Okinawan language

Pre-Ryukyu Kingdom Okinawan is a Japonic language, derived from Proto-Japonic and is therefore related to Japanese. The split between Old Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages has been estimated to have occurred as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 12th century AD. Chinese and Japanese characters were first introduced by a Japanese missionary in 1265. Ryukyu Kingdom era Pre-Satsuma was a much more popular writing system than kanji; thus, Okinawan poems were commonly written solely in or with little kanji. Okinawan became the official language under King Shō Shin. The Omoro Sōshi, a compilation of ancient Ryukyuan poems, was written in an early form of Okinawan, known as Old Okinawan. Post-Satsuma to annexation After Ryukyu became a vassal of Satsuma Domain, kanji gained more prominence in poetry; however, official Ryukyuan documents were written in Classical Chinese. During this time, the language gradually evolved into Modern Okinawan. In 1609, the Ryukyu Kingdom was colonized by the Satsuma Domain in the south of Japan. However, Satsuma did not fully invade the Ryukyu in fear of colliding with China, which had a stronger trading relationship with the Ryukyu at the time. Multiple English words were introduced. Return to Japan to present day After Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty, Japanese continued to be the dominant language used, and the majority of the youngest generations only speak Okinawan Japanese. There have been attempts to revive Okinawan by notable people such as Byron Fija and Seijin Noborikawa, but few native Okinawans know the language. Outside of Japan (a colonia in Bolivia), in Spanish and Okinawan: the text reads , . The Okinawan language is still spoken by communities of Okinawan immigrants in Brazil. The first immigrants from the island of Okinawa to Brazil landed in the Port of Santos in 1908 drawn by the hint of work and farmable land. Once in a new country and far from their homeland, they found themselves in a place where there was no prohibition of their language, allowing them to willingly speak, celebrate and preserve their speech and culture, up to the present day. Currently the Okinawan-Japanese centers and communities in the State of São Paulo are a world reference to this language helping it to stay alive. Courses in Okinawan language and literature are offered at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and books in Uchinaaguchi have been published in Hawaii. ==Classification==

Okinawan is sometimes grouped with Kunigami as the Okinawan languages; however, not all linguists accept this grouping, some claiming that Kunigami is a dialect of Okinawan. Okinawan is also grouped with Amami (or the Amami languages) as the Northern Ryukyuan languages. Dialect of the Japanese language Since the creation of Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawan has been labeled a dialect of Japanese as part of a policy of assimilation. Later, Japanese linguists, such as Tōjō Misao, who studied the Ryukyuan languages argued that they are indeed dialects. This is due to the misconception that Japan is a homogeneous state (one people, one language, one nation), and classifying the Ryukyuan languages as such would discredit this assumption. The present-day official stance of the Japanese government remains that Okinawan is a dialect, and it is common within the Japanese population for it to be called or , which means "Okinawa dialect (of Japanese)". The policy of assimilation, coupled with increased interaction between Japan and Okinawa through media and economics, has led to the development of Okinawan Japanese, which is a dialect of Japanese influenced by the Okinawan and Kunigami languages. Japanese and Okinawan only share 60% of the same