Native to Japan Native speakers 400 (2015) Glottolog yona1241 | Region Yonaguni ISO 639-3 yoi | |
Language family Japonic
Ryukyuan
Southern Ryukyuan
Macro-Yaeyama
Yonaguni | ||
The Yonaguni language (与那国物言/ドゥナンムヌイ Dunan Munui) is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken by around 400 people on the island of Yonaguni, in the Ryukyu Islands, the westernmost of the chain lying just east of Taiwan. It is most closely related to Yaeyama. Due to the Japanese policy on languages, the language is not recognized by the government and is instead called the Yonaguni dialect (与那国方言, Yonaguni hōgen).
Contents
Vowels
The table below shows the vowels present in the Yonaguni language. Vowels which are only allophonic appear in parentheses.
^a [o] can also probably be recognized as an independent phoneme and not just as an allophone of /u/. However, its distribution is very limited. Excluding a few interjections, the only morpheme in which it appears is the sentence-final, exclamatory particle do.Consonants
The table below shows the consonants present in the Yonaguni language. Consonants which are only allophonic appear in parentheses. Plosive and affricate phonemes have three-way contrast between fortis, lenis, and voiced consonants.
Phonological cognates
In the Yonaguni language, as well as in Miyako, Yaeyama, /b/ is cognate with Standard Japanese /w/. Yonaguni also has /d/ where Japanese and other Ryukyuan languages have /j/. Thus, for example, Yonaguni /dami(-n)/ ('to hurt, to ache') is cognate with the archaic or dialectal Japanese verb /jame(-ru)/ ('to hurt, to ache') rather than with Japanese /itam(-u)/ (same meaning). Yonaguni /d/ is probably a recent development from an earlier */j/, however, judging from the fact that even the */j/ in loanwords of Sinitic origin is pronounced /d/ by speakers of the Yonaguni language.
The Yonaguni language also exhibits intervocalic voicing of plosives, as do many Japonic languages.
Syllable structure
Below is the syllable template for Dunan:
(C (G) ) V1 (V2) (N)The onset allows for a single consonant with the occasional presence of a glide. The nucleus can contain up to two vowels. The only allowable coda is a moraic nasal.
Writing system
Yonaguni was once written with a unique writing system called Kaidā logograms. However, after conquest by the Ryukyu Kingdom and later annexation by the Empire of Japan, the logograms were replaced by Japanese kana and Chinese characters.