Okinawan writing system

Okinawan writing system

This article describes the modern Okinawan writing system. See the Okinawan language article for an overview of the language. For the writing systems in Ryukyuan languages in general, see the Ryukyuan language article.

Okinawan language, spoken in Okinawa Island, was once the official language of the Ryukyuan Kingdom. At the time, documents were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan. However, after Japan annexed the kingdom, the language was labeled as the "dialect" of mainland Japanese. Nowadays, most mainland Japanese, as well as most Okinawans, tend to think of Okinawan as merely a dialect of mainland Japanese, even though the language is not mutually unintelligible to main islands Japanese.

As a "dialect", modern Okinawan language is not written frequently. When it is, the Japanese writing system is generally used with an "ad hoc" manner. There is no standard orthography for the modern language. Nonetheless, there are a few systems announced by scholars and alike. None of them are wide spread among the native speakers yet, but those systems can write the language with less ambiguity than the "ad hoc" conventions. The Roman alphabet in some form or another is used in some publications, especially those of an academic nature.

ystems

Conventional usages

The modern conventional "ad hoc" spellings found in Okinawa.

Council system

The system devised by the Council for the Dissemination of Okinawan Dialect ( [http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~knaka/hogen/index.html 沖縄方言普及協議会] ). [http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/spe/kotoba20010829.html]

University of the Ryukyus system

The system devised by [http://ryukyu-lang.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/srnh/sign.html Okinawa Center of Language Study] , a section of University of the Ryukyus. Unlike others, this method is intended purely as a phonetic guidance, basically uses katakana only. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article.

New Okinawan letters

新沖縄文字 ("Shin Okinawa-moji"), devised by nihongo|Yoshiaki Funazu|船津好明|Funazu Yoshiaki, in his textbook "Utsukushii Okinawa no Kotoba" (美しい沖縄の方言; "The beautiful Okinawan words"; ISBN 4-905784-19-0). The rule applies on hiragana only. Katakana is used as in Japanese; just like in the conventional usage of Okinawan.


=Basic syllables and kai-yōon (palatalized syllables)=

: 3: Hatsuon (moraic "n"): 4: Sokuon (geminated consonants): 5: Chōon (longer vowels): In conventional usages, longer vowels are sometimes spelt like in mainland Japanese as well; "ou" (おう) for "ō", doubled kana for others. (e.g. うう for "ū".)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Okinawan language — Not to be confused with Okinawan Japanese. Okinawan 沖縄口 Uchinaaguchi Pronunciation [ʔut͡ɕinaːɡut͡ɕi] Spoken in …   Wikipedia

  • Okinawan scripts — This article describes the modern Okinawan writing system. See the Okinawan language article for an overview of the language. For the writing systems in Ryukyuan languages in general, see the Ryukyuan language article. Okinawan language, spoken… …   Wikipedia

  • Okinawan Japanese — An example of Okinawan Japanese Kōhī shāpu, from English coffee shop , instead of Kōhī shoppu in standard Japanese. Okinawan Japanese (ウチナーヤマトグチ, ウチナーヤマトゥグチ, 沖縄大和口, Uchinā Yamato guchi, Uchinā Yamatu guchi …   Wikipedia

  • Okinawan name — Okinawan names today have only two components, the family names (surnames or last names) first and the given names last. Okinawan family names represent the distinct historical and cultural background of the islands which now comprise Okinawa… …   Wikipedia

  • Ryukyuan languages — language name=Ryukyuan familycolor=Isolate states=Japan (Okinawa Prefecture, Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture) speakers= 900,000 fam1=Japonic nation= none lc1=ams|ld1=Southern Amami Oshima|ll1=Southern Amami Oshima language… …   Wikipedia

  • japan — japanner, n. /jeuh pan /, n., adj., v., japanned, japanning. n. 1. any of various hard, durable, black varnishes, originally from Japan, for coating wood, metal, or other surfaces. 2. work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner. 3. Japans,… …   Universalium

  • Japan — /jeuh pan /, n. 1. a constitutional monarchy on a chain of islands off the E coast of Asia: main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. 125,716,637; 141,529 sq. mi. (366,560 sq. km). Cap.: Tokyo. Japanese, Nihon, Nippon. 2. Sea of, the… …   Universalium

  • Old Japanese — 上古日本語, 上代日本語 Spoken in Japan Era Evolved into Early Middle Japanese during the Heian period Language family …   Wikipedia

  • Hiragana — ひらがな Type Syllabary Languages Japanese and Okinawan …   Wikipedia

  • Culture of Asia — The culture of Asia is human civilization in [Asia]. It features different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continen from a Western centric perspective, of Asia.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”