vocabulary, despite both being Japonic languages. Dialects of the Ryukyuan language Okinawan linguist Seizen Nakasone states that the Ryukyuan languages are in fact groupings of similar dialects. As each community has its own distinct dialect, there is no "one language". Nakasone attributes this diversity to the isolation caused by immobility, citing the story of his mother who wanted to visit the town of Nago but never made the 25 km trip before she died of old age. The contemporary dialects in Ryukyuan language are divided into three large groups: Amami-Okinawa dialects, Miyako-Yaeyama dialects, and the Yonaguni dialect. All of them are mutually unintelligible. Amami is located in the Kagoshima prefecture but it belongs to the Ryukyuan group linguistically. The Yonaguni dialect is very different in phonetics from the other groups but it comes closest to the Yaeyama dialect lexically. Its own distinct language Outside Japan, Okinawan is considered a separate language from Japanese. This was first proposed by Basil Hall Chamberlain, who compared the relationship between Okinawan and Japanese to that of the Romance languages. UNESCO has marked it as an endangered language. == Sociolinguistics ==

UNESCO listed six Okinawan language varieties as endangered languages in 2009. The endangerment of Okinawan is largely due to the shift to Standard Japanese. Throughout history, Okinawan languages have been treated as dialects of Standard Japanese. For instance, in the 20th century, many schools used "dialect tags" to punish the students who spoke in Okinawan. Consequently, many of the remaining speakers today are choosing not to transmit their languages to younger generations due to the stigmatization of the languages in the past. and the Okinawan language is only 71% lexically similar to, or cognate with, standard Japanese. Even the southernmost Japanese dialect (Kagoshima dialect) is only 72% cognate with the northernmost Ryukyuan language (Amami). The Kagoshima dialect of Japanese, however, is 80% lexically similar to Standard Japanese. == Phonology ==

Vowels The Okinawan language has five vowels, all of which may be long or short, though the short vowels and are quite rare, as they occur only in a few native Okinawan words with heavy syllables with the pattern or , such as mensōrē "welcome" or tonfā. The close back vowels and are truly rounded, rather than the compressed vowels of standard Japanese. Consonants The Okinawan language counts some 20 distinctive segments shown in the chart below, with major allophones presented in parentheses. The only consonant that can occur as a syllable coda is the archiphoneme . Many analyses treat it as an additional phoneme , the moraic nasal, though it never contrasts with or . The consonant system of the Okinawan language is fairly similar to that of standard Japanese, but it does present a few differences on the phonemic and allophonic level. Namely, Okinawan retains the labialized consonants and which were lost in Late Middle Japanese (though they are retained in a handful of Modern Japanese dialects), possesses a glottal stop , features a voiceless bilabial fricative distinct from the aspirate , and has two distinctive affricates which arose from a number of different sound processes. Additionally, Okinawan lacks the major allophones and found in Japanese, having historically fronted the vowel to after the alveolars , consequently merging tsu into chi, su into shi, and both dzu and zu into ji. It also lacks as a distinctive phoneme, having merged it into . Bilabial and glottal fricatives The bilabial fricative has sometimes been transcribed as the cluster , since, like Japanese, allophonically labializes into before the high vowel , and does not occur before the rounded vowel . This suggests that an overlap between and