why it is important to study the ryukyuan languages - — the … · intro Ōgami classiﬁcation...

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Why it is important to study theRyukyuan languages

—The example of Ōgami Ryukyuan —

Thomas Pellard

[email protected]

Oxford University — 2009, January 19th

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Intro Ōgami Classification Reconstruction Conclusions References

.. .1 Introduction

.. .2 Ōgami RyukyuanVowelsConsonantsSyllables

.. .3 Classification

.. .4 ReconstructionVowelsToneLexicon & morphology

.. .5 Conclusions

Thomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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.. The Ryukyuan language family

Ryukyuan = a group of 5 languages (atleast) spoken in the Ryūkyū琉球 islands

North: Amami, OkinawanSouth (Sakishima先島): Miyako,Yaeyama, Yonaguni


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.. What is Ryukyuan?

CHINA

TAIWAN

hejudo hikokuyūshū

yūkyū slands

aitō slands

sumi sla

nds

oka

ra s

lands

Amami

Okinawa

Miyako

Yonaguni Yaeyama


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.. The Ryukyuan language family

Amami

OkinawaSouthernRyukyuan

Miyako

NorthernRyukyuan

Macro-Yaeyama

Ōshima

Tokunoshima

Okinoerabu

Yoron

North

South

CommonMiyakoTaramaYaeyama

Yonaguni

Ryukyuan


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.. The Ryukyuan languages today

All Ryukyuan languages are highly endangered:no children acquiring Ryukyuan as their firstlanguageall speakers are bilingual in Japanesethe younger generations are Japanesemonolingualsthe youngest fluent speakers usually are intheir 60sstill no serious conservation or revitalizationprogram


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.. Ryukyuan linguistics today

lack of reference grammars (except MiyakoRyukyuan)few good dictionariesfew accurately transcribed texts publishedmost studies are based on limited dataelicited through translation of Japanese andnot on natural speechdescriptions of phonetics are impressionisticframework of Japanese traditional grammarand phonologyâ researchers expect to find the samefeatures and categories as in Japanese


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.. Why study Ryukyuan?

The Ryukyuan languages exhibit sometypologically uncommon featuresThey also can make important contributionsto the historical study of the Japaneselanguage


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Intro Ōgami Classification Reconstruction Conclusions ReferencesVowels Consonants Syllables

.. Ōgami Ryukyuan

A dialect of Miyako Ryukyuan, spoken on theŌgami island大神島 (±30 inhabitants)


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.. Ōgami Ryukyuan

highly endangered dialectimportant religious taboos that can impedefieldwork‘aberrant’ dialect that overturns many of ourpreconceptions of what a Japonic languagelooks likedata based on my own fieldwork


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.. Vowels

Ōgami: uncommon 5-vowel system

Front Back

High i ɯ u

Mid ɛ

Open ɑ


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.. Vowels (female speaker)

iu

A

E

W

6008001000120014001600180020002200240026002800200

400

600

800

1000

F2 (Hz)

iu

A

E

W


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.. Vowels/ɯ/: high back unrounded,pronounced with the lips spread

≠ Japanese high back vowel


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.. Consonants

Ōgami: 9 consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Velar

Stop p t kNasal m nTap ɾFricative f sApproximant ʋ


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.. Consonants

+ Only dialect with no voicingdistinction+ Smallest consonant inventory


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.. Syllabic consonants

Any sonorant except /ɾ/ can be syllabic

/mtɑ/ [mtɑ] ‘earth’/ntɑ/ [ntɑ] ‘where?’/ʋtɑ/ [ʋtɑ] ‘thick’/mm/ [mː] ‘yam’/ʋʋ/ [ʋː ] ‘sell’


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Voiceless fricatives can also be syllabic

/stɑ/ [stɑ] ‘below”/pstu/ [pstu] ‘person’/ftɑi/ [ftɑi] ‘forehead’/pssmɑ/ [psː mɑ] ‘daytime’


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Whole words can be constituted ofvoiceless consonants only


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.. Vowel-less, voiceless words

/ss/ ‘dust, nest, scrub’/kss/ ‘breast, milk, fish hook, come, to fish’/pss/ ‘day, vulva’/ff/ ‘comb, bite, fall (rain), close’/kff/ ‘make’/fks/ ‘build, mouth’/ksks/ ‘month, listen, poke, arrive, Earth’/sks/ ‘cut’/psks/ ‘pull’


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Previous researchers (Kajiku 1977, Ono et al. 1998):

syllabic voiceless fricatives have in fact a devoicedvowel /ɯ/ or /u/ as their nucleus

