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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available
on the course page. Student editor(s):
Midori Hasegawa.
Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT ( talk) 05:37, 17 January 2022 (UTC)
My name is Furansowakun2 and I tried to change the title of the japanese version of the article, to make it "okinawa language" (in japanese okinawago) and not "okinawa dialect" (okinawa hougen) as it is in the japanese version ... I fought with japanese wikipedia users during days to convince them why it was not a dialect, but they don't want to change it, and it's just in japanese version that we have this very strange expression, which is so stupid. For them, okinawan is a dialect of japanese and that's all ... Also the page in japanese about the language of Ryukyu, we have this expression of dialects, but originally the languages spoken in the kingdom of Ryukyu are not linked with japanese and are different languages, as it is said in every article (this one, english, and other, french, korean, spanish etc etc). It's just the japanese one which is totally wrong.
They will also try to say sometimes that it's not a dialect of japanese, but a "dialect of Ryukyu", which just doesn't make sense at all. In the article in japanese about ryukyu languages there is also this stupid expression of "ryukyu dialects", but okinawa language is a language on its own, and when you say "okinawa dialect" in japanese like this, it's sure for every one that it's a dialect of "japanese" and nothing else.
I wanted to know what could be done in that situation, where just one language's article is wrong ? It's really frustrating to have this "okinawa dialect" in japanese, as it's not a dialect at all, but a language itself. For people who can read japanese, I had tough debates with them on the page, but most of japanese users looked like robots not able to think by themselves but just able to repeat propaganda of their state, which says to them that the language of Okinawa is just a dialect of their language. The idea behind that debate Dialect VS Language, with the win of Dialect, is to say it was ok for Japan Empire to invade and to destroy Ryukyu Kingdom and to eliminate their language (which was not a language anyway, but just a "dialect" of japanese in the ideology). They don't want to hear about scientists theories, and linguists, with all of them saying languages spoken in Ryukyu are languages and not dialects, and prefer to repeat the politic propaganda of their state. What could be done in such a situation ? Thanks a lot for your replies and your help.--
Furansowakun3 (
talk)
20:12, 30 September 2012 (UTC)
I was wondering wether or not a list of Uchinaaguchi words should be put up.
I have created a conjugation table at /Conjugation. Any ideas for how it can be simplified/presented? - 刘 (劉) 振霖 04:03, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)
"Mingo" is a Japanese term. The Okinawan word for the Okinawa language is "uchinaguchi." "Uchina" is the Okinawan word for Okinawa and "guchi" is literally mouth.
Removed mention of "mingo" because it does not appear in Jim Breen's Dictionary or in Daijirin Dictionary. It should not be used because it is most likely not a word, or it is not common enough. Tongpoo 02:08, 13 Oct 2003 (UTC)
What do we know about how Okinawan was (or is) written? Does it use Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana in the same way as modern Japanese? Does the sound system differ at all? I'm very interested. — Hippietrail 02:25, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Information about Okinawan orthography is almost impossible to find on the internet. If someone has access to a book or has expertise, please provide!
There is a chart contrasing with Japanese, but it doesn't explain the nature of the contrast. I'm assuming that this is a differnce in pronunciation. However, how does this difference in pronunciation constitute a different language? Also, the chart of examples makes no sense. 1)The column heading "Tokyo". Does this mean that the list below illustrates how the word is pronounced in Tokyo? If Shuri is a different language from Japanese, shouldn't that column head read "Japanese". 2) Many of the examples show no difference between the two columns. What does it tell me about Okinawan language that they call hot water "ju", just like they do in Tokyo.
It's just a specific list of correspondences between Tokyo pronunciation and Shuri pronunciation, intended to illustrate the earlier table of sound correspondences. (This is just being specific. The Ryukyuan languages further subdivide into Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni - each of which has a slightly different set of correspondences with standard Japanese. For instance, in the case of vowels, Amami has /ï/ for Tokyo /e/, whereas Shuri has /i/ and on the other hand, Miyako and Yaeyama have /ï/ for Tokyo /i/ and /i/ for Tokyo /e/; and let's not start talking about the extra vowels Miyako, Kikaijima, Ishigakijima and Hateruma have, let alone some of the mainland ones with eight or nine vowels, such as Nagoya.)
