Reconstruction:Proto-Ryukyuan/ga

This Proto-Ryukyuan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

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Proto-Ryukyuan

Etymology

From Proto-Japonic *-nka (“genitive marker (in pronouns)”).

Particle

*ga

nominative and genitive case marker

Usage notes

Ryukyuan languages use a hierarchy to determine which of its nominative and genitive markers, *ga and *no, to use. This hierarchy has two layers, consisting of higher and lower layers.^[1]

The higher nominative and genitive marker is *ga, used primarily by pronouns referring to humans.
The lower nominative and genitive marker is *no, used by any nominals that do not use *ga.

This hierarchy is subject to much variation in the daughter languages. In the Yamatohama dialect of Northern Amami-Ōshima, genitive *ga is only used with demonstrative pronouns, while personal pronouns, names of humans, and kinship terms do not take any genitive marker. Meanwhile, in the Ishigaki-Shika and Hatoma dialect of Yaeyama, this term only attaches between the first person pronoun and an uninflectable noun, and this reflex is missing from the Taketomi dialect altogether.

Descendants

Northern Ryukyuan:
- Kikai: が (ga)
- Kunigami: が (ga)
- Northern Amami Ōshima: が (ga)
- Okinawan: が (ga)
- Okinoerabu: が (ga)
- Southern Amami Ōshima: が (ga)
- Tokunoshima: が (ga)
- Yoron: が (ga)
Southern Ryukyuan
- Miyako: が (ga)
- Yaeyama: が (ga)
- Yonaguni: か゚ (ng'a)

References

^ Pellard, Thomas (2018) “Ryukyuan and the reconstruction of proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan”, in Handbook of Japanese historical linguistics, De Gruyter Mouton.

[1] Pellard, Thomas (2018) “Ryukyuan and the reconstruction of proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan”, in Handbook of Japanese historical linguistics, De Gruyter Mouton.

[1]