Do you have any resources you suggest for other Ryukyuan languages? Or even information regarding dialects within うちなーぐち？
Other Ryukyuan Languages Resources
Besides the (now tentatively offline) Nakijin Dialect Dictionary that can be found on this blog’s resources page, I do not have much resources for other Ryukyuan languages, not that I have been looking that much as I have been focusing on the Okinawan language, primarily on then Naha dialect with the Shuri and Kunigami dialects also in the periphery.
That being said, In have recently purchased the almost $400 book Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages which includes a detailed grammar of not just Okinawan, but of the Amami language, Okinoerabu Ryukyuan (I say “Ryukyuan” here as it’s hard to tell if Okinoerabu is a dialect of the Amami language or a dialect of the Okinawan language thanks to its position in the Ryukyuan continuum), the Tarama dialect of the Miyakoan language, the Hateruma dialect of the Yaeyama language, the Yonaguni language (known natively as Dunan) and even a little bit of Proto-Ryukyuan. If anyone is interested in any particular language, I will see what I can do in conveying the information from this $400 book here on this blog.Though remember that these are grammars and not really dictionaries or lexicons.
I’ve been meaning to add these pdfs to the resources page, but there also are some intro books (in Japanese) to Okinawan dialects and Ryukyuan languages though I haven’t gone through them myself yet.
Miyako (specifically the Hirara dialect)
Yaeyama
Yonaguni
And for dialects within the Okinawan language:
Naha
Yomitan
Nago
Itoman
Nakijin
So. It’s been four months since I updated this blog. Why? Well, as I hinted in my first post about Japanese loanwords in Okinawan, the issue of loanwords and how to implement them was driving me insane and, since Okinawan has a very small lexicon, it was an issue I needed to solve sooner rather than later. So I have been walking to the ends of the Earth to figure out the answer to this problem.
I could find no real answer anywhere online. My primary Okinawan language mentor has moved to a different town. I was unable to meet with an Okinawan-speaking old man who teaches me bojutsu due to bojutsu events being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. But ultimately, I learned of a special book that has been hailed as the definitive book for the grammar and inner workings of not just Okinawan but the other Ryukyuan languages as well — The Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages: History, Structure, and Use, published by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. So I looked it up on Amazon and...
It was almost $400.
So I cut back on food and bought it in the name of Okinawan language education.
The book has arrived today and it is simply superb. If you just have $400 laying around, I would recommend it (or ask me to send you some pictures of the pages, it will be our little secret). It really is a treasure trove of information and essays regarding all the Ryukyuan languages. My only real issues are that there are too few example sentences (though it is meant to be a linguistic grammar and not a textbook) and an inferior transcription system (It does not use kanji or kana and instead opts for a purely roman alphabet system which is fine, I suppose, but it uses an IPA system which isn’t that easy for me to read. Characters like ɸ, ʃ, and even some non-IPA characters. It can take a while before I can realize what word is written in this system).
Anyway, this $400 book finally gave me the answer I was looking for — Section II, Chapter 7, Part 7, Page 168-171 — Loanwords. So, after all this time and all this money, I can finally tell you how to use loanwords in Okinawan:
Are you ready?
You don’t.
Which is something I had sort of hinted in the last loanwords post.
The Okinawan language has only around 14,000 words, many of which have their origins in Chinese and Japanese, sure. But outside of those 14,000 words, besides many of the modern day English loanwords Japanese uses, you just don’t use any more loan words.
But how do you converse with basically just those give or take 14,000 words? Well, you talk around the loanword. Like I mentioned with the example of loaning the Japanese 新型コロナウイルス into Okinawan, the gentleman who runs the ゆんたく物語 blog appears to be correct in loaning the word as 新コロナウイルス/mii korona uirusu. The Japanese word phrase コロナウイルス is already a loan word, from coronavirus so adopting that phrase into Okinawan is just fine. But 新型, or “new form” does not exist in Okinawan so he simply uses the word “new.” with 新/mii.
Yes, Hougen News Broadcast uses 新型コロナウイルス as it is from Japanese but, as a formal radio broadcast, it may be more appropriate to use the word from standard Japanese and not necessarily be true-to-form Okinawan.
An example of how to talk around the loanword is given in the Handbook: the Japanese word for “housewife” is 主婦, but Okinawan does not have a word for “housewife.” Instead, talk around the loanword by saying something like 家持ーる女/yaa mucchooru winagu, literally “woman who holds (a/the) house.”
Now, that being said, it does seem to be the case that there are Okinawan words for the days of the week that are Okinawan readings of the Japanese words. All I know are 土曜日/duyuubi (saturday) and 日曜日/nichiyuubi (sunday). I’ll let you know if I learn any more but they are words that do seem to exist and are just not recorded in any dictionary out there.
But there it is. Finally. The answer to the loanwords questions. With this in mind, please be aware that some posts on this blog use improperly-adapted loanwords. I should be a bit better at this in the future and will try to edit past posts when I get the opportunity. Like I’ve always said, this blog was always being run by somebody learning the language as well.
-たる・Verb ending that predicates a noun (or anything that isn’t the very end of a sentence)
時・とぅち・Time
ねー = に+や・Ni is a particle that marks time.
良い・いい・Good
匂・にうぃ・Smell
有ん・あん・to exist (for non-living things)
有たん・あたん・past tense of 有ん
さ・emphasizing particle
何・ぬー・What
やたん・Past tense of やん
が・Question particle that replaces the final ん of a verb.
やー・particle that roughly means “isn’t it?” or “right?”
あんし・to that extent/quite
旨さん・まーさん・Delicious
ぎさん・to seem like
御所・うんじゅ・You (polite)
作いん・ちゅくいん・to make
物・むん・thing (can also be used as an emphasizing particle)
どぅやたる・To be (past, formal, literary)
ちゃんぷるー・Champuru
いりちー・Irichii
うり・That/It
か・Or
沖縄・うちなー・Okinawa
蕎麦・すば・Soba
やしが・But
よー ・Emphasizing particle
先・さち・Before
ほど・Degree, extent, approximately*
巨さん・まぎさん・big
くゎっちー・Meal, feast
食むん・かむん・to eat
食でぃ・かでぃ・ti form of 食むん
来ん・ちゅーん・to come
来ん・ちゃん・past tense of ちゅーん (note the kanji reading is identical)
どー・Emphasizing particle
Notes
* ほど is a Japanese word which has an Okinawan equivalent: 値・あたい. Besides this song, I have no source that uses ほど in place of あたい. I’m unsure if the use of ほど here is incorrect or if I just don’t have enough information that will tell me that it’s actually correct, especially considering how trustworthy of a source Brandon Ing is (He is associated with the Let’s Sing Uchinaaguchi channel which is one of the most reliable sources for the Okinawan language available in English).
Verse 1 English
Today when I came home,
there was a good smell in the air.
What could it have been? Smelling so delicious…
It was something that you made.
Was it champuruu? Was it Irichii? Or was it Okinawa soba?
But the thing is, I just had a lot to eat!
し・particle that calls attention to the concept/idea of what comes before it
しぇー・し・ particle with an assimilated や (identical to のは in Japanese)
増し・まし・better, preferable
から・from
くぬ・this
匂 ・かば・aroma
っし・particle indicating with or by
見じゅん・んんじゅん・to see
見だん・んんだん・negative form of 見じゅん.
てぃん・even
いっぺー ・very
分かいん ・わかいん・to understand
地豆豆腐 ・じーまーみどーふ・jiimaami doofu
泥沸かしー ・どぅるわかしー・duruwakashii
うり・that
砂糖油揚ー・ さーたーあんだぎー・saataa andagii
Verse 2 English
“Eat! Eat!” is what I’m told
so I know it’s better if I do eat it.
