Native to Japan Ethnicity 47,600 (2000) Glottolog yaey1239 | Region Yaeyama Islands ISO 639-3 rys | |
Language family Japonic
Ryukyuan
Southern Ryukyuan
Macro-Yaeyama
Yaeyama | ||
The Yaeyama language (八重山物言/ヤイマムニ, Yaimamuni) is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated to the southwest of the Miyako Islands, southwest of the Ryukyu Islands and to the east of Taiwan. Yaeyama (Yaimamunii) is most closely related to Miyako. The number of competent native speakers is not known - as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the Yaeyama dialect (八重山方言, Yaeyama hōgen), reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60 tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation exclusively uses Japanese as their first language. As compared to the Japanese kokugo, or Japanese national language, other Ryukuan languages such as Okinawa and Amami , have also been referred to as dialects of Japanese. Yaeyama is noted as having a comparatively lower "language vitality" among neighboring Ryukyuan languages.
Contents
Yaeyama has three main dialects, named after the islands they are found on:
The speech of the island of Yonaguni, while related, is usually considered a separate language.
History
The Ryukyuan language split from Proto-Japonic when its speakers migrated to the Ryukyu Islands.
Some of the pronunciations that disappeared from Japanese around the 8th century, Japan's Nara period, can still be found in the Yaeyama languages. One example is the initial "p" sound, which in Japanese became an "h," while remaining a "p" in Yaeyama.
While the Yaeyama language was more "conservative" in some aspects, in the sense of preserving certain pronunciations, in other aspects it was more innovative. One example is the vowel system. Old Japanese had eight vowels (some perhaps diphthongs); this has been reduced to five in modern Japanese, but in Yaeyaman, vowel reduction has progressed further, to three vowels. Generally, when modern Japanese has an "e," the Yaeyama cognate will have an "i" (this is seen in "puni," above); and where modern Japanese has an "o," the Yaeyama cognate will have a "u" (as seen in "patu," above).
Many of these preserved pronunciations have been lost in the language of the main island of Okinawa. One explanation for this is that it is possible to travel by sea from mainland Japan until the main island of Okinawa, while keeping one island or another in sight nearly at all times; but there is then a gap between Okinawa island and the Yaeyamas, that would have required several nights on the open sea. For this reason, there was less traffic between mainland Japan and the Yaeyama islands, allowing further linguistic divergence.
Wh-Questions
In Yaeyama, Wh-phrases are marked with du:
Leaving du off of a wh-phrase leads to improper grammar. Yet, du marking is optional for adverbial or adjunct wh-phrases. In questions with multiple wh-words, only one can be marked with du. Further research is needed to learn more about Wh-questions in Yaeyama.