Japonic languages and dialects

Abstract:

Hunter–gatherer occupations of small islands are rare in world prehistory and it is widely accepted that island settlement is facilitated by agriculture. The Ryukyu Islands contradict that understanding on two counts: not only did they have a long history of hunter–gatherer settlement, but they also have a very late date for the onset of agriculture, which only reached the archipelago between the eighth and thirteenth centuries AD. Here, we combine archaeology and linguistics to propose a tripartite model for the spread of agriculture and Ryukyuan languages to the Ryukyu Islands. Employing demographic growth, trade/piracy and the political influence of neighbouring states, this model provides a synthetic yet flexible understanding of farming/language dispersals in the Ryukyus within the complex historical background of medieval East Asia.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.1

This database includes lexical data from various Japanese, Ryukyuan and Hachijo varieties. It also provides some sample clips of each word, example sentences when available, and lists cognates in different varieties.

The database appears to be updated every few months with new datasets. You can see the home page in Japanese for the latest updates: https://kikigengo.ninjal.ac.jp/

Abstract:

In this paper I will be comparing Old Japanese non-back close vowels /i/ (i1 or kō-rui) and /ɨ/ (i2 or otsu-rui) in a post-nasal position with their North and South Ryukyuan cognates in order to propose Proto-Japonic reconstructions of Old Japanese [+ nasal] [+ high, -back] sequences. The paper establishes and analyzes six correspondence sets, each representing a different Proto-Japonic sequence: \*mi, \*muj, \*me, \*ni, \*noj, \*nuj, and briefly discusses a couple of yet different relevant Proto-Japonic reconstructions.

The study is concluded with a proposal of relative chronology of the discussed changes from Proto-Japonic to Proto-Ryukyuan. A reconstruction of Proto-Ryukyuan \*ɨ, a sixth segment added to Thorpe’s 1983 classical five-vowel set, is argued for as a necessary development of post-nasal \*oj and \*uj. This is interpreted within the context of chain-shifting processes dating to Proto-Japonic as an important catalyst of mid-vowel raising in Proto-Ryukyuan.

Jarosz, A. (2021). Old Japanese Post-Nasal Non-Back Close Vowels in a Comparative Perspective. International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 3(1), 50-82. https://doi.org/10.1163/25898833-12340041

As the title implies. Is it learning a particular Ryukyuan language? Documenting? Studying historical linguistics? Etymology? Syntax? Broader East Asian language studies? What's your personal goal?

Abstract:

Like the transfer of genetic variation through gene flow, language changes constantly as a result of its use in human interaction. Contact between speakers is most likely to happen when they are close in space, time, and social setting. Here, we investigated the role of geographical configuration in this process by studying linguistic diversity in Japan, which comprises a large, connected mainland (less isolation, more potential contact) and smaller island clusters of the Ryukyuan archipelago (more isolation, less potential contact). We quantified linguistic diversity using dialectometric methods and performed regression analyses to assess the extent to which distance in space and time predict contemporary linguistic diversity. We found that language diversity in general increases as geographic distance increases and as time passes—as with biodiversity. Moreover, we found that (I) for mainland languages, linguistic diversity is most strongly related to geographic distance—a so-called isolation-by-distance pattern, and that (II) for island languages, linguistic diversity reflects the time since varieties separated and diverged—an isolation-by-colonisation pattern. Together, these results confirm previous findings that (linguistic) diversity is shaped by distance, but also goes beyond this by demonstrating the critical role of geographic configuration

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Here's an interview with the author: https://www.mpi-talkling.mpi.nl/?p=1806&lang=en

Requires institutional access.

Bugaeva, Anna. Handbook of the Ainu Language, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502859

About the book:

"The volume is aimed at preserving invaluable knowledge about Ainu, a language-isolate previously spoken in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kurils, which is now on the verge of extinction. Ainu was not a written language, but it possesses a huge documented stock of oral literature, yet is significantly under-described in terms of grammar. It is the only non-Japonic language of Japan and is typologically different not only from Japanese but also from other Northeast Asian languages."

This is an article I found about the frequency of apophony (母音交替) in nonce compound words as read by 616 students of Yamagata University. The nonce compounds with an \>50% apophony rate were ｢船旗｣, ｢上所｣, ｢船猫｣, ｢雨風呂｣, and ｢稲蝉｣. ｢上所｣ and ｢雨風呂｣ were the nonce compounds with an \>50% redundancy rate, i.e. that the students read them with both apophony and rendaku.