And, with this aroma, without looking, I can tell it’s really good!
Was it jiimaami doofu? Was it durukawashii?
Or was it saataa andagii?
But the thing is, I just had a lot to eat!
Verse 3
やーさどぅ旨さんでぃ言しが、やしがやーしく為いるまでぃ待たりーがやー?
やーさん・Hunger
やーさどぅ旨さ・やーさどぅまーさ・Phrase meaning “the hungrier you are, the more delicious it is.”
しが・but
やーしく・adverbial form of やーさん
為いん・ないん・to become
までぃ・until
待ちゅん・まちゅん・to wait
待たりーん・またりーん・potential form of 待ちゅん
Verse 3 English
They say “the hungrier you are, the better it tastes”, but I wonder if I can wait til I’m hungry.
今沖縄口ぬ言い様や未だ確立さんむの無ーやびらん。やしが少ぬ漢字ぬ言い様や多くぬ有いびーん（例れー、二拝でーびる = 二拝で侍る = 二拝而侍る、彼ん遣侍んやー = あんやいびーんやー）、やか成んくる見ゆん如為んんかいや何るが書ちゃびーが。 Currently, there is no notation method for Uchinaaguchi, except for some unofficial ones. However, there are many notation methods for some Kanjis, for instance, 二拝でーびる = 二拝で侍る = 二拝而侍る、彼ん遣侍んやー = あんやいびーんやー. Which one should I write so that it looks more natural?
How Much Kanji is Too Much?
This is a good question and I actually wrote out a post on this exact topic but decided it had too much overlap with the How to Write Okinawan post and scrapped it.
The first thing to be clear is that, at the end of the day, there’s going to be a degree of subjectiveness on this subject. Because of the current state of the language, the most “natural” way to write the language is to not write it at all due to the idea that Okinawan is just a “dialect.” But of course, it is not and we’re purposefully trying to write Okinawan here.
I’ve already talked about the different ways to write Okinawan in that post I’ve linked, but your point on the different degrees to which kanji can be incorporated is something I didn’t talk about.
I do believe using a lot of kanji can lead to things being a bit “unnatural.” We can compare it with Japanese, for example. “Thank you,” or ありがとうございます is almost 100% written as ありがとうございます. But that being said, the kanji equivalent of it technically does exist - 有難う御座います. But 有難う御座います is straight up just not used. For verb endings/copulas, they’re always written in hiragana in Japanese and I’d imagine a similar thing would be true in Okinawan (i.e. でーびる wouldn’t use kanji, probably). To answer your specific questions, I believe that, even in a writing system that combines both kana and kanji, にふぇーでーびる and あんやいびーんやー would be the more natural ways to write them.
But out of all of these, I think 有ん・an・to be (inanimate) has the strongest possibility of being used in kanji form. It’s Japanese equivalent, ある sometimes appears as 有る, at the very least at a much higher frequency than the other words used in the examples here. And I say this because many sources (the waryujiten and Zuïka Miigushiku’s Okinawan covers come to mind) do show Okinawan defaulting to using certain kanji in all instances while Japanese might use the kanji 25% of the time when writing the word. For example, the Japanese word “how.” どう might sometimes be written as 如何 while the Okinawan equivalent, ちゃー is always written as 如何. While the Japanese こと is more often written as 事, seeing it in kana isn’t necessarily rare while in Okinawan it usually defaults to 事 (くとぅ).
Building off on the concept of Okinawan speakers also being native Japanese speakers, I personally think a word will most likely use a kanji if the speaker would understand that kanji in that Okinawan context, with this especially if the Okinawan application of the character is phonetically similar (事) or conceptually similar (如何) to the Japanese equivalent. “ 二拝, “ on the other hand, would be awkward for a Japanese speaker and an Okinawan speaker might not make the connection that it’s supposed to be read as “にふぇー” (ignoring the fact that it’s one of the most commonly used words which might thereby mean the kanji reading is less obscure than if we were talking about another word that would meet the criteria previously stated)
For me personally, I usually use the waryujiten as my primary source in regards to where I would use a kanji and when I would not to be the most “natural.”
Or, of course, there are the 100% kana approaches as well that take out that headache.
We’ve covered the basics of the role of verbs and the Continuative Stem in the last grammar post. Today, let’s get into the fundamental stem and the negative form of verbs.
Fundamental Stem
Since we’ve looked at the Continuative Stem, it’s time to look at another major stem: The Fundamental Stem. Unfortunately, the Fundamental Stem is more difficult compared to the Continuative Stem as finding a verb’s Fundamental Stem depends on what type of verb it is.
You see, there are 9 types of verbs in Okinawan based on the final consonant sound in their Fundamental Stem state. They are the ka-column verbs (based on the fact that their final consonant sound in the Fundamental Stem state is k, aligning it with the か column of kana if you were to look at a kana chart), sa-column verbs, ta-column verbs, na-column verbs (of which there is only one, 死ぬん・しぬん・shinun・to die), ma-column verbs, na-column verbs, ma-column verbs, ra-column verbs (which we called -in verbs in the previous post, regardless of whether or not they’re in their -in or -yun ending state), ga-column verbs, da-column verbs, and ba-column verbs.
So how can you tell which column a verb falls into by looking at the dictionary form? Well, there’s only one na-column verb, so we have that down. We just said that verbs that end in -in/-yun are ra-column verbs. Ma-column verbs end in -mun. Sa-column verbs end in -sun. Ba-column verbs end in -bun.
Things get trickier outside of those columns. You see, both ka-column verbs and ta-column verbs end in -chun in the dictionary form and both da-column verbs and ga-column verbs end in -jun in the dictionary form. So how do you know which is which?
Uh, near as I can tell, you have to learn each verb by heart. Open up the Okinawan Language Dictionary (see the resources list), open up the spreadsheets, and in the 品詞 column, see what type of verb it says it is (for example, if it has a capital ‘K’ in that column, it’s probably a ka-column verb). For now, I don’t think it’s possible to tell the difference between ka- and ta-column verbs and the difference between ga- and da-column verbs on sight in the dictionary form.
So, that confusing mess out of the way, what are the fundamental stems? Our first step is to take away the -un/-in like in the Continuative Stem (exactly like the Continuative Stem, actually). And then, we do the following:
For Ka-column verbs — The ch- ending becomes k-
Example: Kachun -> Kak-
For Sa-column verbs — Don’t do anything more. The sa-column Fundamental Stem is identical to the Continuative Stem.
For Ta-column verbs - The ch- ending becomes t-
Example: Machun -> Mat-
For Na-column verbs - Don’t do anything more. The na-column Fundamental Stem is identical to the Continuative Stem. (Shin-)
For Ma-column verbs - Don’t do anything more. The ma-column Fundamental Stem is identical to the Continuative Stem.
For Ra-column verbs - This is going to be a bit different. For ra-column verbs, don’t even turn it into the Continuative Stem but simply remove -in or -yun and replace it with -r-.
Example: Kooin -> Koor-
For Ga-column verbs - The j- ending becomes g-
Example: Wiijun -> Wiig-
For Da-column verbs - The j- ending becomes d-
Example: Yanjun -> Yand-
For Ba-column verbs - Don’t do anything more. The ba-column Fundamental Stem is identical to the Continuative Stem.
Plain Negative Terminal
Moving on, our first conjugation with the Fundamental Stem is the plain negative terminal form of the verb. To make the verb negative, simply put the dictionary form of the word into the fundamental stem and add -an.
書かん・かかん・Kakan - Not write
買ーらん・こーらん・Kooran - Not buy
Simple!