exists, and so the contrast in front of other vowels can be denoted through labialization. However, this analysis fails to take account of the fact that Okinawan has not fully undergone the diachronic change → → as in Japanese, and that the suggested clusterization and labialization into is unmotivated. Consequently, the existence of must be regarded as independent of , even though the two overlap. Barring a few words that resulted from the former change, the aspirate also arose from the odd lenition of and , as well as words loaned from other dialects. Before the glide and the high vowel , it is pronounced closer to , as in Japanese. Palatalization The plosive consonants and historically palatalized and affricated into before and occasionally following the glide and the high vowel : → chiri "fog", and → chura- "beautiful". This change preceded vowel raising, so that instances where arose from did not trigger palatalization: → kī "hair". Their voiced counterparts and underwent the same effect, becoming under such conditions: → nnaji "eel", and → nukujiri "saw"; but → kagin "seasoning". Both and may or may not also allophonically affricate before the mid vowel , though this pronunciation is increasingly rare. Similarly, the fricative consonant palatalizes into before the glide and the vowel , including when historically derives from : → shikē "world". It may also palatalize before the vowel , especially so in the context of topicalization: dushi → dusē or dushē "(topic) friend". In general, sequences containing the palatal consonant are relatively rare and tend to exhibit depalatalization. For example, tends to merge with ( myāku → nāku "Miyako"); has merged into and ( → rū ~ dū "dragon"); and has mostly become ( shui → sui "Shuri"). Flapping and fortition The voiced plosive and the flap tend to merge, with the first becoming a flap in word-medial position, and the second sometimes becoming a plosive in word-initial position. For example, rū "dragon" may be strengthened into dū, and hashidu "door" conversely flaps into hashiru. The two sounds do, however, still remain distinct in a number of words and verbal constructions. Glottal stop Okinawan also features a distinctive glottal stop that historically arose from a process of glottalization of word-initial vowels. Hence, all vowels in Okinawan are predictably glottalized at the beginning of words ( → ami "rain"), save for a few exceptions. High vowel loss or assimilation following this process created a contrast with glottalized approximants and nasal consonants. Compare → wa "pig" to wa "I", or → nni "rice plant" to → nni "chest". Moraic nasal The moraic nasal has been posited in most descriptions of Okinawan phonology. Like Japanese, (transcribed using the small capital ) occupies a full mora and its precise place of articulation will vary depending on the following consonant. Before other labial consonants, it will be pronounced closer to a syllabic bilabial nasal , as in nma "horse". Before velar and labiovelar consonants, it will be pronounced as a syllabic velar nasal , as in bingata, a method of dying clothes. And before alveolar and alveolo-palatal consonants, it becomes a syllabic alveolar nasal , as in kanda "vine". In some varieties, it instead becomes a syllabic uvular nasal . Elsewhere, its exact realization remains unspecified, and it may vary depending on the first sound of the next word or morpheme. In isolation and at the end of utterances, it is realized as a velar nasal . Correspondences with Japanese == Orthography ==