[ftɑi] > [futɑi] ‘forehead’[psː mɑ] > [pɯːmɑ] ‘daytime’[kf ː ] > [kɯfɯ] ‘make’[ksː ] > [kɯ] ‘breast’


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This view can be refuted on the basis of:acousticalphonologicalmorphophonological evidence


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No acoustic trace of a vowel


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/pssmɑ/ ‘daytime’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

p s: m A

0 0.6339


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/ff/ ‘comb’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

f:

0 0.5265


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/kff/ ‘make’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

k >f:

0 0.657


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/kss/ ‘breast’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

k s:

0 0.66


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/pss/ ‘day’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

p s:

0 0.449


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/ss/ ‘dust’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

s:

0 0.4575


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.. No acoustic trace of a vowel/msuu kff mɑmi/ ‘the beans from which we makemiso’

0

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2000

3000

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m s u: k >f: m A m i

0 1.187Thomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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ɑnsi=tu tɑuf=fu=pɑ kffthis.way=FOC tofu=ACC=TOP make“This is how we make tofu”


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No vowel devoicing


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.. No vowel devoicing/kutus/ ‘this year’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

k u t u s

0 0.695411


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No vowel even in environmentsthat should block vowel devoicing


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.. No vowel anywhere/ɑs=nɑ/ ‘do not!’

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1000

2000

3000

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A s n A

0 0.4828


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.. No vowel anywhere/pɑks=nu=tu/ ‘bee=NOM=FOC’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

p A k s n8 u d u

0 0.521207


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Existence of minimal pairssyllabic fricative vs fricative + high vowel


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.. Minimal pairs

0

1000

2000

3000

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s t A

0 0.3164

/stɑ/‘below’

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

s W t A

0 0.4644

/sɯtɑ/‘tongue’


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.. Minimal pairs

/stɑ/‘below’

/sɯtɑ/‘tongue’


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.. Minimal pairs

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

f k W

0 0.3454

/fkɯ/‘mouth’

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1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

f u k W

0 0.4528

/fukɯ/‘lapel’


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.. Minimal pairs

/fkɯ/ /fukɯ/


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Syllabic fricatives pattern likeconsonants and not like vowels in

the morphology


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.. Morphophonology

Gloss Bare stem Accusative form

‘water’ mikɯ mikɯu‘person’ pstu pstuu‘sea’ im immu‘dog’ in innu‘smoke’ kif kiffu‘stone’ is issu


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.. Morphophonology

Lengthening in reduplicated adjectives

‘fresh” pukuɾu > pukuɾuːpukuɾu‘high’ tɑkɑ > tɑkɑːtɑkɑ‘heavy’ iʋ > iʋːiʋ

‘thin’ pis > pisːpis (*pisɯːpis)‘hot’ ɑks > ɑksː-ɑks (*ɑksɯːɑks)‘warm’ nuf > nufː-nuf (*nufuːnuf ~ nufʋːnuf)


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.. Morphophonology/ɑkss-ɑks/ ‘hot’

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A k s: A k s

0 0.6197


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.. Morphophonology/nuff-nuf/ ‘warm’

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n u f: n u f

0 0.5688


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.. Vowel-less, voiceless words

Sequences of voiceless wordsare possible


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/kff ff/ ‘the combs that I make’

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k f: f:

0 1.0251


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/kff kss/ ‘the fish hooks that I make’

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1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

k f: k s:

0 1.27666


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/kff ss/ ‘the nest that [the bird] makes’

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1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

k f: s:

0 0.787681


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Voiceless fricatives can be syllabic (and moraic)+ but not /ɾ/!â violation of the ‘universal’ hierarchy of syllablepeaks and of mora sonority (Zec 2007).Hierarchy of syllable peaks.... ..

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.Vowels≫ *! Liquids≫ Nasals≫ Obstruents


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Languages that allow words to be constituted ofvoiceless consonants only are very rare:

Nuxálk/Bella coola (Salishan, Canada;Bagemihl 1991):[xɬpʼχʷɬtɬpɬːskʷʰtsʼ] ‘Then he had had in hispossession a bunchberry plant’Tashlhiyt Berber (Afro-Asiatic, Morocco;Ridouane 2008):[tsskʃftstt tftχtstt] ‘you dried it and rolled it’


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Importance of phonetics for thereconstruction

“reef” is often transcribed as [pi ɕi]

â PR *pese+ data from other Ryukyuan languages suggest*pise instead (cf. Shuri hwisi)

+ in my analysis, “reef” is /pssi/ [pɕɕi]

