The Case Systems of the Kikaijima Dialects

Okinawa International UniversityFirst Published: August 15, 2011 (in Japanese

Research Report on the Kikaijima Dialects : General Study for Research and Conservation of Endangered Dialects in Japan

National Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsOkinawa International UniversityUniversity of AucklandNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsFirst Published: August 15, 2011 (in Japanese

南琉球・多良間島方言の基本的なja構文について

沖縄国際大学Okinawa International University助辞-jaは現代共通語の助辞「は」に対応し,琉球語全体で広く用いられている助辞である。だが,その研究の多くが-jaの出現形式や承接関係など形態論的な内容を示すに留まっており,その文法的機能や「意味」についての具体的な記述,また,現代共通語の「は」との違いといった観点からの考察があまりなされてこなかった。このような現状を踏まえ,本研究では多良間島方言を対象に,-jaが現れる文の基本的なタイプを明らかにし,それぞれの文の構造や機能を記述・考察した。その結果,名詞述語文と形容詞述語文のNP-ja主語は基本的に「判断の主題」を,動詞述語文のNP-ja主語は基本的に「関連の主題」を表すことを示した。またその他のja構文として,存在動詞aL述語文,否定文,対比構文などがみとめられた。The particle -ja, which corresponds to -wa in Japanese, is widely used in Ryukyuan languages in general. Previous studies on this particle have mostly focused on its morphological aspects such as allomorphy and combinatory possibilities with other particles, leaving aside other aspects such as grammatical function and meaning. Characterisation of -ja in Ryukyuan as compared with -wa in Japanese has also been left open for future research. Focusing on Tarama (Southern Ryukyuan), this study aims to describe basic construction types in which -ja occurs, and their structures and functions. I will show that subject NPs marked with -ja in nominal and adjectival predicates denote what I call \u27topic of judgement\u27, whereas those in verbal predicates denote what I call \u27topic of relevance\u27. Other -ja constructions include existential predicates with the existential aL, negative constructions, and comparative constructions

南琉球・多良間島方言の格再考 : ni:格,Nka格を中心に

沖縄国際大学Okinawa International University下地(2003)をはじめとするこれまでの先行研究では,多良間島方言の格の形式は,O格,nu格,ga格,ju格,ba格,ni格,tu格,sji:格,kara格,Nka格,Nke:格,gami格の12形式(周辺的な接辞であるjuL,ti:を含めれば14形式)であるとされてきた。だが改めて考察を行ったところ,ni:格という〈道具,手段〉をあらわす新たな格形式をみとめる必要のあることが明らかになった。これは,これまでni格に含められてしまっていた形式である。また-Nkaについても,格として機能するものと「中,内」という語彙的意味を名詞に付加する派生接辞的なものという,2つを区別して捉えなければならないことを明らかにした。Prior studies, including my previous arguments, have asserted that there are 12 to 14 case forms in the Tarama dialect: -O, -nu, -ga, -ju, -ba, -ni, -tu, -sji:, -kara, -Nka, -Nke:, -gami (-juL, -ti:). However, because of a reconsideration of Tarama case, it is necessary to recognize a new instrumental case form -ni:. Previously, this case form had been included under the case particle ni. I also propose that Tarama has two varieties of the form -Nka: the first being a case particle, and the other a derivational suffix that attaches the lexical meaning "inside" to nouns. With these two points in mind, I use this paper to provide a reanalysis of case in Tarama

Picture Book Project for All

We wish to share the method of our picture book making project that involves collaboration among language community members, linguists, illustrators, and designers. As case studies of abstraction and application, we report multilingual picture books that we have been producing in four endangered Ryukyuan languages in Japan (Okinoerabu/Tarama/Taketomi/Yonaguni). Two of them have an original story created by a native speaker, and the other two takes up a local traditional folk tale. We will explain (1) the features of the picture book packages and (2) the creation processes of them. They aim at (a) documenting endangered languages, (b) facilitating the language use/learning among the younger generations, and (c) raising local language experts. Each picture book comes as a package of three parts; (i) a multilingual story and illustrations, (ii) a detailed linguistic explanation, and (iii) an audio CD of reading the story. Part-(ii) includes a precise but easy-to-use orthography (modified hiragana) proposed for the target language, a phoneme chart and its explanation, and five-line annotations of the full story (original story in the orthography, Japanese translation, morphologically analyzed representation in IPA and the orthography, and word-by-word translation). Illustration and the story contents of the part-(i) make the picture books attractive by themselves, so that they can even catch the attention of those who are not so interested in the endangered situation of the language. Part-(ii) is dedicated to raise the local community members’ objective knowledge of their language. This is to facilitate the younger generations’ use and learning of the local language along with the part-(iii) audio CD, and to raise local language experts. We emphasize that the creation process of a picture book plays an important role in language revitalization. Language community members actively participate in the creation process; they receive a systematic training by the field linguists who have been writing the reference grammar, and become able to describe their language in technical manner. This can be seen as an empowerment of the language community members aiming that they can proceed to future projects receiving less and less support from outside experts. We believe that; facilitating creative activities and linguistic knowledge among the language community members develops the idea that they are actively in charge of the language revitalization; preserving traditional stories in a form of visually attractive and useful content is effective for language revitalization. Our self-ran cloud funding system will also be presented