Of course, this is not the only thing that justifies Okinawan being considered a different language. Most linguists posit that Okinawan split from Japanese around the first century AD - in contrast, the Romance languages probably did not split until the sixth century AD; yet the opposite is also seen with the Chinese spoken language (most modern "dialects" split during or after the Middle Chinese period, which was 7th - 11th century AD).
But ultimately, once it is proven that two languages are related, whether to call them languages or dialects becomes a moot point.
Of course, there are more than just pronunciation differences between Tokyo and Shuri, just like there are between Mandarin and Cantonese - there are lexical and grammatical differences as well. What is on this article is just the tip of the iceberg, based on what few materials I have access to. - 刘 (劉) 振霖 10:58, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
From what i was told Ryukyuan language was written in Hiragana introduced in the 13th century from Japan. Within the Shuri court, written Chinese was used. Yonaguni is beleived to have developed a seperate written language but there is contreversy over it. Arn't Cantonese and mandarin seperate languages? I guess they can be compared to the Ryukyuan Languages/Japanese situation since the big arguement on the Ryukyuan Languages being dialects of Japanese is that the Ryukyuan languages have many words from ancient Japanese in it. Cantonese pronounciation and vocabulary is much closer to that of ancient Chinese than that of Mandarin. Would it be a good idea to put up some words and phrases in the Ryukyuan languages? -- Carlos Tamanaha 08:17, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
This merger hasn't been discussed seriously either here or at Ryukyuan languages. I think everyone agrees that Okinawan language is a language categorized as Ryukyuan language. I am removing the merger proposal. Turly-burly 01:53, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
Why is the title of the page "Okinawan language" when "Okinawa" is in Japanese, not in Uchināguchi language? Why not "Uchināguchi"? Lily1104 ( talk) 11:23, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
The Grammar section of the article makes extensive use of the letter "c" in the romanization of Okinawan roots and words. For example, kacuru is said to derive from kaci-uru. However, since "c" is not used in any standard form of Japanese romanization (except in a "ch" sound), and since the letter "c" has no single consistent pronunciation in English, it is unclear as to what pronunciation this is trying to reproduce.
Is kaci-uru the same as kaki-uru (かきうる)? Is it the same as kashi-uru (かしうる) or kasiuru (かすぃうる), that is to say, the same as the pronunciation of the English words "see" or "sea"? Or is it another sound entirely? LordAmeth ( talk) 17:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok so I brought the change, but there might be other things that should be fixed. What do your sources use, <j> or <y>? What about glotalized (ʔ) vowels, do they use <ʔu>, <'u>, or just <u>? - Io Katai ( talk) 21:17, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
When I was in Okinawa I heard this language called Hogan. Why is this name not in the article? - 98.247.111.56 ( Talk) 01:08, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
The particles seem to be more complicated than in (regular) Japanese. Is this a feature retained from Ancient Japanese or did Okinawan get more complicated? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.139.87.74 ( talk) 11:25, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
not final "n", but "n" as in "NAra". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yjfstorehouse ( talk • contribs) 06:04, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
I hate to fight over such a trivial issue like this, but うちなーぐち uchinaaguchi is rightfully spelled as 沖縄口 in Kanji, which accurately corresponds to both its pronunciation and etymological origin, as well as its semantic meaning. Guchi does not correspond solely to "language", but can be used in the context of dialects as in /naaɸagut͡ɕi/ "Naha dialect"; general speech as in [ʔan̩dagut͡ɕi] "fawning; prattle", [googut͡ɕi] "complaint" or [ʔamagut͡ɕi] "sweet words; flattery"; and can also be used to roughly signify "mouth", "entrance" or "beginning". The morpheme 語, on the other hand, is a loan pronounced [go] as in 英語 [ʲeːgo] "English". Using the spelling 沖縄語 would actually suggest */ʔut͡ɕinaaɡo/, which is nonsensical and why it's uniquely read through Japanese as /okinawago/. Moreover, 沖縄口 is also the spelling employed on the Japanese Wikipedia and the only one provided in the EDICT dictionary. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 04:16, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
In the the particles table at the end of your article, the やてぃん example:
has an inconsistency in the phonetic rendition of the particle を. Though it is written, is the を not actually pronounced? I shall delete this question after I read your answer. Howard McCay ( talk) 18:41, 24 December 2013 (UTC)
Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo island in the Japan Sea By Herbert John Clifford
Rajmaan ( talk) 15:29, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
I don't have the time to go over all the changes, but some of the stuff cited doesn't apply to Central Okinawan and should instead be integrated into the article Ryukyuan languages. For example, the section " Wh-Questions" cites a paper and examples that apply to Miyara Yaeyaman. The section Japanese Borrowings talks more about modern Okinawan Japanese, a Japanese dialect influenced by the Ryukyuan languages, not an evolution of the Okinawan language itself. And I wonder about the relevance of the addition of the number of Okinawans in the lead, considering that we're talking about a language, not an ethnicity. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 03:51, 20 April 2014 (UTC)
The vowel section states as having two sides, a chart with /e/ and /o/, and one without.