The Okinawan language was historically written using an admixture of kanji and hiragana. The traditional script of Okinawa is called 古文書. Before the Satsuma Invasion in 1609, was used like in Japanese. The hiragana syllabary is believed to have first been introduced from mainland Japan to the Ryukyu Kingdom some time during the reign of king Shunten in the early thirteenth century. It is likely that Okinawans were already in contact with hanzi (Chinese characters) due to extensive trade between the Ryukyu Kingdom and China, Japan and Korea. However, hiragana gained more widespread acceptance throughout the Ryukyu Islands, and most documents and letters were exclusively transcribed using this script, in contrast to in Japan where writing solely in hiragana was considered "women's script". The Omoro Sōshi (), a sixteenth-century compilation of songs and poetry, and a few preserved writs of appointments dating from the same century were written solely in Hiragana. Kanji were gradually adopted due to the growing influence of mainland Japan and to the linguistic affinity between the Okinawan and Japanese languages. However, it was mainly limited to affairs of high importance and to documents sent towards the mainland. The oldest inscription of Okinawan exemplifying its use along with Hiragana can be found on a stone stele at the Tamaudun mausoleum, dating back to 1501. After the invasion of Okinawa by the Shimazu clan of Satsuma in 1609, Okinawan ceased to be used in official affairs. It was replaced by standard Japanese writing and a form of Classical Chinese writing known as kanbun. Despite this change, Okinawan still continued to prosper in local literature up until the nineteenth century. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government abolished the domain system and formally annexed the Ryukyu Islands to Japan as the Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. To promote national unity, the government then introduced standard education and opened Japanese-language schools based on the Tokyo dialect. Students were discouraged and chastised for speaking or even writing in the local "dialect", notably through the use of "dialect cards" (). As a result, Okinawan gradually ceased to be written entirely until the American takeover in 1945. Since then, Japanese and American scholars have variously transcribed the regional language using a number of ad hoc romanization schemes or the katakana syllabary to demarcate its foreign nature with standard Japanese. Proponents of Okinawan tend to be more traditionalist and continue to write the language using hiragana and kanji. In any case, no standard or consensus concerning spelling issues has ever been formalized, so discrepancies between modern literary works are common. Tana family documents (田名家文書), which are letters of rank appointment issued by the Shuri Royal Government, are written in 候文(Japanese Epistolary style). However, after the Satsuma invasion, Japanese culture was banned as part of the policy of exoticizing Ryukyu, and under the policy of 'Haneji Ōji Chōshū', documents within Ryukyu also began to be written in classical Chinese. Comparison of official documents of Tana family documents in 1523 and 1647. Syllabary Technically, they are not syllables, but rather morae. Each mora in Okinawan consists of one or two kana characters. If there are two, then the first kana is followed by a smaller version of the second kana. In each cell of the table below, the top row is the kana (hiragana to the left, katakana to the right of the dot), the middle row in rōmaji (Hepburn romanization), and the bottom row in IPA. == Grammar ==