â PR *pise


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.. Classification

Ryukyuan is generally considered to be a sisterbranch of Japanese

+ several people have expressed doubts since noserious evidence has been presented

â the burden of proof lies with the proponents ofa single Proto-Ryukyuan language


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.. ClassificationShared innovations in Ryukyuan (not in Japanese):

*teda for “sun”“intestines” > “belly” for *wata*penar- for “decrease”incorporated stative auxiliary in verb formsadversative marker *suɡa ~ *soɡainstrumental marker *se“what?” pronoun *nawo ~ *nowoplural markers *kja and *tareflexive pronoun *duu“strength” *taja


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.. Classification

Japanese innovations (absent from Ryukyuan):*i > u in the initial of “scale”*otoko for “man”*kami for “hair (of the head)”*tabe for “eat” (< honorific)


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“sun” “decrease” “belly” “scale” “man” “hair” “eat”

Hachijō oçisama tʃittoɲi narɯ hara kokedza onokoɡo tsɯbɯrinoke kamɯTokyo çi herɯ hara ɯroko otoko kaminoke taberɯKyoto hiː heru hara uroko otoko kami taberuKagoshima oçisaː het hara uroko otoko kannoke tamot

Naze tïda xïnarjuŋ wata ʔikki jiŋɡa kamatsïŋki kamjuŋWadomari tida çiɲajuŋ wataː ʔiːtʃi jiŋɡaː haradʒi kamiŋChina tida çinajuŋ wataː ʔiːki jiŋɡaː haradʒi kamjuŋKametsu tɪda ɸunaruɪ wata ʔɪkkï jɪŋɡa karadzï kamɪŋYoron tida pinajuŋ wata iːki huiɡa huraʒinuʃiː kuːjuŋIejima tida pinaːjuŋ wataː ʔitɕiː jikiɡa harazi kˀeŋSesoko tida çinaiŋ wataː ʔiriːki jikiːɡa haraːdʒi keːŋNakijin tʰidaː pʰinaːruŋ wataː ʔiritʒˀiː jikˀiɡaː haraːdʒi kˀeŋShuri tiːda ɸinajuŋ wata ʔiritɕi wikiɡa karaʑiː kanuŋŌgami titɑ pinɑɾ- pɑtɑ iɯki pikitum kɑɾɑkɯ fɑuHirara tida pinaɿ bata iɿki bikidum karadzɿ foːIkema tida pinai bata iːki bikiduŋ aka fauNagahama tida pɿnaɭ bata iɭki bikidum karadzɿ fauTarama tida pinaɭ bata iɭki bikidum aka fuːIshigaki tida pinaruŋ bada ʔiraɡï biɡiduŋ aka ɸo:ŋHatoma tida pinaruŋ bata ʔiraki bikidumu ɡamadʒi ffuŋTaketomi tida pinaruŋ bata ʔiru biːdõː hamadzï hoːŋHateruma ɕina pinaruŋ bata ʔiriɡi bidumu amadzï hoŋYonaguni tidaŋ çinnaruŋ bata ʔittu biŋɡa karaŋ fuŋ


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.. Phylogeny of Ryukyuan

â Ryukyuan is a valid subgroup, asister branch to Japanese


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Intro Ōgami Classification Reconstruction Conclusions ReferencesVowels Tone Lexicon & morphology

.. Reconstruction

The Ryukyuan languages arecrucial for the reconstruction of

Proto-Japonic


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..

The place of Ryukyuan within Japanesehistorical linguistics

The Ryukyuan languages are often thought tobe simply Japanese dialects derived from Oldor Middle JapaneseA closer look at the Ryukyuan data and astrict application of the comparative methodreveal a different pictureThe Ryukyuan languages preserve manyarchaic features, and features that had alreadydisappeared in OJ


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.. Vowels

The Ryukyuan languages preserve some voweldistinctions older than OJ (Hattori 1978–1979,Thorpe 1983, Pellard 2008)

+ Previous studies have often not given manyclear examples, and most of them come fromNorthern Ryukyuan


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.. Vowels

Miyako Ryukyuan:PJ *i, *ui and *u tend to undergo syncope,assimilation or fricativizationPJ *e, *əi and *o raise to /i/ and /u/


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.. Vowels

OJ < PJ > Ōgami

i1 < *i > s, ɯ, m, n, i2 < *ui > ɯi2 < *əi > ii1 < *e > iu < *u > u, ʋ, m, n, u (o1) < *o > uo2 < *ə > u