‘Rikka, Uchinaa-nkai! Okinawan Language Textbook for Beginners’ (2017)

Web page: https://liuchiuan.com/2017/09/13/rikka-uchinaa-nkai-okinawan-language-textbook-for-beginners-2017/

Direct link to PDF: https://liuchiuan.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/rikka\_2nded\_final.pdf

Great work for learners. Has a lot of exercises for practice..

\#japonic #languagelearning #okinawan #linguistics

"In this paper, we analyse spatial variation in the Japanese dialectal lexicon by assembling a set of methodologies using theories in variationist linguistics and GIScience, and tools used in historical GIS. Based on historical dialect atlas data, we calculate a linguistic distance matrix across survey localities. The linguistic variation expressed through this distance is contrasted with several measurements, based on spatial distance, utilised to estimate language contact potential across Japan, historically and at present. Further, administrative boundaries are tested for their separation effect. Measuring aggregate associations within linguistic variation can contrast previous notions of dialect area formation by detecting continua. Depending on local geographies in spatial subsets, great circle distance, travel distance and travel times explain a similar proportion of the variance in linguistic distance despite the limitations of the latter two. While they explain the majority, two further measurements estimating contact have lower explanatory power: least cost paths, modelling contact before the industrial revolution, based on DEM and sea navigation, and a linguistic influence index based on settlement hierarchy. Historical domain boundaries and present day prefecture boundaries are found to have a statistically significant effect on dialectal variation. However, the interplay of boundaries and distance is yet to be identified. We claim that a similar methodology can address spatial variation in other digital humanities, given a similar spatial and attribute granularity."

Jeszenszky, Péter, Yoshinobu Hikosaka, Satoshi Imamura, and Keiji Yano. 2019. "Japanese Lexical Variation Explained by Spatial Contact Patterns" ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 8, no. 9: 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi8090400

Some introductory works on the Japonic languages:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonic\_languages
• https://www.academia.edu/34647065/Japonic\_languages\_an\_overview\_Jarosz
• https://brill.com/display/title/62978

\#japonic #linguistics [email protected] .

Shimoji, Michinori. (2022). "Chapter 1 The Japonic Languages: an Introduction". In An Introduction to the Japonic Languages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004519107\_002

The Japonic languages comprise Japanese and Ryukyuan and their respective local dialects (Figures 1.1 and 1.2).

Under the name of ‘Japanese’ are subsumed all local varieties spoken on Japan’s mainland (Mainland dialects) and a language spoken in Hachijōjima, which lies to the south of Japan’s mainland. Ryukyuan languages are spoken in an area that was once an independent country (Ryukyuan kingdom, 1429–1869), from the Amami islands to Yonaguni. There is no mutual intelligibility between Japanese and Ryukyuan, between Mainland dialects and Hachijō, or between Northern and Southern Ryukyuan languages. Even within Northern and Southern Ryukyuan, there is no mutual intelligibility among major island varieties. So, it is a recent shared recognition among Japanese linguists that Japonic comprises several distinct languages, Mainland language (which is ‘Japanese’ in a narrower sense), Hachijō, Amami, Okinawan, Miyako and Yaeyama.

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Abstract

This paper analyses the loss of politeness markers across three generations in the Ryukyuan Islands of Japan. Honorific registers are first lost in endangered languages, and last speakers of an endangered language often state that they avoid using the lan￾guage to semi-speakers because they do not use polite registers. We give an overview of language endangerment, analyse how individuals reflect on politeness markers, and how language loss and the awareness thereof manifest in language use. We find that the loss of politeness markers does not result in an affront to convention and social order. Japanese, the replacing language, is employed to construct social orders. Linguistically constructed orders in Japanese are different from those in Ryukyuan. In one of the two communities studied, politeness markers no longer function to construct social hierar￾chies but serve as a ‘we-code’ among locals. The experience of language endangerment works here as a social levelling mechanism.

https://brill.com/view/journals/jocp/3/2/article-p252\_4.xml?language=en

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Abstract

The Open Multilingual Online Lexicon of Okinawan (OMOLO) project aims to create an accessible, user-friendly digital lexicon for the endangered Okinawan language using digital humanities tools and methodologies. The multilingual web application, available in Japanese, English, Portuguese, and Spanish, will benefit language learners, researchers, and the Okinawan community in Japan and diaspora countries such as the U.S., Brazil, and Peru. The project also lays the foundation for an Okinawan UD Treebank, which will support computational analysis and the development of language technology tools such as parsers, machine translation systems, and speech recognition software. The OMOLO project demonstrates the potential of computational linguistics in preserving and revitalizing endangered languages and can serve as a blueprint for similar initiatives.

https://aclanthology.org/2023.resourceful-1.12/

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