I have a doubt about the one without /e/ and /o/, because of the word めんそーれー[men̩soːɾeː]. According to JLect, it is "an expression used to greet the arrival of someone, especially when entering a store or an establishment. 'Welcome! How may I help you?'". If I assume correctly, this expression is used somewhere in Okinawa everyday. I wouldn't consider said sounds "rare" or "non-existant". -- Moneynoob ( talk) 10:29, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
In Japanese, a kanji will typically have a kun-yomi(Japanese pronunciation) and a on-yomi(Chinese pronunciation), or multiple yomi's. Is this also the case with Central Okinawan, if we consider written Okinawan is written with a mixture of kanji and kana, similar to Japanese? Moneynoob ( talk) 21:04, 14 May 2014 (UTC) Minfremi ( talk) 21:14, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
I know French and I believe English has this also to a certain extent: whenever a vowel precedes a nasal sound, that vowel goes from being oral to nasal. /V/ → [nasV]/__nasC.
Does this rule also exist in Okinawan? Minfremi ( talk) 05:21, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
Can someone add Japanese equivalents of the Okinawan sentences to the particles chart to see how Okinawan particles differ from Japanese (and make it easier for people like me who are Japanese)? Can Okinawan equivalents of Japanese particles てにをはがへの be added too, along with sentence enders such as Japanese です、ですか etc? Maybe possible to move particles under the previous grammar section instead of having a separate part? Minfremi ( talk) 01:06, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
Both Okinawan and Uchinaayamatuguchi have distinct pitch accenting different from that of standard Japanese. Can someone add to the phonology section of this page explaining the differences between Okinawan and Japanese, using IPA? Minfremi ( talk) 19:42, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
The article references 980,000, but the source is paywalled. The best figure I can find (found here) gives an estimate of 285,000 speakers - IRiteGud, Yes? 17:48, 13 August 2020 (UTC)
the source is Ethnologue, probably te most reliable source on languages in existance. so calm down a little, ethnologue usually doesn't lie. -- Azemiennow ( talk) 13:10, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
Some analysis:
Source | Lower figure | Upper figure | ELP certainty score | Risk assessment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dougherty (2017) | 334,457 | 400,000 | 80% | Severely endangered |
Lee & Way (2016) | – | – | – | Moribund |
Read (2011) | 95,000 (native) | 285,000 (includes second-language) | 80% | Severely-critically endangered |
Anderson (2009) | – | – | – | Moribund |
UNESCO Atlas (2009) | – | – | – | Endangered |
Ethnologue (2001) | 984,000 | 984,000 | 20% | Shifting / At risk |
So there's general agreement among authors that there are few native/proficient speakers born after 1950 and almost none born after 1970. Calculating that based on the population of people living within the geographical boundaries of southern and central Okinawan Island would give you the numbers reported by Read (2011) or Dougherty (2017), i.e. somewhere around 100,000 - 400,000.
The Ethnologue's numbers simply do not make sense, as it represents nearly the total population of those living in southern and central Okinawan Island, which isn't possible given the age bracket of speakers stated by all the above authors. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 19:02, 22 March 2021 (UTC)
What the hell is Japanese words in "Notes/English" and why? Frozen Bok ( talk) 14:49, 16 August 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available
on the course page. Student editor(s):
Midori Hasegawa.
Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT ( talk) 05:37, 17 January 2022 (UTC)
My name is Furansowakun2 and I tried to change the title of the japanese version of the article, to make it "okinawa language" (in japanese okinawago) and not "okinawa dialect" (okinawa hougen) as it is in the japanese version ... I fought with japanese wikipedia users during days to convince them why it was not a dialect, but they don't want to change it, and it's just in japanese version that we have this very strange expression, which is so stupid. For them, okinawan is a dialect of japanese and that's all ... Also the page in japanese about the language of Ryukyu, we have this expression of dialects, but originally the languages spoken in the kingdom of Ryukyu are not linked with japanese and are different languages, as it is said in every article (this one, english, and other, french, korean, spanish etc etc). It's just the japanese one which is totally wrong.
They will also try to say sometimes that it's not a dialect of japanese, but a "dialect of Ryukyu", which just doesn't make sense at all. In the article in japanese about ryukyu languages there is also this stupid expression of "ryukyu dialects", but okinawa language is a language on its own, and when you say "okinawa dialect" in japanese like this, it's sure for every one that it's a dialect of "japanese" and nothing else.
I wanted to know what could be done in that situation, where just one language's article is wrong ? It's really frustrating to have this "okinawa dialect" in japanese, as it's not a dialect at all, but a language itself. For people who can read japanese, I had tough debates with them on the page, but most of japanese users looked like robots not able to think by themselves but just able to repeat propaganda of their state, which says to them that the language of Okinawa is just a dialect of their language. The idea behind that debate Dialect VS Language, with the win of Dialect, is to say it was ok for Japan Empire to invade and to destroy Ryukyu Kingdom and to eliminate their language (which was not a language anyway, but just a "dialect" of japanese in the ideology). They don't want to hear about scientists theories, and linguists, with all of them saying languages spoken in Ryukyu are languages and not dialects, and prefer to repeat the politic propaganda of their state. What could be done in such a situation ? Thanks a lot for your replies and your help.--
Furansowakun3 (
talk)
20:12, 30 September 2012 (UTC)
I was wondering wether or not a list of Uchinaaguchi words should be put up.
I have created a conjugation table at /Conjugation. Any ideas for how it can be simplified/presented? - 刘 (劉) 振霖 04:03, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)
"Mingo" is a Japanese term. The Okinawan word for the Okinawa language is "uchinaguchi." "Uchina" is the Okinawan word for Okinawa and "guchi" is literally mouth.
Removed mention of "mingo" because it does not appear in Jim Breen's Dictionary or in Daijirin Dictionary. It should not be used because it is most likely not a word, or it is not common enough. Tongpoo 02:08, 13 Oct 2003 (UTC)
What do we know about how Okinawan was (or is) written? Does it use Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana in the same way as modern Japanese? Does the sound system differ at all? I'm very interested. — Hippietrail 02:25, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Information about Okinawan orthography is almost impossible to find on the internet. If someone has access to a book or has expertise, please provide!
There is a chart contrasing with Japanese, but it doesn't explain the nature of the contrast. I'm assuming that this is a differnce in pronunciation. However, how does this difference in pronunciation constitute a different language? Also, the chart of examples makes no sense. 1)The column heading "Tokyo". Does this mean that the list below illustrates how the word is pronounced in Tokyo? If Shuri is a different language from Japanese, shouldn't that column head read "Japanese". 2) Many of the examples show no difference between the two columns. What does it tell me about Okinawan language that they call hot water "ju", just like they do in Tokyo.
It's just a specific list of correspondences between Tokyo pronunciation and Shuri pronunciation, intended to illustrate the earlier table of sound correspondences. (This is just being specific. The Ryukyuan languages further subdivide into Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni - each of which has a slightly different set of correspondences with standard Japanese. For instance, in the case of vowels, Amami has /ï/ for Tokyo /e/, whereas Shuri has /i/ and on the other hand, Miyako and Yaeyama have /ï/ for Tokyo /i/ and /i/ for Tokyo /e/; and let's not start talking about the extra vowels Miyako, Kikaijima, Ishigakijima and Hateruma have, let alone some of the mainland ones with eight or nine vowels, such as Nagoya.)