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.. Kōrui and otsurui

Miyako Ryukyuan: PJ *əi ≠ *uiOJ: > i2

OJ Ōgami Proto-Miyako PJ

“moon” tuki2 ~ tuku- ksks *tsɿkɿ *tukui“god” kami2 ~ kamu- kɑm *kam *kamui“rise” oki2 ~ oko2- uki *uki *əkəi“tree” ki2 ~ ko2- kii *kii *kəi


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.. MidvowelsMiyako Ryukyuan: PJ *i ≠ *eOJ: > i1

OJ Ōgami PM PJ

“seashell” mi1na mmnɑ *mna *mina“day(time)” pi1ru pssmɑ *pɿrɿ-ma *piru“put in” ire ɯɾi *ɿri *ire“water” mi1du mikɯ *midzɿ *meNtu“garlic” pi1ru piɯ *pirɿ *peru“color” iro2 iɾu *iru *erə


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.. MidvowelsMiyako Ryukyuan: PJ *u ≠ *oOJ: > u (o1)

OJ Ōgami PM PJ

“mortar” usu us *usɿ *usu“sell” ur-i ʋʋ *vv *ur-i“to face” mukap- nkɑi *nkai *mukap-“medicine” kusuri ffuɯ *fusurɿ *kusori“melon” uri uɯ *uɾɿ *ori¹“wheat” mugi1 mukɯ *muɡɿ *moNki¹ see Middle Korean ¨woy


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Ryukyuan has two differentreflexes for some Japanese tone

categories


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.. Tone+ Disyllabic nouns (Hattori 1958, Matsumori1998, 2001, Hayashi et al. 2009):

..

..Kyūshū . . ..A . . . . ..B . . ..

..Ruijumyōgishō . ..1 . ..2 . ..3 .. ..4 . ..5 ..

..Proto-Ryukyuan . . ..A . . ..B .. . ..C . ..

..Ikema . . . . ..α .. . ..β . . ..Thomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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Myōgishō Ōita Kag. Ikema Tarama

2.4 平上}HL LH

α HH-LL LH-HLβ HH-HH HH-LL

2.5 平東α HH-LL LH-HLβ HH-HH HH-LL


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No clear conditioning environment

â We must reconstruct more categories

+ Dialect mixing could be a possible explanation,but there is no real evidence for this


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.. Lexicon & morphology

Ryukyuan also preserves somearchaic words ans morphological

markers


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.. Pronouns

na is both a first and second pronoun in OJ

(1) a. 奈何名能良佐禰

na ga NA no2r-as-aneyou NOM name name-HON-DES“I wish you tell me your name!” (MYS V: 800)

b. 名兄乃君

na SE no2 KI1MI1I beloved COP lord“My beloved lord” (MYS XVI: 3885)


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.. Pronouns

+Whitman (1999) proposed that itwas originally a reflexive pronoun


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.. Pronouns

This hypothesis is supported by Miyako (Ōgami)Ryukyuan:

kɑnu pstɑɑ nɑɑ-tɑ ik-ɑ-tɛɛn=ti ɑɯɾ-i=ɯDIST person.TOP LOG-PL go-IRR-ACOM=QT say-CVB=IPF“Theyi are saying theyi won’t go” (Pellard 2009)


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.. PronounsEOJ has a form wano1和奴, unkwown in WOJ, forthe first person pronoun

+ *wano can be reconstructed for PR

EOJ wano1Kametsu waŋIejima waŋYonaha banuIshigaki banuYonaguni banu (plur.)

â PJ *wanoThomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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.. Focus markerWOJ has a focus marker so2 ~ zo2+ Ryukyuan and EOJ: t ~ d, not z

WOJ so2EOJ to2Kametsu duIejima duŌgami tuIshigaki duYonaguni du

â PJ *(N)təThomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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.. OneVowel alternation in the root of the numeral one:

OJ pi1to2 pi1to2-tu

Hachijō hito te-tsɯNaze tɕˀu tˀɨː-tsɨKametsu tɕˀu tˀɨː-tsɨIejima tɕˀu tˀiː-tɕiShuri tɕu tiː-tsiŌgami pstu pstiː-ksIshigaki pɿtu pɿtiː-dzɿ

â PJ *pitə ~ *pite-tuThomas Pellard Why it is important to study the Ryukyuan languages

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.. Head

Hachijō tsɯbɯɾiSerikaku tɕuburuIejima siburuIshigaki tsɿburɿ

Cf. also MJ tumuri ~ tuburi, an uncommon wordfor “head”


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.. Head

+ Kojiki:Susanowo kills the serpent Yamata no Orotiby cutting its 8 headshe finds a sword called tumu-gari no tati inthe monster’s tail

â this mysterious name could be interpreted as“the head-cutting sword”, with the root tumu“head”


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.. The search for cognates with Korean

Vovin (2009):

any item compared to Korean has to bereconstructible for Proto-Japonic in order forthe comparison to be validthis means that it must be attested inRyukyuanitems not attested in Ryukyuan should beregarded as borrowings from Korean

â the Ryukyuan data becomes crucial


. . . . . .



