Yonaguni language

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Yonaguni
与那国物言/ドゥナンムヌイ Dunan Munui
Pronunciation[dunaŋmunui]
Native toJapan
RegionYonaguni
Native speakers
400 (2008)[1]
Japanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3yoi
Glottologyona1241
ELPYonaguni
Yonaguni is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[2]
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The Yonaguni language (与那国物言/ドゥナンムヌイ Dunan Munui) is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken by around 400 people on the island of Yonaguni, in the Ryukyu Islands, the westernmost of the chain lying just east of Taiwan.[3] It is most closely related to Yaeyama. Due to the Japanese policy on languages, the language is not recognized by the government, which instead calls it the Yonaguni dialect (与那国方言, Yonaguni hōgen). As classified by UNESCO, the Yonaguni language is one of the most endangered languages in all of Japan, after the Ainu language.

Phonology

Vowels

The table below shows the vowels present in the Yonaguni language. Vowels which are only allophonic or marginal appear in parentheses.

Front Central Back
Close i u
Near-close (ɪ) (ʊ)
Close-Mid (o)[a]
Open a (ɑ)
^a [o] can also be recognized as an independent phoneme and not just as an allophone of /u/. However, its distribution is very limited. Excluding a few interjections, the only morpheme in which it appears is the sentence-final, exclamatory particle do.

Consonants

The table below shows the consonants present in the Yonaguni language.

Consonants[4]
Labial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal
Palatal Velar Labio-
velar
Glottal
Nasal m
n
ŋ
Plosive lenis
fortis
voiced b
d
ɡ
Affricate tsˀ ~ [tɕˀ][a]
Fricative [ɸ][b] s ~ [ɕ][a] [ç][c] [ʍ][b] h
Flap ɾ
Approximant j w
  1. ^ a b palatalized before /j/ and /i/
  2. ^ a b Allophone of /h/ when labialized before /w/ and /u/
  3. ^ Allophone of /h/ when palatalized before /j/ and /i/

Plosive and affricate phonemes have three-way contrast. Hirayama et al. (1967) describe the contrast as voiceless non-laryngealized, voiceless

laryngealized, and voiced.[5] Yamada et al. (2015) describe the contrast as fortis (unaspirated and tense), lenis (weakly aspirated and lax), and voiced. The lenis/fortis distinction neutralized in word-medial positions, both becoming phonetically fortis.[4]

In positions other than prevocalic, all nasals are phonetically homorganic with a following consonant (e.g. ng [ŋɡ], nd [nd], nb [mb]). Nasals are velar ([ŋ]) in final position.[4]

Phonological cognates

As a Southern Ryukyuan language, Yonaguni, similar to

Standard Japanese /w/, such as Yonaguni /bata/ ('stomach, belly'), cognate with Japanese /wata/ ('guts, bowels'). Yonaguni also has /d/ where Japanese and other Ryukyuan languages have /j/ (orthographically y). Thus, for example, Yonaguni /dama/ ('mountain') is cognate with Japanese and Yaeyama /jama/ ('id.'). Yonaguni /d/ is probably a recent development from an earlier */j/, however, judging from the fact that even the */j/ in loanwords of Sinitic origin is pronounced /d/ by speakers of the Yonaguni language, such as dasai 'vegetables' from Middle Chinese *jia-tsʰʌi (野菜). An entry in the late-15th-century Korean annals Seongjong Taewang Sillok records the local name of the island of Yonaguni in Idu script as 閏伊是麼, which has the Middle Korean reading zjuni sima, with sima glossed in the text as the Japonic word for 'island'. That is direct evidence of an intermediate stage of the fortition *j- > *z- > d-, leading to the modern name /dunaŋ/ 'Yonaguni'.[6]

The Yonaguni language exhibits intervocalic voicing of plosives, as do many Japonic languages. It also exhibits the tendency for /ɡ/, especially when intervocalic, to be pronounced as a velar nasal /ŋ/, as in Standard Japanese.

Syllable structure

Below is the syllable template for Dunan:

(C (G) ) V1 (V2) (N)
  • C = consonant
  • G = glide [w] or [j]
  • V = vowel
  • N = moraic nasal

The onset allows for a single consonant with the occasional presence of a glide. The nucleus can contain up to two vowels. The only allowable coda is a moraic nasal.