Of course, this is not the only thing that justifies Okinawan being considered a different language. Most linguists posit that Okinawan split from Japanese around the first century AD - in contrast, the Romance languages probably did not split until the sixth century AD; yet the opposite is also seen with the Chinese spoken language (most modern "dialects" split during or after the Middle Chinese period, which was 7th - 11th century AD).
But ultimately, once it is proven that two languages are related, whether to call them languages or dialects becomes a moot point.
Of course, there are more than just pronunciation differences between Tokyo and Shuri, just like there are between Mandarin and Cantonese - there are lexical and grammatical differences as well. What is on this article is just the tip of the iceberg, based on what few materials I have access to. - 刘 (劉) 振霖 10:58, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
From what i was told Ryukyuan language was written in Hiragana introduced in the 13th century from Japan. Within the Shuri court, written Chinese was used. Yonaguni is beleived to have developed a seperate written language but there is contreversy over it. Arn't Cantonese and mandarin seperate languages? I guess they can be compared to the Ryukyuan Languages/Japanese situation since the big arguement on the Ryukyuan Languages being dialects of Japanese is that the Ryukyuan languages have many words from ancient Japanese in it. Cantonese pronounciation and vocabulary is much closer to that of ancient Chinese than that of Mandarin. Would it be a good idea to put up some words and phrases in the Ryukyuan languages? -- Carlos Tamanaha 08:17, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
This merger hasn't been discussed seriously either here or at Ryukyuan languages. I think everyone agrees that Okinawan language is a language categorized as Ryukyuan language. I am removing the merger proposal. Turly-burly 01:53, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
Why is the title of the page "Okinawan language" when "Okinawa" is in Japanese, not in Uchināguchi language? Why not "Uchināguchi"? Lily1104 ( talk) 11:23, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
The Grammar section of the article makes extensive use of the letter "c" in the romanization of Okinawan roots and words. For example, kacuru is said to derive from kaci-uru. However, since "c" is not used in any standard form of Japanese romanization (except in a "ch" sound), and since the letter "c" has no single consistent pronunciation in English, it is unclear as to what pronunciation this is trying to reproduce.
Is kaci-uru the same as kaki-uru (かきうる)? Is it the same as kashi-uru (かしうる) or kasiuru (かすぃうる), that is to say, the same as the pronunciation of the English words "see" or "sea"? Or is it another sound entirely? LordAmeth ( talk) 17:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok so I brought the change, but there might be other things that should be fixed. What do your sources use, <j> or <y>? What about glotalized (ʔ) vowels, do they use <ʔu>, <'u>, or just <u>? - Io Katai ( talk) 21:17, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
When I was in Okinawa I heard this language called Hogan. Why is this name not in the article? - 98.247.111.56 ( Talk) 01:08, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
The particles seem to be more complicated than in (regular) Japanese. Is this a feature retained from Ancient Japanese or did Okinawan get more complicated? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.139.87.74 ( talk) 11:25, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
not final "n", but "n" as in "NAra". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yjfstorehouse ( talk • contribs) 06:04, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
I hate to fight over such a trivial issue like this, but うちなーぐち uchinaaguchi is rightfully spelled as 沖縄口 in Kanji, which accurately corresponds to both its pronunciation and etymological origin, as well as its semantic meaning. Guchi does not correspond solely to "language", but can be used in the context of dialects as in /naaɸagut͡ɕi/ "Naha dialect"; general speech as in [ʔan̩dagut͡ɕi] "fawning; prattle", [googut͡ɕi] "complaint" or [ʔamagut͡ɕi] "sweet words; flattery"; and can also be used to roughly signify "mouth", "entrance" or "beginning". The morpheme 語, on the other hand, is a loan pronounced [go] as in 英語 [ʲeːgo] "English". Using the spelling 沖縄語 would actually suggest */ʔut͡ɕinaaɡo/, which is nonsensical and why it's uniquely read through Japanese as /okinawago/. Moreover, 沖縄口 is also the spelling employed on the Japanese Wikipedia and the only one provided in the EDICT dictionary. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 04:16, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
In the the particles table at the end of your article, the やてぃん example:
has an inconsistency in the phonetic rendition of the particle を. Though it is written, is the を not actually pronounced? I shall delete this question after I read your answer. Howard McCay ( talk) 18:41, 24 December 2013 (UTC)
Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo island in the Japan Sea By Herbert John Clifford
Rajmaan ( talk) 15:29, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
I don't have the time to go over all the changes, but some of the stuff cited doesn't apply to Central Okinawan and should instead be integrated into the article Ryukyuan languages. For example, the section " Wh-Questions" cites a paper and examples that apply to Miyara Yaeyaman. The section Japanese Borrowings talks more about modern Okinawan Japanese, a Japanese dialect influenced by the Ryukyuan languages, not an evolution of the Okinawan language itself. And I wonder about the relevance of the addition of the number of Okinawans in the lead, considering that we're talking about a language, not an ethnicity. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 03:51, 20 April 2014 (UTC)
The vowel section states as having two sides, a chart with /e/ and /o/, and one without.