Okinawan follows a subject–object–verb word order and makes large use of particles as in Japanese. Okinawan retains a number of Japonic grammatical features also found in Old Japanese but lost (or highly restricted) in Modern Japanese, such as a distinction between the terminal form () and the attributive form (), the genitive function of ga (lost in the Shuri dialect), the nominative function of nu (cf. Japanese: no), as well as honorific/plain distribution of ga and nu in nominative use. One etymology given for the -un and -uru endings is the continuative form suffixed with uri ("to be; to exist", cf. Classical Japanese: wori): -un developed from the terminal form uri; -uru developed from the attributive form uru, i.e.: • kachuru derives from kachi-uru; • kachun derives from kachi-uri; and • yumun ("to read", cf. Japanese: yomu) derives from yumi + uri. A similar etymology is given for the terminal -san and attributive -saru endings for adjectives: the stem suffixed with sa (nominalises adjectives, i.e. high → height, hot → heat), suffixed with ari ("to be; to exist; to have", cf. Classical Japanese: ari), i.e.: • takasan ("high; tall", cf. Japanese: takai) derives from taka-sa-ari; • achisan ("hot; warm", cf. Japanese: atsui) derives from atsu-sa-ari; and • yutasaru ("good; pleasant", cf. Japanese: 豊かな yutakana "abundant; plentiful") derives from yuta-sa-aru. Parts of speech Nouns (名詞) Nouns are classified as independent, non-conjugating part of speech that can become a subject of a sentence Pronouns (代名詞) Pronouns are classified the same as nouns, except that pronouns are more broad. Adverbs (副詞) Adverbs are classified as an independent, non-conjugating part of speech that cannot become a subject of a sentence and modifies a declinable word (用言; verbs, adverbs, adjectives) that comes after the adverb. There are two main categories to adverbs and several subcategories within each category, as shown in the table below. } • • }} • • }} • くぬ海んじえ いーるく、じゅんどー。 Kunu umi nji e īruku, uijundō. • この海では、良く、泳ぐよ。 Kono umi de wa, yoku, oyoguyo. • I often swim in this ocean. • や にりるか、、かやーちゃん。 Chinū ya niriruka, nī, kayāchan. • 昨日は、うんざりするほど、荷を運んだ。 Kinō wa, unzarisuruhodo, ni wo hokonda. • I carried luggage to a sickening degree yesterday. • が たる書類や が わじるか、とーたん。 Jirā ga chukutaru shorui ya kachō ga wajiruka, bappētōtan. • 次郎が作った書類は課長が怒るほど、間違っていた。 Jirā ga tsukutta shorui wa kachō ga okoruhodo, machigetteita. • The documents that Jira made had so many errors that the department chief got irritated. • んねー あいゆか、ぬでぃ、ひらきとーたん。 Wannē aiyuka, wata nu yadi, hirakitōtan. • 私はとても、お腹が痛くて、しゃがんでいた。 Watashi wa totemo, onaka ga itakute, shagandeita. • I had a very bad stomach ache and was squatting down. • いったーや ゆくん、ちじどぅやる。 Ittā yatchī ya yukun, chijiduyaru. • 君達の兄は余計、駄目だ。 Kimitachi no ani wa yokei, dame da. • Your brother is even worse. • 時間ぬちいねー、が や たった、っさなゆんどー。 Jikan nu tachīnē, ari ga yanmē ya tatta, wassanayundō. • 時間が経てば、彼の病気は余計、悪くなるよ。 Jikan ga tateba, kare no byōki wa yokei, warukunaruyo. • If you wait longer, his illness will be even worse. • むのー なー、ちゅふぁーら、だん。 Munō nā, chufāra, kadan. • 食事はもう、一杯、食べた。 Shokuji wa mō, ippai, tabeta. • I have already had enough food • や や あんすかー、えあらん。 Sū ya sanshin ya ansukā, jōji earan. • お父さんは三味線はそれほどは、上手ではない。 Otō-san wa shamisen sorehodowa jōzu dewanai. • Father is not so good at shamisen. • くまぬまんぐらー んんとぅどぅ、やーたる。 Kuma nu mangurā chinchintu du, yā yātaru. • この辺りは散り散りに家がなった。 Kono atari wa chirijirini ie ga natta. • Houses were scattered in this area. • や く、てぃらしよー。 Chū ya hēku, sutiturashiyō. • 今日は早く、集まってくれよ。 Kyō wa hayaku, atsumattekureyo. • Please gather quickly today. • むのー慌てぃらんようい、ようんなー、めー。 Munō awatiran'youi, younnā, kamē. • 食事は慌てず、ゆっくり、食べよ。 Shokuji wa awatezu, yukkuri, tabeyo. • Don't rush when you eat, eat slowly. • とーないねー、なんくる、じんぶんぬん じてぃゅーさに。 Tōnainē, nankuru, jinbunmen njitichūsani. • いざとなれば、自ずと、知恵も出てくるだろう。 Iza to nareba, onozuto, chie mo detekuru darō. • When the time comes, ideas will automatically come to our minds. • ぬぬから まぎぬ ゆったいくゎったい、りてぃゃん。 Kā nu ui nu hata kara magi mumu nu yuttaikwattai, rūritichan. • 川の上の方から大きな桃がどんぶらこと、流れて来た。 Kawa no ue no hō kara ōkina momo ga donburakoto, nagaretekita. • A giant peach came floating down the river. • なぐりなぐりとぅ、別りぬすん。 