Plain Negative Attributive
Now, to make that attributive, we need to take the fundamental stem and add -aru.
書かる人・かかるっちゅ・Kakaru cchu - not-writing person
買ーらる人・こーらるっちゅ・Kooraru cchu - not-buying person
Polite Negative
Now, let’s make the negative terminal polite. In this case, we’re taking the polite form of the verb (that will either end in abiin or ibiin). As these are ra-column verb endings, their fundamental stem is abir- and ibir-. Add -an, and there you have it.
書ちゃびらん・かちゃびらん・Kachabiran - Not write
買ーいびらん・こーいびらん・Kooibiran - Not buy
買ーやびらん・こーやびらん・Kooyabiran - Not buy
Polite Negative Attributive
And finally, to make that attributive, add -aru to abir- or ibir-.
書ちゃびらる人・かちゃびらるっちゅ・Kachabiraru cchu - not-writing person
買ーいびらる人・こーいびらるっちゅ・Kooibiraru cchu - not-buying person
買ーやびらる人・こーやびらるっちゅ・Kooyabiraru cchu - not-buying person
In review:
There are 9 types of verbs in Okinawan (ka, sa, ta, na, ma, ra, ga, da, ba)
A dictionary is required to learn if a verb ending in -chun is a ka or a ta verb and if a verb ending in -jun is a ga or a da verb.
The Fundamental Stem makes various phonetic changes from the Continuative Stem.
The Plain Negative Terminal: Fundamental Stem + an
The Plain Negative Attributive: Fundamental Stem + aru
The Polite Negative Terminal: Continuative Stem + abiran (or ibiran for -in ra column verbs)
The Polite Negative Attributive: Continuative Stem + abiraru (or ibiraru for -in ra column verbs)
Okinawan Verbs I — Dictionary, Polite, Continuative, Attributive
Okay. After that last adjective grammar post sent me into hibernation, it’s time to begin to start talking about verbs. Today, I want to talk about the “dictionary” form of the verb alongside, the continuative stem, the continuative form, the polite form, the attributive form, and the polite attributive forms of verbs (all in the present tense).
The Dictionary Form
Otherwise known as the present, plain, terminal form. This is the default form a verb takes and the form you will see it listed in dictionaries (hence, “dictionary form”). The present tense means it’s happening “now” (though it can also serve the role of a future tense). When I say “plain,” I mean that the verb is plain on the politeness scale. “Terminal” refers to the fact that the verb is in this form when it comes at the end of a sentence. Okinawan sentence structure generally follows a SOV pattern (subject, object, verb).
Tip for Japanese Speakers: Though Japanese has the particle を to mark an object, Okinawan does not have a dedicated object marking particle.
我んねー走ん。
わんねーはいん。
Wannee hain.
I run.
上人ぬチーズ食むん。
っうぇんちゅぬチーズかむん。
‘Wenchu nu chiizu kamun.
The mouse eats the cheese
All verbs end in -un with the exception of -in verbs. -in is a special ending as these types of verbs also can end in -yun instead of -in. For example, either form is acceptable for the word “to run”:
走いん・はいん・hain・To run
走ゆん・はゆん・hayun・To run
Anytime you see a verb end in -in, understand that you can have the same verb that ends in -yun, and vice versa.
The Continuative Stem
In Okinawan, the conjugate verbs, you often need to modify the dictionary form verb into specific types of stems. The first stem I want to cover is what is called the “continuative stem.” It is called this because it is used to make the “continuative form” which we’ll get to later.
The continuative stem is simply the dictionary form minus the final -un (or -in) at the end of the word.
Dictionary form: 走いん・はいん・hain・To run
Continuative stem: ha-
Dictionary form: 走ゆん・はゆん・hayun・To run
Continuative stem: hay-
The Continuative Form
The Continuative Form (or conjunctive form) is another step in conjugating verbs. By itself, (I think that) the continuative form has no meaning. The Continuative Form is made by adding -i to the Continuative Stem. Please note that for the -in/-yun verbs, only the -in variant can be brought to the Continuative form
Keep the Continuative Form in the back of your mind for now, since the next form we’ll be looking at works with the Continuative stem. We won’t actually get to applications of the Continuative Form this lesson but it will show up later.
Polite Present Terminal
The difference between the Dictionary Form and the Polite Present Terminal is the politeness level. To create these polite verbs, add -abiin to the continuative stem. For -in verbs, add -ibiin instead of -abiin.
Continuative stem: ha-
Polite Present Terminal: 走いびーん・はいびーん・haibiin・To run
Continuative stem: hay-
Polite Present Terminal: 走やびーん・はやびーん・hayabiin・To run
Plain Present Attributive Form
Sometimes the verb isn’t in the last place. For example, “He runs” can be あれー走いん。But what if we want to say “I see the running man?” ‘Running,’ in this case, is not in the terminal position. In that case, we put “to run” before “man” but make sure that the verb “to run” is in what’s called the attributive form.
我んねー走ゆる男見じゅん。
わんねーはゆるうぃきがんんじゅん。
Wannee hayuru wikiga nnjun.
I see the running man.
The attributive form is created by adding -uru to the continuative stem (or adding -iru to -in verbs in their continuative stem).
Polite Present Attributive Form
So, following our pattern, what would the polite version of the attributive form be? Well, the continuative stem of the -abiin suffix is -abi- and -ibiin is -ibi. (But! Keep in mind that these are -in verb endings meaning they technically can be -abiy- and -ibiy- as well). Following our pattern we get:
This lesson is light on examples but there’s a lot to cover with verbs and I hope to get more verb practice in with some proper sentences and translations of things like songs in the future.
In review:
The Dictionary Form, or Plain, present, terminal form ends in -un (or -in).
Where there is a verb that ends in -in, there is also a verb that ends in -yun.
Okinawan sentence structure is in a Subject-Object-Verb pattern.
There is no particle to mark the object of a sentence.
The Continuative Stem is formed by removing the last -un or -in.
The Continuative Form is formed by adding -i to the Continuative Stem (and is only applicable to -in verbs in their -yun appearances).
The Polite Present Terminal is formed by adding -abiin to the continuative stem (and adding -ibiin to the continuative stem for -in verbs)
The Plain Present Attributive is formed by adding -uru to the continuative stem (and adding -iru to the continuative stem for -in verbs)
Thee Polite Present Attributivee is formed with -abiiru or -abiyuru on the continuative stem (or -ibiiru or -ibiyuru on the continuative stem of -in verbs)
In my article on the different philosophies in learning Okinawan, I’ve touched up on the relatively low amount of Okinawan vocabulary and the language’s need for loanwords. I intend to get into more detail on this here. I was hoping for this article to be more structured, but it ended up being much more of a stream-of-consciousness venting of frustrations. And you know what? It’s a cluster of thoughts I think are worth sharing.
The Okinawan Language Dictionary is the preeminent and most definitive lexicon of the Okinawan language. The OLD lists 14,549 words in the Okinawan language. This is an incredibly low count, especially when you consider the (admittedly ranging) vocabulary count of other languages with English coming in with 350,000 words, the influential Chinese coming in at around 370,000 words, and Okinawan’s own relative Japanese ranging at around 500,000 words.
What this means is that to have even a basic conversation in Okinawan, you will need loanwords. The Okinawan language is without words that, while not so significant during Okinawa’s relative isolation from the rest of the world, are crucial to today’s society. Okinawan lacks words for the days of the week, any number larger than ten (up until one thousand), animals not native to Okinawa, most countries, inventions after, say, the 16th century, and, as far as I can tell, how to tell the exact time (if you look up the Japanese phrase “何時/nanji/What time?” in the Okinawan Language Dictionary, it redirects you to the Okinawan word “いち/ichi” which is the cognate with the much more vaguer Japanese word “いつ/itsu/When”). And so on.
