most young Ryukyuans are unaware of this history, as it isn’t taught much in mainstream Japanese education. I’m not sure exactly how to reverse the cause of the decline in Shimakutuba, but I will do my best to learn it and help other Shimanchu who want to learn it. ちばらやー!
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/05/19/national/okinawans-push-to-preserve-unique-language/
https://apjjf.org/-Patrick-Heinrich/3138/article.html
Anderson, M., & Heinrich, P. (Eds.). (2014). Language crisis in the Ryukyus. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
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