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Proto-Ryukyuan language
Proto-Ryukyuan is the reconstructed ancestor of the Ryukyuan languages, probably associated with the Gusuku culture in the early second millennium AD.[citation needed]
The modern Ryukyuan languages are spoken on the Ryukyu Islands, from the Amami Islands to Yonaguni. All Ryukyuan varieties are endangered; many speakers are aged late sixties or older, while younger speakers are only monolingual in Japanese.
Pellard (2009:249-275) gives a list of innovations in Japanese and Ryukyuan, with some redocumented by Pellard (2015:15). For instance, in Ryukyuan, the general word for 'body' is *do C, and has been grammaticalized into a reflexive pronoun. The Ryukyuan languages also exhibit a semantic shift 'intestines' > 'belly' of PJ *wata B. However, Japanese also has some innovations not in Ryukyuan, such as the word otoko 'man' < 'young boy', kami 'hair' < 'top'.
There are some innovations shared with Ryukyuan and Kyushu dialects that have not been found in other mainland Japanese dialects. For instance, Yōsuke Igarashi (2018) claims that an innovation of Kyushu-Ryukyuan is to change kami-nidan verbs (-i(2)-) to shimo-nidan verbs (-e(2)-), a grammatical change of -kara from an ablative marker to a locative marker, and some vocabulary items (usually species) only found in such dialects. However, Pellard (2021) attempts refutes the hypothesis, citing typological and cross-linguistic reasons.
The following consonants can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:
The following vowels can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:
All Ryukyuan languages have raised the mid-vowels *e and *o, but not all have merged these sounds with *i and *u. It is even possible the mid-vowels were already raised in Proto-Ryukyuan, but still distinct from the original high vowels. The dialects go through different developments depending on the preceding consonant. In various Northern Ryukyuan languages, *i will often palatalize the preceding consonant. To give an example, Shuri ʔitɕi 'pond' < PR *ike, but Shuri ʔiku- 'how many?' < PR *eku.
Some Old Okinawan texts can preserve the distinction of Proto-Ryukyuan mid-vowels. For instance, the Old Okinawan anthology Omoro Sōshi records the word for 'snow, hail' as yoki 15 times, while yuki is only recorded once. This may suggest that the proto-form of such word had a mid-vowel *o.
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Proto-Ryukyuan language
Proto-Ryukyuan is the reconstructed ancestor of the Ryukyuan languages, probably associated with the Gusuku culture in the early second millennium AD.[citation needed]
The modern Ryukyuan languages are spoken on the Ryukyu Islands, from the Amami Islands to Yonaguni. All Ryukyuan varieties are endangered; many speakers are aged late sixties or older, while younger speakers are only monolingual in Japanese.
Pellard (2009:249-275) gives a list of innovations in Japanese and Ryukyuan, with some redocumented by Pellard (2015:15). For instance, in Ryukyuan, the general word for 'body' is *do C, and has been grammaticalized into a reflexive pronoun. The Ryukyuan languages also exhibit a semantic shift 'intestines' > 'belly' of PJ *wata B. However, Japanese also has some innovations not in Ryukyuan, such as the word otoko 'man' < 'young boy', kami 'hair' < 'top'.
There are some innovations shared with Ryukyuan and Kyushu dialects that have not been found in other mainland Japanese dialects. For instance, Yōsuke Igarashi (2018) claims that an innovation of Kyushu-Ryukyuan is to change kami-nidan verbs (-i(2)-) to shimo-nidan verbs (-e(2)-), a grammatical change of -kara from an ablative marker to a locative marker, and some vocabulary items (usually species) only found in such dialects. However, Pellard (2021) attempts refutes the hypothesis, citing typological and cross-linguistic reasons.
The following consonants can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:
The following vowels can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan:
All Ryukyuan languages have raised the mid-vowels *e and *o, but not all have merged these sounds with *i and *u. It is even possible the mid-vowels were already raised in Proto-Ryukyuan, but still distinct from the original high vowels. The dialects go through different developments depending on the preceding consonant. In various Northern Ryukyuan languages, *i will often palatalize the preceding consonant. To give an example, Shuri ʔitɕi 'pond' < PR *ike, but Shuri ʔiku- 'how many?' < PR *eku.
Some Old Okinawan texts can preserve the distinction of Proto-Ryukyuan mid-vowels. For instance, the Old Okinawan anthology Omoro Sōshi records the word for 'snow, hail' as yoki 15 times, while yuki is only recorded once. This may suggest that the proto-form of such word had a mid-vowel *o.