And, obviously, that’s not to say modern Okinawans are unfamiliar with these concepts. Most (and, frankly, likely all) Okinawans speak the Japanese language natively, more so than the Okinawan language. Native Okinawan speakers still speak or at the very least can understand the Japanese language. There are so many concepts that they are used to doing in Japanese that can make conversation in pure Okinawan difficult if not impossible without switching to the Okinawan dialect of Japanese.
So, it’s only natural that when Okinawan doesn’t have a word, you loan the word you’re looking for from Japanese, even if that word is in and of itself loaned from another language like Chinese, English, or Portuguese. But then that raises the question of how do you loan a word from Japanese?
In European languages like English, words are loaned from other languages pretty much how they are. German terms used in the psychology field or French words in many more contexts come to mind. They can even be pronounced with their native German or French pronunciations though they often take on a form closer to the English pronunciation system. Anything is fine thanks to the versatility and wiggle room for interpretation in the alphabet.
East Asian languages tend to be different. When Chinese, Korean, or Japanese loans a word, these words must fit the stricter and often unique pronunciation systems and writing scripts of these languages. Korean uses a phonetic system that the loan word needs to fit into. Chinese breaks down the sounds of the loaned word and prescribes certain characters with similar sounds to it. Japanese has a whole writing script devoted to foreign loan words in the form of katakana but it still follows a phonetic system that the loan word must fit into. Things can get more complicated when the three mentioned languages loan words from each other in which the loaned word is less of a breakdown of the word’s native pronunciation to fit the loaning language’s system and more of a loaning language’s reading of the Chinese characters used to write the loaned word. The Chinese word for China is Zhongguo but the Japanese word for China isn’t ジョンググオ/jonguguo, but 中国/chuugoku as the characters for zhongguo are read that way in Japanese.
So relating that back to Okinawan, when Okinawan loans a word from Japanese, do we: A) Take the Japanese word and alter the phonetics to meet the Okinawan phonetic system OR B) Take the Japanese word as it is, complete with bringing over the Japanese phonetic system for that word.
I wish I had an answer for you. In fact, this very question has been one of the greatest hurdles in me learning Okinawan as the answer appears to be both.
Take the word 琉球 for example. It originated as a Chinese word, liuqiu. When the word was brought to Japanese, 琉球 had to match the Japanese phonetic system so it shifted into ryuukyuu. When the word was then brought from Japan to Okinawa, it had to meet the Okinawan phonetic system and so it was read as ruuchuu in Okinawan.
But meanwhile, we have the Japanese word 新型コロナウイルス/shingata korona uirusu, the term most often used to refer to the COVID-19 virus. 新型 literally means “new form.” While there is no equivalent for 新型 listed in the OLD, 型 is used in the Okinawan language and it can be read as gata in the same context as Japanese. 新, on the other hand, is a different story as it is never pronounced as shin in the OLD. Instead, 新 is given the reading of mii in the Okinawan language for the same context as when it is pronounced shin in Japanese. Could we loan the word 新型 into Okinawan? If so, would it be read as shingata or would it be read as miigata?
Well, the COVID-19 virus is, as you can imagine, a pretty big deal and is being spoken about in several Okinawan sources including the Hougen News broadcast as well as on blogs in the Okinawan language. The ゆんたく物語 blog calls it 新コロナウイルス/mii korona uirusu. This is interesting as it does not loan 新型. Rather, it simply uses the prefex version of “new”, 新 with the Okinawan reading. Instead of saying “the new form of coronavirus,” it’s saying “the new coronavirus” He was able to talk around the word that would have been loaned which is an important lesson to learn — You can avoid the loanword oddities if you talk around the word you need to loan.
However, the Hougen News Broadcast simply loans the term from Japanese, Japanese reading and all. Hougen News Broadcast says 新型コロナウイルス/shingata korona uirusu even in the context of the Okinawan language.
Can you hear my head blowing up in confusion?
To use another example from ゆんたく物語, the blog translates the Japanese phrase “同じ価値観/onaji kachikan/Same sense of values” into “同ぬ考え/I nu kangee/Same thinking.” Is having the same sense of values the same thing as having the same way of thinking? It is interesting that, despite Okinawan being so strongly related to Japanese, the amount of abstract thinking and vocabulary required to translate sentences is much higher than you would think.
Of course, unless you take the other approach of loanwords like how Hougen News used 新型コロナウイルス. Modern day Okinawan and Japanese share a special relationship where everyone who speaks Okinawan also speaks Japanese and Japanese is more comprehensive in nearly every scenario. The number of loanwords you can take from Japanese without even changing the pronunciation is impressive but then you get the question of how many loanwords can you use before you’re just talking Japanese with Okinawan grammar?
Meanwhile, we have the textbook 沖縄語の入門. Like I said before, there are no words for the day of the week listed in the OLD. However, 沖縄語の入門 loans the word “土曜日/doyoubi/Saturday” from Japanese and changes the reading of the characters to be duyuubi.
WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?
沖縄語の入門 is pretty much the most reliable text for modern day Okinawan so I’m not keen on handwaving this away as a mistake. But it makes me wonder what the other days of the week are. Is it Getsuyuubi (or does the tsu change to a chi or a ti or something?), Kayuubi, Suiyuubi, Mukuyuubi, Kinyuubi, and Nichiyuubi or am I missing something?
Although, that being said, 沖縄語の入門 does use the wrong words for “11, 12, 13” and so on. It uses the Okinawan words “tuutiichu, tuutaachi, tuumiichi” and so on when they should be “juuichi, juuni, juusan”, etc. Multiple texts and native speakers corroborate that the counting system from 11 onwards (until 1,000) is identical to Japanese. Is duyuubi another one of these mistakes? Hougen News uses doyoubi from Japanese. I think. It can be really hard to tell the difference sometimes.
Things like this have been what’s been keeping me from updating this blog in a while as I’m having a hard time finding out when its appropriate to use a loanword and when it is not, as well as when the loanword keeps its Japanese pronunciation and when it receives and Okinawanization.
In my studies of the Okinawan language, I have noticed a pattern of different ideas, philosophies, and motivations when it comes to people trying to provide education in the Okinawan language. I want to take a moment and talk about these different philosophies and where Okinawan Online leans when it comes to my mission for Okinawan education.
From what I can tell, there are essentially two main philosophies (with a third one interweaving with one of the two) that most Okinawan educational material can be divided into. I’ll call these philosophies the “conservationist approach” and the “vernacular approach” with the third one, the “political approach,” having much in common with the “conservationist approach” in some respects.
From what I can observe, the conservationist approach seeks to preserve the Okinawan language as it was. These educators and learners often look to texts from the Ryukyu Kingdom and earlier as the most important source for the language. Indeed, for historians of the Ryukyu Kingdom and earlier, a knowledge of conservationist Okinawan would be crucial to comprehend primary sources from the period. Traits of the conservationist approach include writing purely in kana and avoiding the use of Japanese loan words as much as possible, and considering the word yutashiku as an Okinawan Japanese word rather than an Okinawan word and using yutasarugutu in its place.
Unfortunately, what the conservationist approach neglects is actual conversation with an Okinawan speaker. In seeking to conserve Okinawan as it was, the conservationist approach is tied with the linguistic purist movement. The conservationist approach appears to have formed in reaction to the changes Okinawan has faced over time due to influence from Japanese. It is a reaction done in an effort to preserve traditional Okinawan heritage and rejects Japanese linguistic influence as a reflection of the rejection of mainland Japanese political influence. However, Okinawan is (still) a living language and as a living language, it is subject to changes exerted upon it both internally and externally with time. I’ve attended many Okinawan language events and not a single one of them used yutasarugutu over yutashiku (though, to be clear, I think it is valuable to learn both of them).