A closer look at the Ryukyuan data enables us torescue some comparisons rejected by Vovin (2009)


. . . . . .



“morning” OJ asa :: MK achom

+ Miyako:asa-munu “breakfast”asa-tida “morning sun”


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“origin, base” OJmo2to2 :: MKmith

+ Miyako:mutu “origin”mutu-niː “main root”jaː-mutu “main lineage”


. . . . . .



“pot, hearth” OJ kama :: MK kama

+ Ōgami:ukɑmɑ “hearth”pɑkɑmɑ “rice cooking pot”


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“darkness” OJ yami2 :: MK cyemul-

+ Ōgami: ffɑ-jɑm “id.”


. . . . . .



“algae, seaweed” OJmo ~me2 :: MKmol

+ Miyako mu: “id.”


. . . . . .



“body” OJmu- ~mi2 :: MKmwom

+ Ōgami miɯ < PM *mɿɿ “flesh”


. . . . . .



“mountain” OJmure :: MKmwoyh /mwolwo, Paekchemure武禮

+ ? Ōgami mmi


. . . . . .



“leek” J nira :: MKmyel

+ Ōgami miɯɑ < PM *mɿrɿna


. . . . . .



“crowd, gathering” OJmure :: MKmwul

+ Ōgami -nummi “plural suffix”


. . . . . .



“all” J tada :: MK ta

+ Ōgami -tɑ “plural suffix”


. . . . . .



+ I do not argue for or against the validityof the above comparisons with Korean,but they cannot be rejected on the solebasis that there is no Ryukyuan cognate


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.. Conclusions

The Ryukyuan languages exhibit some veryinteresting features for both linguistictypology and Japanese historical linguisticsWe still need more data, and more accuratedataThis can only be done through fieldworkUnfortunately all Ryukyuan languages areslowly disappearing


. . . . . .


The description of the differentRyukyuan languages is a very

urgent task


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.. References I

B, Bruce, . Syllable structure in Bella Coola. Linguistic Inquiry : –.H, Shirō, . Amami guntō no shohōgen ni tsuite – Okinawa/Sakishima shohōgen to

no hikaku. Jinrui kagaku .H, Shirō, –. Nihon sogo ni tsuite –. Gengo ()–(), ()–().H, Yuka, P, omas, T, Yukinori, K, Tomoyuki & I, Yōsuke,

. e Tone system of Ikema Ryukyuan. Ine History & Reconstruction of JapaneseAccent. Paris: –. – septembre .

K, Shin’ichi, . On’in. In H O (ed.) Ryūkyū nohōgen: Miyako Ōgami-jima, Tokyo: Hōsei daigaku shuppankyoku, –.

M, Akiko, . Ryūkyū akusento no rekishiteki keisei katei — ruibetsu goi -hakugono tokui na gōryū no shikata o tegakari ni. Gengo kenkyū : –.

M, Akiko, . Historical tonology of Japanese dialects. In K, Shigeki (ed.)Cross-linguistic studies of tonal phenomena. ILCAA, Tokyo: , –.

O, Makio, K, Makoto, S, Takao & K, Mariko, . Miyako Ōgami-jimahōgen no onsei: tango to bunpō (fu: Karimata hōgen). Morioka: Makio Ōno.

P, omas, . Proto-Japonic *e and *o in Eastern Old Japanese. Cahiers delinguistique – Asie orientale (): –.


. . . . . .


.. References II

P, omas, . Ōgami — Éléments de description d’un parler du Sud des Ryūkyū. Ph.D.thesis, École des hautes études en sciences sociales.

R, Rachid, . Syllables without vowels: Phonetic and phonological evidence fromTashlhiyt Berber. Phonology (): –.

T, Maner L., . Ryūkyūan language history. Ph.D. thesis, University of SouthernCalifornia.

V, Alexander, . Koreo-Japonica: A critical study in the proposed language relationship.University of Hawai’i Press.

W, John, . Personal pronoun shi in Japanese: A case study in lexical change andpoint of view. In K, Akio & T, Ken-ichi (eds.) Function and Structure,Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins, –.

Z, Draga, . e Syllable. In L, Paul (ed.)e Cambridge handbook of phonology,Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, –.


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