Nagurinaguritu, wakari nu ēsachi sun. • なごりなごりと、別れの挨拶をする。 Nagorinagorito, wakare no aisatsu wo suru. • We said goodbye reluctantly. • しんじんとぅ、節歌やてぃん、歌てぃんだ。 Shinjintu, fushiuta yatin, utatinda. • しみじみと、節歌でも、歌ってみよう。 Shimijimito, fushiuta demo, utattemiyō. • Let's sing a traditional song nostalgically. • ー んかい ''''''、てぃてぃ行ちゅん。 Tidā irī nkai shidēshidē, utitīchun. • 太陽は西へ次第に、沈んで行く。 Taiyō wa nishi he shidaini, shizundeiku. • The sun gradually sets to the west. • ぬ ちり、ちゅらーさ、きざあちねーらん。 Garasā nu chiribukuru, churāsa, kizāchinēran. • 烏がゴミ袋を、残らず、漁ってしまった。 Karasu ga gomibukuro, nokorazu, asatteshimatta. • The crows completely rummaged through the garbage bags. • どぅく、ゆくしびけー、しーねー、、じゅん。 Duku, yukushi bikē, shīnē, bachi, kanjun. • あまりにも、嘘ばかりついたら、罰が当たる。 Amarinimo, uso bakari tsuitara, batsu ga ataru. • If you tell too many lies, you will incur divine punishment. • ぬお だんだんだんだん、ましなとおん。 Nā fansō nu utu o dandandandan, mashinatōn. • あなたの笛の音は段々、良くなっている。 Anata no fue no oto wa dandan, yokunatteiru. • You are gradually becoming better at playing flute. • いがろうん、に、、たんやあ。 Igaroun, shidēni, tushi, tutan'yā. • 我々も次第に歳を取ったね。 Wareware mo shidaini toshi wo totta ne. • We have gradually gotten old. • どぅくだら、ひみちしいねえ、んかい診しらんでえ。 Dukudara, himichi shīnē, isa nkai mishirandē. • ひどく、せき込んだら、医者に診せないと。 Hidoku, seki kondara, isha ni misenaito. • If you start to cough badly, you have to go see a doctor. • くまから あまんかい まっすぐ、行ちいねえ、海んかいじゆん。 Kuma kara ama nkai massugu, ichīnē, umi nkai njiyun. • ここからあそこへ、まっすぐ、行くと、海に出る。 Koko kara asoko he, massugu, ikuto, umi ni deru. • If you go straight from there, you will see the ocean. • や ー まっとうば、りよお。 Nā ya uchināguchē mattouba, chikariyō. • 君は沖縄語を正しく使ってよ。 Kimi wa okinawago wo tadashiku tsukatteyo. • Please use Okinawan correctly. • や だってぃどぅ、ゆんどお。 Yā ya dattidu, chukuyundō. • 家はちゃんと、作るんだよ。 Ie wa chanto, tsukurundayo. • You must build a house properly. • あんまあや や だてん、すがとおん。 Anmā ya chū ya daten, sugatōn. • 母は今日はきちんと、身なりを整えている。 Haha wa kyō wa kichinto, minari wo totonoeteiru. • My mother has dressed neatly today. • さあに、さっぱっとぅ、そおん。 Danpachi sāni, sappattu, sōn. • 散髪をして、さっぱりしている。 Sanbatsu wo shite, sappari shiteiru. • Looking fresh after a haircut. • ぬし、しかっとぅ、ちょうきよお。 Uya nu yushi, shikattu, chichoukiyō. • 親の言うことをしっかり、聞いておけよ。 Oya no iukoto wo shikkari, kiiteokeyo. • Listen to your parents carefully. • あんしん、試験ー、うかっとぅお、受きららん。 Anshin, shikennō, ukattuo, ukiraran. • それでも、試験はうかつには受けられない。 Soredemo, shiken wa ukatsuniwa ukerarenai. • You cannot take the exam thoughtlessly. • うぬや にじいねえ、たった、っさなゆんどお。 Unu yanmē ya nijīnē, tatta, wassanayundō. • その病気は我慢すると、余計、悪くなるよ。 Sono byōki wa gaman suru to, yokei, warukunaruyo. • If you endure your illness too much, it will get even worse. • むしや、うんじょー とぅちるめーや あらに。 • もしや、あなたは私と同じ歳ではないだろうか。 • Are you as old as I am by any chance? • むしか、、、しえらんさに。 • もしや、今頃、私のことを心配していないだろうな。 • Perhaps, they might be worried about me now. • まさか、や ういんでえ あんたん。 Masaka chūya umachī ndē umāntan • まさか、今日はウマチーとは思わなかった。 • I had no idea that today was the festival day. • あたまに、や さっさあやあ。 • ほんとに、今日は暑いねえ。 • It's really hot today. • どうでぃん、が え、ちたぼうり。 • どうか、私のお願いを聞いてください。 • Please could you do me a favor? • たんでぃ、にんかい 、まちみそおれえ。 • どうぞ、私に水を飲ましてください。 • Please let me drink some water. • ぬうや じ、サッカー部んかい ゆんでぃ。 • 二男は必ず、サッカー部に入るんだと。 • The second oldest son has to join the soccer team. • あぬ、しん、じいぶしゃん。 • あの映画をどうしても、見たい。 • I want to watch the movie at any cost. • くぬパソコンや し、かすが。 • このパソコンはどうやって、動かすのか。 • How do you use this computer? • みったい、うんじゅおー、我どぅ えとおるい。 • 一体、あなたは私を馬鹿にしているのか。 • Really, are you making fun of me? • ぬあばあや あんすか、やんなあ。 • 後隣りのあ姉さんはそんなに、歌が上手なのか。 • Is the lady next door really good at singing? • んち、や 行かんが。 • 何故、父は行かないか。 • Why doesn't father want to go? • ちゃっさ、あさがちしん、あちらんあがちんならん。 • いくら、焦っても、一向に、前に進むことも出来ない。 • No matter how much we hurry, we cannot make any progress at all. • うぬ石ーのーじょーい、っちいゆさん。 • この石は子供は絶対、持てない。 • This rock, the child definitely cannot hold. • ちゃっさん、ばんしえーまし。 • 度を超して、遊ばない方が良い。 • You should not go too far when you're playing. • どぅく、さぬ、いふぃん、ゆくららん。 • あまりにも、忙しくて、少しも、休めない。 • I'm so busy I cannot rest at all. • じかじん かんくとぅ、ん、ならん。 • 言うことも聞かないから、どうすることも出来ない。 • They don't listen, so I cannot do anything. • くぬや じゅんに、やっさー。 • この三味線は本当に、立派なものだな。 • This is a truly amazing Sanshin. • んねーじ、ぬんかい 行ちゃん。 • 私は必ず、あなたの所に行く。 • I will definitely go to your place. • うんーりーや 当いなかい、がん なゆん。 • そのような事は、当然、誰にでもできる。 • Anybody can do such a thing. • んーいちゃんだん、戦、そーたん。 • 昔の人はむやみに戦争をしていた。 • People used to recklessly start wars in the past. • あんぐゎーなかい だりーんねーし、やうったてぃ、どぅりゆたん。 • 女の子に見られようと、青年はわざと、転びよった。 • The boy fell on purpose so that the girl would notice him. • ーなー、いたん。 • お客さんはもう、行ってしまった。 • The guests are already gone. Prenominal adjectives (連体詞) Conjunctions (接続詞) Interjections and exclamations (感動詞) Verbs (動詞) Verbs are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows movements. The conclusive form ends in . Adjectives (形容詞) Adjectives are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows property or state. The conclusive form ends in . (存在動詞) 存在動詞 are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows existence or decision of a certain thing. attaches to a substantive. Adjectival verbs (形容動詞) Adjectival verbs are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows the state of existence of events. attaches to words that shows state. Auxiliary verbs (助動詞) Particles (助詞) }-->で(de)|| Locative case; marks the location where an action takes place, usually pertaining to an animate subject. Derives from the participle form of the verb をぅん wun "to be, to exist". • くまをぅとーてぃさん。 • ここで休みたい。 • I want to rest (at) here. • やかぬやあらん。 • 彼より日本語が上手ではない。 • My Japanese isn't as good as his. • ローマびけーんぬ。 • ローマ字ばかりの書物。 • A romaji only book. • くぬあ、までぃちゃびーん。るまでぃちょーいびーん。 • この電車は首里まで行く。帰るまで待つ。 • This train goes as far as Shuri. I'll wait until you come home. • くれーかかゆん。 • 十分ぐらいかかる。 • It will take about 10 minutes. • うぬーゆるあたいこーねーやびらん。 • あの建物は思うぐらい高くないよ。 • That building is not as tall as you imagine it to be. • んじしゃるうっぴんでぃんまびいん。 • 寝たいだけ寝ていいよ。 • You can sleep as much as you want. For other nouns, the particle fuses with short vowels. a → ā, i → ē, u → ō, e → ē, o → ō, n → nō. Pronoun 我ん (wan?) (I) becomes topicalized as 我んねー (wannē?) instead of 我んのー (wannō?) or 我んや (wan'ya?), although the latter does appear in some musical or literary works. • からやてぃんぬぬいゆん。やてぃんいんちりーんをすん。 • 万里の長城は宇宙からでも見れる。日本でも英語を習う • The Great Wall of China can even be seen from space. Also in Japan, we study English. • • }} • • }} • • }} • • }} • • }} • • 等}} • • }} • • 等}} Prefixes (接頭語) Suffixes (接尾語) Others Copula Question words (疑問詞) Syntax The basic word order is subject–object–verb. Okinawan is a marked nominative language (with the accusative being unmarked) that also shows minor active–stative variation in intransitive verbs relating to existence or emergence. In existence or emergence verbs, the subject may be optionally unmarked (except for pronouns and proper names, which must be marked with ga), and marked human subjects cannot use ga anymore, but rather always with the often-inanimate marker nu. ==Example==

Sample text in Standard Okinawan (Shuri-Naha dialect) In Kanji 人間ー誰ん生まりやぎーなー自由やい、また、胴大切に思ゆる肝とぅ胴守らんでぃる肝ー、誰やてぃんゆぬ如授かとーるむんやん。人間ー元からいー矩ぬ備わとーくとぅ、互ーに兄弟やんでぃる考ーさーに事に当たらんだれーならん。(without ruby characters) ーんまりやぎーなーやい、また、にゆるとぅらんでぃるー、やてぃんゆぬかとーるむんやん。ーからいーぬわとーくとぅ、ーにやんでぃるーさーににたらんだれーならん。(with ruby characters) Transliteration ''Ninjinoo taa n 'nmariyagiinaa jiyu yai, mata, duu teeshichi ni umuyuru chimu tu duu mamurandiru chimoo, taa yatin yunugutu sajakatooru mun yan. Ninjinoo muutu kara iika ni nu sunawatookutu, tagee ni choodeeyandiru kangeesaa ni kutu ni atarandaree naran.'' (UDHR Article 1) == See also ==