The vernacular approach seeks to learn the Okinawan language as it is. These educators and learners often look to modern day textbooks or conversation with native speakers as the most important source of the language. Traits of the vernacular approach include writing in a kanji-kana mixture and using Japanese loan words (though how these Japanese words are loaned can vary). Yutashiku is considered a valid (and often used) word. Criticisms of vernacular Okinawan can include the abundance of Japanese loan words and the use of kanji in the language when it was not used for Okinawan in the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Perhaps Kingdom-era Okinawan is the “purest” form of the Okinawan language, but if you were to become fluent in Kingdom-era Okinawan, you would have much difficulty in understanding a modern day native Okinawan speaker and they may have difficulty understanding you.
The third and less common approach is the political approach, though it is tied to the conservationist approach in that it avoids Japanese loan words. What separates this political approach from the conservationist approach, besides being a more specific motive to separate Okinawa and Okinawan culture as a completely different entity from “mainland Japanese culture,” is a complete lexical shift of the language (and thereby putting it at odds with the remaining tenants of conservationist philosophy). With a low amount of native vocabulary, the Okinawan language requires an extensive use of loan words to cover many concepts that modern day Okinawans are conscious of. While the vernacular approach usually uses Japanese loan words (or whichever language Japanese loans from if there’s not a Japanese equivalent), the political approach may try to form a new word that has no history of being within the Okinawan language. In other situations, I’ve seen followers of this approach use loan words from modern day Mandarin Chinese, arguing that Okinawa was, is, and/or should be more aligned with China than Japan. While I believe both the conservationist and vernacular approaches have their uses and places, I will say that following this drastic of a political approach will make your Okinawan incomprehensible to a native speaker and, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of learning the language.
So what do I think is the purpose of learning Okinawan? Which approach do I lean towards on this blog? As someone who lives in Okinawa and has ancestors from modern-day Okinawa (not the generation that left Okinawa for America towards the end of the Ryukyu Kingdom or just after the annexation of the Kingdom), I tend to lean more into the vernacular approach. I believe the Okinawan language has so few native speakers that some conservationists might forget that Okinawan is still a living language and still changes through time. I think the language being preserved by the conservationists is comparable to that of the Anglish movement in the English language that seeks to only use words from a Germanic origin and not words with Latin or Greek origins, creating a way of speaking that can be incomprehensible to English speakers.
That being said, the conservationist approach is absolutely crucial to preserving history and keeping older texts comprehensible, just as the study of Old English or Old Japanese is crucial. It can also be helpful in understanding the history of the language itself and why some phrases are the way they are. But when it comes to actually speaking Okinawan and thereby keeping the language alive, I believe the vernacular approach is the best in that respect and this is why Okinawan Online is focusing on the modern day Okinawan language (as best as I can, at least).
The examples outlined in my description of the “political approach” are, in my opinion, generally unhelpful.
One of the resources I have listed on my resources page is the page for the Okinawan Wikipedia, a Wikipedia website entirely in Okinawan. The website often uses words and grammatical structures that I have not seen before or contradict other sources that use words I see much more frequently. I was never really sure what was up with that but assumed it was just something about the language I didn’t know about and that I would find more information eventually. Indeed, I can’t count the number of times I was thrown a curve-ball by Okinawan only to receive an explanation of what I saw several months later.
However, a trend is currently being uncovered in the world of Wikipedias for endangered languages. Running through linguistic news lately was the reveal that the Scots Wikipedia was almost entirely written by one user who did not know the Scots language. As a result, most of the Wikipedia is written in what can be described as a phonetic representation of the Scottish dialect of English, NOT the Scots language.
I wish I could find the exact post, but it was also noted that on the English Wikipedia page of a certain endangered indigenous South American language, an example excerpt of the language written by an English-speaking user was so dissimilar from other authentic excerpts of the language that it was unidentifiable as the same language.
This trend of misinformation on Wikipedia regarding obscure languages is concerning, especially given how different the Okinawan Wikipedia tends to be when compared to other sources and I cannot help but wonder if something similar is happening to the Okinawan Wikipedia. I cursory glance at the users who edit it shows that several editors for the Okinawan Wikipedia are Americans, Lithuanians, and Chinese people.
I’m just making this post to serve as a sort of asterisk and warning note when using Okinawan (or any other obscure language) Wikipedia. If something seems off, check for other sources. Heck, even if the page uses a word you’ve never seen before, even if you’re a beginner, check to see if other sources use the same word.
That being said, don’t get the Okinawan Wikipedia confused for the English Wikipedia page on the Okinawan language which is filled with helpful example sentences and reference tables.
ヨーロッパとぅかフィンランドとぅかポーランドんでー（外国地名）沖縄口為何んでぃ言いびーが。漢字ぬ言い様や何やいびーが。（例れえ、天竺 ＝ インド、唐 ＝ 中国、亜米利加／亜墨利加 ＝ アメリカ。） How do you say Europe, Finland, or Poland etc. (Foreign place names) in Uchinaaguchi? How would they be written in Kanji? (For instance, 天竺 = India, 唐 = China, and 亜米利加/亜墨利加 = United States.)
First, I know you didn’t ask for it but I went and tweaked your Okinawan here. That doesn’t mean I corrected it, that just means I thought I corrected it. Which likely means what I wrote is still wrong. Still:
It’s just hitting me that I haven’t talked about verbs on this blog yet.
Country and Place Proper Nouns:
In casual conversation, the West in general all falls under the umbrella term of “ウランダ/Uranda.” This word is related to the Japanese term “オランダ/Oranda”, meaning “Holland.” For a time in history, the Dutch were the only Westerners permitted to trade with Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom. As such, the Dutch became a sort of representative of the West. Though mainland Japan has moved on to using more specific terminology, Okinawan speakers still use ウランダ in casual conversation. ウランダ may be used even more than specific country names unless we’re talking about America.
For America, the Okinawan word is “アミリカ/Amirika” though the Japanese “アメリカ/Amerika” is also widely used.
The Okinawan Language Dictionary lists other location names:
高麗・Kooree・Korea (This refers to the geographic area of Korea and is not specific to North and South).
唐・Too・China
台湾・Taiwan・Taiwan
北京・Fikin・Beijing
東京・Toochoo・Tokyo
京都・Chootu・Kyoto
鹿児島・Kagushima・Kagoshima
いんちりー・Inchirii・England
いんじりー・Injirii・England
天竺・Tinjiku・India
Beyond that, for anything outside of the Sinosphere, Okinawan likely uses the same word from Japanese.
ポランド・Porando・Poland
フィンランド・Finrando・Finland
イタリア・Itaria・Italy
ドイツ・Doitsu・Germany
ロシア・Roshia・Russia
メキシコ・Mekishiko・Mexico
シンガポール・Shingapooru・Singapore (a country in the Sinosphere but has an Anglicized Malay name)
For the Koreas, Okinawan likely uses the Okinawan readings of the characters set out by the South Korean government to represent their state.
韓国・Kankuku・South Korea
For North Korea, Okinawan may follow a pattern that the Japanese language set by using the word “north” before the general term for Korea. While Japanese uses 朝鮮/Chousen for this purpose, Okinawan may use 高麗/Kooree instead, making:
北高麗・Nishi Kooree・North Korea
(I should probably listen through some Hougen News broadcasts to see if they ever mention North Korea to be sure).