Writing system

Yonaguni was once written with a unique writing system called

Kaidā logograms. However, after conquest by the Ryukyu Kingdom and later annexation by the Empire of Japan
, the logograms were replaced by Japanese kana and Kanji.

Yonaguni Orthography
/a/ /i/ /u/ /e/ /o/ /ja/ /ju/
/Ø/
/a/
[a]

/i/
[i]

/u/
[u]

/e/
[e]

/o/
[o]

/ya/
[ja]

/yu/
[ju]
/k/
/ka/
[ka]

/ki/
[ki]

/ku/
[ku]

/ke/
[ke]

/ko/
[ko]
キャ
/kya/
[kja]
キュ
/kyu/
[kju]
/k'/
/k'a/
[kˀa]

/k'i/
[kˀi]

/k'u/
[kˀu]

/k'e/
[kˀe]

/k'o/
[kˀo]
/g/
/ga/
[ga]

/gi/
[gi]

/gu/
[gu]

/ge/
[ge]

/go/
[go]
ギャ
/gya/
[gja]
ギュ
/gyu/
[gju]
/ŋ/ カ゚
/ŋa/
[ŋa]
キ゚
/ŋi/
[ŋi]
ク゚
/ŋu/
[ŋu]
ケ゚
/ŋe/
[ŋe]
コ゚
/ŋo/
[ŋo]
/s/
/sa/
[sa]

/ɕi/
[ɕi]

/su/
[su]

/se/
[se]

/so/
[so]
シャ
/ɕa/
[ɕa]
シュ
/ɕu/
[ɕu]
/t/
/ta/
[ta]
ティ
/ti/
[ti]
トゥ
/tu/
[tu]

/te/
[te]

/to/
[to]
/t'/
/t'a/
[tˀa]
てぃ
/t'i/
[tˀi]
とぅ
/t'u/
[tˀu]

/t'e/
[tˀe]

/t'o/
[tˀo]
/d/
/da/
[da]
ディ
/di/
[di]
ドゥ
/du/
[du]

/de/
[de]

/do/
[do]
/ts'/ ツャ
/ts'a/
[tsˀa]

/tɕ'i/
[tɕˀi]

/ts'u/
[tsˀu]
/n/
/na/
[na]

/ni/
[ni]

/nu/
[nu]

/ne/
[ne]

/no/
[no]
/h/
/ha/
[ha]

/hi/
[çi]

/hu/
[hu]

/he/
[he]

/ho/
[ho]
ヒャ
/ça/
[hja]
ヒュ
/çu/
[hju]
/p/
/pa/
[pa]

/pi/
[pi]

/pu/
[pu]

/pe/
[pe]

/po/
[po]
ピャ
/pya/
[pja]
ピュ
/pyu/
[pju]
/b/
/ba/
[ba]

/bi/
[bi]

/bu/
[bu]

/be/
[be]

/bo/
[bo]
ビャ
/bya/
[bja]
ビュ
/byu/
[bju]
/m/
/ma/
[ma]

/mi/
[mi]

/mu/
[mu]

/me/
[me]

/mo/
[mo]
/w/
/wa/
[wa]
/r/
/ra/
[ɾa]

/ri/
[ɾi]

/ru/
[ɾu]

/re/
[ɾe]

/ro/
[ɾo]

/N/*
[n, m, ŋ]

/ː/
[ː]
ッ (final)
/ʔ/
[ʔ]

/Q/
[k, g, s, ts, t, d, h, b, p]

* /m/ before labial consonants and /ŋ/ before alveolar consonants. Example ディンブンキルン dimbuŋkirun.

References

  1. ^ Yonaguni at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Yonaguni in Japan | UNESCO WAL".
  3. .
  4. ^ a b c Yamada, Masahiro; Pellard, Thomas; Shimoji, Michinori (2015). "Dunan grammar (Yonaguni Ryukyuan)". Handbook of the Ryukyuan languages: History, structure, and use. By Heinrich, Patrick; Miyara, Shinsho; Shimoji, Michinori. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 449–478.
  5. ^ Takara, Nobutaka (2012). The Tonology of Itoman Okinawan: A Phonological Analysis of the Nominal Tone System.
  6. .

Further reading

External links