I have a doubt about the one without /e/ and /o/, because of the word めんそーれー[men̩soːɾeː]. According to JLect, it is "an expression used to greet the arrival of someone, especially when entering a store or an establishment. 'Welcome! How may I help you?'". If I assume correctly, this expression is used somewhere in Okinawa everyday. I wouldn't consider said sounds "rare" or "non-existant". -- Moneynoob ( talk) 10:29, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
In Japanese, a kanji will typically have a kun-yomi(Japanese pronunciation) and a on-yomi(Chinese pronunciation), or multiple yomi's. Is this also the case with Central Okinawan, if we consider written Okinawan is written with a mixture of kanji and kana, similar to Japanese? Moneynoob ( talk) 21:04, 14 May 2014 (UTC) Minfremi ( talk) 21:14, 14 May 2014 (UTC)
I know French and I believe English has this also to a certain extent: whenever a vowel precedes a nasal sound, that vowel goes from being oral to nasal. /V/ → [nasV]/__nasC.
Does this rule also exist in Okinawan? Minfremi ( talk) 05:21, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
Can someone add Japanese equivalents of the Okinawan sentences to the particles chart to see how Okinawan particles differ from Japanese (and make it easier for people like me who are Japanese)? Can Okinawan equivalents of Japanese particles てにをはがへの be added too, along with sentence enders such as Japanese です、ですか etc? Maybe possible to move particles under the previous grammar section instead of having a separate part? Minfremi ( talk) 01:06, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
Both Okinawan and Uchinaayamatuguchi have distinct pitch accenting different from that of standard Japanese. Can someone add to the phonology section of this page explaining the differences between Okinawan and Japanese, using IPA? Minfremi ( talk) 19:42, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
The article references 980,000, but the source is paywalled. The best figure I can find (found here) gives an estimate of 285,000 speakers - IRiteGud, Yes? 17:48, 13 August 2020 (UTC)
the source is Ethnologue, probably te most reliable source on languages in existance. so calm down a little, ethnologue usually doesn't lie. -- Azemiennow ( talk) 13:10, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
Some analysis:
Source | Lower figure | Upper figure | ELP certainty score | Risk assessment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dougherty (2017) | 334,457 | 400,000 | 80% | Severely endangered |
Lee & Way (2016) | – | – | – | Moribund |
Read (2011) | 95,000 (native) | 285,000 (includes second-language) | 80% | Severely-critically endangered |
Anderson (2009) | – | – | – | Moribund |
UNESCO Atlas (2009) | – | – | – | Endangered |
Ethnologue (2001) | 984,000 | 984,000 | 20% | Shifting / At risk |
So there's general agreement among authors that there are few native/proficient speakers born after 1950 and almost none born after 1970. Calculating that based on the population of people living within the geographical boundaries of southern and central Okinawan Island would give you the numbers reported by Read (2011) or Dougherty (2017), i.e. somewhere around 100,000 - 400,000.
The Ethnologue's numbers simply do not make sense, as it represents nearly the total population of those living in southern and central Okinawan Island, which isn't possible given the age bracket of speakers stated by all the above authors. — Io Katai ᵀᵃˡᵏ 19:02, 22 March 2021 (UTC)
What the hell is Japanese words in "Notes/English" and why? Frozen Bok ( talk) 14:49, 16 August 2023 (UTC)