For the rest of the Sinosphere, Okinawan may use an Okinawan reading of the characters used for the location OR it might just borrow the word from Japanese. For example, Hong Kong is written as 香港 and I do not think either of those characters have an Okinawan reading in this context. Therefore, Okinawan might just take the word from Japanese and read it as honkon.
Kanji in Place Proper Nouns:
As for how these names would be written in kanji, if the word would be written in kanji (see 天竺, 唐、韓国、北高麗、台湾, etc), I have provided them in kanji. アミリカ, for example, would not be written in kanji. 亜米利加 in particular is something that emerged in Japanese linguistic history when Japanese was written in kanji alone. Okinawan, meanwhile, was originally written with kana alone before it became a mix of kanji and kana. While words like 唐 naturally come with their kanji and have been traditionally associated with the country in question, 亜米利加 was an invented term to meet the restrictions of the Japanese language and the Chinese character writing system at the time, a restriction that Okinawan never had.
I will work on a full vocabulary list of country names in Okinawan but for now, the list will follow the patterns and examples outlined here.
Now that we’ve covered the basics on adjectives, let’s learn to conjugate them into their past and negative forms.
Note: This ended up covering much more than I thought it would, so I apologize for the uninspired example sentences.
Some terms to know:
Terminal: The form an adjective takes when it is at the end of a sentence (Like the -san ending in sa adjectives for the present plain or the copula for na adjectives in the present plain).
Attributive: The form an adjective takes when it comes before the noun it modifies. (Like the -saru ending for sa adjectives or the na particle for na adjectives in the present plain).
Negative Plain
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Conjunctive Form + ya + neen OR neeran
First, we’re going to have to change the sa adjective into the something I’ve seen called the adverbial form or the conjunctive form. We haven’t covered this yet, but this is essentially what form you put the adjective in when it comes before a verb. To do so, revert the adjective to the sa stem, drop sa, and add –ku.
Example: Feeku is the conjunctive form of feesan.
We`ll cover the conjunctive form in full one day, but that is what you need to know for the negative plain version of the sa adjective. From there, attach ya neen OR ya neeran. The ya here is the particle ya which means you must assimilate the ya with the ku ending of the adjective, making the negative plain ending koo neen or koo neeran. There are no differences between neen and neeran.
旨こーねーん。
まーこーねーん。
Maakoo neen.
It’s not delicious.
甘こーねーらん。
あまこーねーらん。
Amakoo neeran.
It’s not sweet.
Attributive: Conjunctive Form + ya + neen OR neeran (no change from the terminal form)
うれー甘こーねーらんドーナツやん。
うれーあまこーねーらんドーナツやん。
Uree amakoo neeran doonatsu yan.
That is a not-sweet donut.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + ya aran
When at the end of the sentence, you might remember that na adjectives require the copula. To negate a na adjective, simply turn the copula into a negative by changing yan into ya aran. Remember ya assimilation.
普請のー白やあらん。
ふしのーしるーやあらん。
Fushinoo shiruu ya aran.
The building is not white.
Attributive: Adjective + ya aran (no change from the terminal form)
白やあらん普請見じゅん。
しるーやあらんふしんんじゅん。
Shiruu ya aran fushin njun.
I see the building that is not white.
Negative Polite
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Conjunctive Form + ya +neebiran OR neeyabiran
旨こーねーびらん。
まーこーねーびらん。
Maakoo neebiran.
It’s not delicious.
甘こーねーやびらん。
あまこーねーやびらん。
Amakoo neeyabiran.
It’s not sweet.
Attributive: Conjunctive Form + ya + neebiran OR neeyabiran (no change from the terminal form)
うれー甘こーねーびらんドーナツやいびーん。
うれーあまこーねーびらんドーナツやいびーん。
Uree amakoo neebiran doonatsu yan.
That is a not-sweet donut.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + ya aibiran
普請のー白やあいびらん。
ふしのーしるーやあいびらん。
Fushinoo shiruu ya aibiran.
The building is not white.
Attributive: Adjective + ya aibiran (no change from the terminal form)
白やあいびらん普請見じゃびーん。
しるーやあいびらんふしんじゃびーん。
Shiruu ya aibiran fushin njabiin.
I see the building that is not white.
Past Plain
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Sa stem + tan
ハンバーガーや旨さたん。
ハンバーガーやまーさたん。
Hanbaagaa ya maasatan.
The hamburger was delicious.
Attributive: Sa stem + taru
旨さたるハンバーガー噛だん。
まーさたるハンバーガーかだん。
Maasataru hanbaagaa kadan.
I ate the delicious hamburger.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + yatan
普請のー白やたん。
ふしのーしるーやたん。
Fushinoo shiruu yatan.
The building was white.
Attributive: Adjective + yataru
白やたる普請見じゅん。
しるーやたるふしんんじゅん。
Shiruu yataru fushin njun.
I see the building that was white.
Past Polite
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Sa stem + ibiitan
うぬハンバーガーや旨さいびーたん。
うぬハンバーガーやまーさいびーたん。
unu hanbaagaa ya maasaibiitan.
That hamburger was delicious.
Attributive: Sa stem + ibiitaru
旨さいびーたるハンバーガー噛まびたん。
まーさいびーたるハンバーガーかまびたん。
Maasaibiitaru hanbaagaa kamabitan.
I ate the hamburger that was delicious.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + yaibiitan
普請のー白やいびーたん。
ふしのーしるーやいびーたん。
Fushinoo shiruu yaibiitan.
The building was white.
Attributive: Adjective + yaibiitaru
白やいびーたる普請見じゃびーん。
しるーやいびーたるふしんじゃびーん。
Shiruu yaibiitaru fushin njabiin.
I see the building that was white.
Negative Past Plain
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Conjunctive Form + ya + neerantan OR neentan
旨こーねーんたん。
まーこーねーんたん。
Maakoo neentan.
It wasn`t delicious.
甘こーねーらんたん。
あまこーねーらんたん。
Amakoo neerantan.
It wasn`t sweet
Attributive: Conjunctive Form + ya + neerantaru OR neentaru
うれー甘こーねーらんたるドーナツやたん。
うれーあまこーねーらんたるドーナツやたん。
Uree amakoo neerantaru doonatsu yatan.
That is a donut that was not sweet.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + ya arantan
普請のー白やあらんたん。
ふしのーしるーやあらんたん。
Fushinoo shiruu ya arantan.
The building was not white.
Attributive: Adjective + ya arantaru
白やあらんたる普請見じゅん。
しるーやあらんたるふしんんんじゅん。
Shiruu ya arantaru fushin nnjun.
I see the building that was not white.
Negative Past Polite
Sa Adjectives
Terminal: Conjunctive Form + ya + neebirantan OR neeyabirantan
旨こーねーびらんたん。
まーこーねーびらんたん。
Maakoo neebirantan.
It wasn`t delicious.
甘こーねーやびらんたん。
あまこーねーやびらんたん。
Amakoo neeyabirantan.
It wasn`t sweet.
Attributive: Conjunctive form + ya + neebirantaru OR neeyabirantaru
うれー甘こーねーびらんたるドーナツやいびーたん。
うれーあまこーねーびらんたるーナツやいびーたん。
Uree amakoo neebirantaru doonatsu yaibiitan.
That was a not-sweet donut.
Na Adjectives
Terminal: Adjective + ya aibirantan
普請のー白やあいびらんたん。
ふしのーしるーやあいびらんたん。
Fushinoo shiruu ya aibirantan.
The building was not white.
Attributive: Adjective + ya aibirantaru
白やあいびらんたる普請見じゃびーん。
しるーやあいびらんたるふしんんじゃびーん。
Shiruu ya aibirantaru fushin njabiin.
I see the building that was not white.
PS- I believe I forgot the polite present attributive for the adjectives in my first adjective post. For sa adjectives, it is the sa stem + ibiiru. For na adjectives, it is still just the adjective + the na particle. So, let’s take a look at all 32 adjective endings we know so far (not including stems or the conjunctive form).
In review:
Plain Sa Terminal: Sa stem + n
Plain Sa Attributive: Sa stem + ru
Plain Na Terminal: Adjective + yan
Plain Na Attributive: Adjective + na
Polite Sa Terminal: Sa stem+ ibiin
Polite Sa Attributive: Sa stem+ibiiru
Polite Na Terminal: Adjective + yaibiin
Polite Na Attributive: Adjective + na
Negative Plain Sa Terminal: Conjunctive + ya + neen OR neeran
Negative Plain Sa Attributive: Conjunctive + ya + neen OR neeran
Negative Plain Na Terminal: Adjective + ya aran
Negative Plain Na Attributive: Adjective + ya aran
Negative Polite Sa Terminal: Conjunctive + ya + neebiran OR neeyabiran
Negative Polite Sa Attributive: Conjunctive + ya + neebiran OR neeyabiran
Negative Polite Na Terminal: Adjective + ya aibiran
Negative Poltie Na Attributive Adjective + ya aibiran
Past Plain Sa Terminal: Sa stem + tan
Past Plain Sa Attributive: Sa stem + taru
Past Plain Na Terminal: Adjective + yatan
Past Plain Na Attributive: Adjective + yataru
Past Polite Sa Terminal: Sa stem + ibiitan
Past Polite Sa Attributive: Sa stem + ibiitaru
Past Polite Na Terminal: Adjective + yaibiitan
Past Polite Na Attributive: Adjective + yaibiitaru
Negative Past Plain Sa Terminal: Conjunctive + ya + neentan OR neerantan
Negative Past Plain Sa Attributive: Conjunctive + ya + neetaru OR neerantaru
Negative Past Plain Na Terminal: Adjective + ya arantan
Negative Past Plain Na Attributive: Adjective + ya arantaru
Negative Past Polite Sa Terminal: Conjunctive + ya + neebirantan OR neeyabirantan
Negative Past Polite Sa Attributive: Conjunctive + ya + neebirantaru OR neeyabirantaru
Negative Past Polite Na Terminal: Adjective + ya aibirantan
Negative Past Polite Na Attributive: Adjective + ya aibirantaru
Flavors, Seasonings, and Cooking Vocabulary in Okinawan
For this vocabulary list, I went through the book 小学英語絵カードプリント1400ブック and found the Okinawan equivalents for the Japanese words in that book. This covers the section of flavors, seasonings, and cooking. Note that many words are identical to their Japanese equivalents. For words that I do not have confidence in (meaning they weren’t found in any dictionary but I used the Okinawan readings of the characters used in the word) are marked with a *.
Flavors
Bad - にーさん・Niisan
Bitter - 苦さん・んじゃさん・Njasan
Delicious - 旨さん・まーさん・Maasan
Hot - 辛さん・からさん・Karasan
Oily - 脂強さん・あんだじゅーさん・Andajuusan
Salty - 塩辛さん・しぷからさん・Shipukarasan
Sour - 酸さん・すぃーさん・Siisan
Spicy - スパイスぬ効ちゃん・スパイスぬちちゃん・Supaisu nu chichan
Sweet - 甘さん・あまさん・Amasan
Seasonings
Dressing - ドレッシング・Doresshingu
Ketchup - ケチャップ・Kechappu
Mayonnaise - マヨネーズ・Mayoneezu
Mustard - マスタード・Masutaado
Pepper - 胡椒・ぐす・Gusu
Salt - まーしゅ・Maashu
Sauce - ソース・Soosu
Soy sauce - 醤油・そーゆー・Sooyuu
Sugar - 砂糖・さーたー・Saataa
Vinegar - 酢・しー・Shii
Cooking utensils
Bowl - ボウル・Booru
Chopsticks - 箸・はーし・Haashi
Cup (includes measuring cups) - カップ・Kappu
Cutting board - 爼板・まるちゃ・Marucha
Fork - フォーク・Fooku
Frying pan - フライパン・Furaipan
Glass (includes western cups) - コップ・ Koppu
Kettle - 薬罐・やっくゎん・Yakkwan
Kitchen knife - 包丁・ほーちゃー・Hoochaa
Knife - ナイフ・Naifu
Ladle - 鍋笥・なびげー・Nabigee
Microwave oven - 電子レンジ・Denshi renji
Oven - オーブン・Oobun
*Peeler - 皮むき器・かわむきき・Kawamukiki (There may be an Okinawan alternative reading of these characters)
Plate - 皿・さら・Sara
Pot - 鍋・なーび・Naabi
Rice bowl - 茶碗・ちゃわん・Chawan
*Rice cooker - 炊飯器・すいはんき・Suihanki (there may be an Okinawan alternative reading of these characters)
Soup bowl - 碗・わん・Wan
Spoon - スプーン・Supuun
Toaster - トースター・Toosutaa
*Turner - フライ返し・フライけーし・Furai keeshi (Might be フライ返し・ふらいかえし・Furai kaeshi)
*Whisk - 泡立て器・あわだてき・Awadateki (there may be an Okinawan alternative reading of these characters)
For this vocabulary list, I went through the book 小学英語絵カードプリント1400ブック and found the Okinawan equivalents for the Japanese words in that book. This covers the section of food and drink. Note that many words are identical to their Japanese equivalents. For words that I do not have confidence in (meaning they weren’t found in any dictionary but I used the Okinawan readings of the characters used in the word) are marked with a *.
We’ve covered the copula yan as well as the polite and negative forms of yan. But let’s go back in time and figure out the past versions of these terms.
Since we’ve recently introduced adjectives, I’d like to remind you that sa adjectives do not use the copula so keep that in mind when making sentences.
Plain Past — Yatan
The plain, past tense of yan is yatan, expressing that something was.
牛やたん。
うしやたん。
Ushi yatan.
It was a cow.
冬やたん。
ふゆやたん。
Fuyu yatan.
It was winter.
Polite Past — Yaibitan
The polite past tense of yan is yaibitan.
牛やいびたん。
うしやいびたん。
Ushi yaibitan.
It was a cow.
冬やいびたん。
ふゆやいびたん。
Fuyu yaibitan.
It was winter.
Plain Past Negative — Ya arantan
The plain, negative past tense of yan is ya arantan. This expresses that something wasn’t. Keep in mind that the ya here is the particle ya and requires ya assimilation when applicable.
今日やあらんたん。
ちゅーやあらんたん。
Chuu ya arantan.
It wasn’t today.
我んねーあらんたん。
わんねーあらんたん。
Wannee arantan.
It wasn’t me.
Polite Past Negative — Ya aibirantan
The polite, negative past tense of yan is ya aibirantan.
今日やあいびらんたん。
ちゅーやあいびらんたん。
Chuu ya aibirantan.
It wasn’t today.
我んねーあいびらんたん。
わんねーあいびらんたん。
Wannee aibirantan.
It wasn’t me.
Tips for Japanese Speakers: It may help for you to think of these words in terms of similar Japanese words. Yatan - だった, yaibitan = でした, ya arantan = じゃなかった, ya aibirantan = ではありませんでした though there are some grammatical differences like the use of the ya particle in Okinawan while Japanese does not use は here.
We are now at the point where we can introduce adjectives. What types of adjectives are there? How can we use them?
There are two types of adjectives in Okinawan — sa adjectives and na adjectives.
Sa Adjectives
Take a look at the following sentence:
普請のー白さん。
ふしのーしるさん。
Fushinoo shirusan.
The building is white.
Shirusan is a sa adjective. When they come at the end of the sentence, sa adjectives end in -san. The copula is NOT necessary. -san is the plain ending form (or terminal form).
To alter the sa adjective into something you can conjugate, you take away the final -n to so it ends in -sa. This is called the sa stem. For example, the sa stem of shirusan is shirusa-.
To make the polite version of a sa adjective, attach ibiin to the sa stem.
普請のー巨さいびーん。
ふしのーまぎさいびーん。
Fushinoo magisaibiin.
The building is big.
To place a sa adjective in front of the noun it modifies, you need to turn it into the attributive form by adding -ru to the sa stem.
黒さる猫や巨さん。
くるさるまやーやまぎさん。
Kurusaru mayaa ya magisan.
The gray cat is big.
Na Adjectives
The other type of adjective is the na adjective. Na adjectives often act as nouns. For example, if you put the na adjective at the end of the sentence, you do need to add the copula.
普請のー白やん。
ふしのーしるーやん。
Fushinoo shiruu yan.
The building is white.
Note: As we saw in the color vocabulary list, there is a sa adjective for white (shiruusan) and a na adjective for white (shiruu)
Likewise, for the polite form, it is the same thing as making the copula polite.
普請のー白やいびーん。
ふしのーしるやいびーん。
Fushinoo shiruu yaibiin.
The building is not white.
Now, why do they call them na adjectives? That’s because, when placing the adjective in front of the noun it modifies, you must follow the adjective with the na particle for this situation.
黒な猫や巨さん。
くるーなまやーやまぎさん。
Kuruu na mayaa ya magisan.
The black cat is big.
If you look up adjectives in any dictionary, they are listed in their ending form. You can tell sa adjectives are sa adjectives as they will end in -san. Na adjectives can theoretically end in anything as they are similar to nouns.
In review:
There are two types of adjectives in Okinawan — sa adjectives and na adjectives.
Sa adjectives, in their “terminal” form, -san, can end sentences. To conjugate sa adjectives, use the sa stem. To be placed at the beginning of nouns, they must become their attributive form -saru. The polite ending is -ibiin.
Na adjectives end with a copula. Their attributive form requires the na particle. Politeness is done by making the copula polite.
This lesson will cover honorifics used in talking to people in Okinawan.
Tip for Japanese Speakers: This lesson is identical to the honorifics used in Japanese as Okinawan borrows the honorifics from Japanese.
Honorifics in Okinawan are words placed at the end of people’s names to show varying degrees of respect (much like “mister” and “miss” in English). The most common respectful honorific is さん・san.
はいさい、高広さん!
はいさい、たかひろさん！
Hai sai, Takahiro-san!
Hello, Mr. Takahiro!
Note: In Okinawa, it’s not too uncommon to use someone’s given name rather than their family name. This is different compared to the mainland Japan custom of using one’s family name rather than their given name. In Okinawa, even students call their teachers by the teacher’s given name (albeit with the added honorific of 先生, meaning “teacher.” The Okinawan version of this is 先生・しんしー・Shinshii).
ちゃん・Chan is another honorific and expresses “that the speaker finds a person endearing.” It is often used for “babies, young children, close friends, grandparents, cute animals, or youthful women.”
ちゃー頑丈、真理子ちゃん?
ちゃーがんじゅー、まりこちゃん?
Chaa ganjuu, Mariko-chan?
How are you, Marika-chan?
君・くん・Kun “ generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, by anyone addressing or it can be used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends.” It is generally used for males. I should note that the character 君 has two uses in Japanese, one for addressing someone as a pronoun (きみ) and one as an honorific (くん). It appears that きみhas an equivalent in Okinawan as 君・ちみ・chimi. There is also the Okinawan reading of 君 as ちん・chin which appears to be the lexical equivalent of the Japanese くん. However, the Okinawan Language Dictionary suggests that chin and chimi are used the same way which means it can’t be an honorific in Okinawan. To be on the safe side, the Japanese honorific kun will be understood perfectly fine.
様・さま・Sama is another honorific used for people of extremely high status (as in a king or lord). This probably isn’t normally used in conversation but is worth knowing for any Okinawan media that uses the honorific.
あぬ人とー護佐丸様やいびーん!
あぬふぃとーごさまるさまやいびーん!
Anu fitoo Gosamaru-sama yaibiin!
That person over there is Gosamaru-sama!
In review
When addressing people in Okinawan, it is usually polite to use an honorific.
These honorifics are borrowed from the Japanese language.
If somebody has a title like shinshii, that may be used as an honorific as well.
This is going to be part-vocabulary list, part main lesson. Let’s take a look at pronouns in Okinawan, particularly demonstrative pronouns and personal pronouns.
Demonstrative Pronouns
First, let’s look at the demonstrative pronouns. The demonstrative pronouns in English are words like “this,” “that,” “here,” and “there.” In English, we have two levels of demonstrative pronouns — We have words for things close to us (this, here) and we have words for things further from us (that, there). However, in Okinawan, there are three levels — A level for things closer to us, a level for things further from us but not too far away, and a level for things furthest from us (think “this,” “that,” and “that over there.”).
The first set of demonstrative pronouns to look at are the words for “this,” “that,” and “that over there.” I should note that this set operates as nouns, as in “this is a pen.”
くり・Kuri = This
うり・Uri = That
あり・Ari = That (over there)
Note that you will usually see these words with ya assimilation, meaning they will often look like kuree, uree, and aree.
The second set of demonstrative pronouns are, again, the words for “this,” “that,” and “that over there.” The main difference is that these words work similarly to adjectives, as in “this pen is long.”
くぬ・Kunu = This
うぬ・Unu = That
あぬ・Anu = That over there
Compare the two sentences:
くれー猫やん。
くれーまやーやん。
Kuree mayaa yan.
This is a cat.
くぬ猫や灰色やん。
くぬまやーやふぇーいるやん。
Kunu mayaa ya feeiru yan.
This cat is gray.
Here’s another useful set of demonstrative pronouns:
くま・Kuma = Here
うま・Uma = There
っんま・’nma = There (alternate word)
あま・Ama = Over there
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are words like “I,” “me,” “you,” “we,” and so on. Note that personal pronouns in English change from the subject to the objective case (“I” to “me”), that change doesn’t happen in Okinawan.
我ん・わん・Wan = I, Me
我ったー・わったー・Wattaa = We, Us
っやー・’yaa = You (singular, casual)
御所・うんじゅ・Unju = You (singular, polite)
っいったー・’ittaa = You (plural, casual)
御所なー・うんじゅなー・Unjunaa = You (plural, polite)
He, She, It Personal Pronouns
For the third person singular pronouns “he,” “she,” and “it,” use the demonstrative pronouns we covered earlier. If the person or thing in question is right in front of you, use kuri. If they’re in the same room but distant, use uri. If they aren’t in sight, use ari. Note that it’s more appropriate to use someone’s name rather than a pronoun.
Tip for Japanese Speakers: Take note of the use of demonstrative pronouns for third person pronouns as this is something that isn’t really done in Japanese.
They
“They” is a bit trickier because you should be a bit more specific. Are you talking about a small group of people you know and does the listener know them as well? Use the name of one person in the group and attach 達・たー・Taa to the name as taa is a suffix that adds plurality. However, if you’re talking about people in general, use 人達・ちゅたー・Chutaa. “They” in Okinawan usually requires more context to form.
