Wiktionary:About Proto-Ryukyuan

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Proto-Ryukyuan is the reconstructed language of the ancestral Ryukyuan language family. As Proto-Ryukyuan is a reconstructed language, all entries must be in the Reconstruction mainspace.

Abbreviations

• PJ - Proto-Japonic
• PR - Proto-Ryukyuan
• OJ - Old Japanese
• EMJ - Early Middle Japanese
• JPN - (Modern) Japanese

Phylogeny

The descendants of Proto-Ryukyuan include: means do not include it in the descendants. The following list may not have every Ryukyuan dialect.

Phylogeny

• • Northern Ryukyuan
    • Kikai
      • Aden (main; unlisted)
      • Shitōke (main; unlisted)
    • Kunigami
      • Hentona (unlisted)
      • Iejima (unlisted)
      • Nago (unlisted)
      • Oku (unlisted)
      • Sakimotobu (unlisted)
      • Sumuide (unlisted)
      • Yonamine, Nakijin (main; unlisted)
    • Northern Amami Ōshima
      • Naze (main; unlisted)
      • Yamatohama (main; unlisted)
      • Yuwan (unlisted)
    • Okinawan
      • Ishikawa (unlisted)
      • Shuri (main; unlisted)
        • Naha (main; unlisted)
    • Okinoerabu
      • Kamishiro (unlisted)
      • Serikaku (main; unlisted)
      • Tamina (unlisted)
      • Tetechina (main; unlisted)
    • Southern Amami Ōshima
      • Koniya (main; unlisted)
      • Shodon (main; unlisted)
    • Tokunoshima
      • Asama (unlisted)
      • Inō (main; unlisted)
      • Kametsu (main; unlisted)
      • Matsubara (unlisted)
      • San (unlisted)
    • Yoron
      • Chabana (main; unlisted)
      • Mugiya (unlisted)
  • Southern Ryukyuan
    • Miyako
      • Hirara (main; unlisted)
      • Ikema (unlisted)
      • Nakasuji (unlisted)
      • Ōgami (unlisted)
      • Ōura (unlisted)
      • Sarahama (unlisted)
      • Uechi (Unlisted)
      • Yonaha (unlisted)
    • Yaeyama
      • Hateruma (unlisted)
      • Ishigaki (main; unlisted)
      • Kabira (unlisted)
      • Kobama (unlisted)
      • Kuroshima (unlisted)
      • Ōbama (unlisted)
      • Sonai (unlisted)
      • Taketomi (unlisted)
    • Yonaguni

Yonaguni also has some shared innovations with Yaeyama, leading Pellard to believe that Yonaguni should be grouped into Yaeyama (Macro-Yaeyama), while the actual Yaeyama language family is called Nuclear Yaeyama (Pellard 2015, 20). Thorpe believes Yonaguni should be considered a third branch of Ryukyuan, descending from an early dialect in Okinawa. He also posits Taketomi as an early South Okinawan dialect that was reshaped by neighboring Yaeyaman varieties, and that the Yuwan dialect in Amami Ōshima is derived from a back-migration from Yoron Island.

Do not reconstruct a Proto-Ryukyuan term if the term is isolated. Isolated examples include Northern Amami Ōshima わた゚がなし (waθaganashi, “sea god”), 笹 (sasa, “bamboo grass”), Shuri Okinawan 大人 (utuna, “adult”, literary), 男 (wutuku, “man”, literary), 妻 (tsuma, “king's concubine”), Ishigaki Yaeyama 土 (tsïtsï, “ground”), etc., as they are almost certainly borrowings from Japanese.

It's best to put sources for the descendants (e.g. PR *iwo (“fish”)). Either directly use the references manually, or you can use {{jpx-ref|[AUTHOR'S LAST NAME] ([YEAR])}} in an entry (has pre-made reference templates).

Reconstructions

See Category:Proto-Ryukyuan lemmas.

Transcription and phonology

The transcription uses modified Hepburn romanization.

Vowels

Five vowels can be reconstructed for Proto-Ryukyuan Thorpe (1983), p. 31:

i		u
e		o
	a

Unknown vowels

If a word cannot be determined an unraised vowel, or a type of vowel is unknown, these cover symbols are used:

• Unknown back vowel */o/ or */u/: *U
• Unknown front vowel */e/ or */i/: *I

Consonants

Proto-Ryukyuan has the consonants *p, *t, *k, *b, *d, *g, *m, *n, *s, *z, *r, *w, and *y (*/j/). It is quite likely that the voiced consonants were prenasalized.

Prosody

Tone classes must be included in all Proto-Ryukyuan entries, if possible. Three classes have been reconstructed: A, B, and C. Tone classes C often has a either an accented first mora, a lengthened first mora in Asama and Shuri, or has a falling pitch at the end of the word (in case of Wadomari and Yonaguni). Tone neutralization has occurred in Tarama, but the former state of affairs is revealed with the suffix -mai, meaning "also".

Tonal correspondances of Proto-Ryukyuan tone classes

Syllable Count	Tone Class	Asama	Wadomari	Yoron	Nakijin	Shuri	Tarama (X=mai 'also X')	Ishigaki	Yonaguni	Notes
1	A	Hː	Rː	Lː	Hː	Fː	Lː=LL	Fː	Hː	All monosyllables in Ryukyuan languages lengthen to monosyllables.
1	B	Hː	Hː	Lː	Rː	Lː	Hː=HL	Hː	Lː
2	A	HHː	LHˑ	LL	LHː	HL	LL=LL	HL	LH
2	B	LRː	LRː	LH	LRː	LL	HH=HL	HH	LL
2	C	LːH	LF	HH	HL(ː)	LːL	HL=LL	HH	LF	Asama and Shuri lengthens the initial syllable in this tone class.
3	A	HHːL or HHH	LHH	LLL	LHːL	HHL	LLL=LL	LHL	LHH
3	B	LLRː	LLRː	LHH	LLHː	LLL	HHH=HL	HHH	LLL
3	C	LL(ː)H	LLH	HHH	LLːH	LLL	HHL=LL	HHH	LHF

Key

• H - High pitch.
• L - Low pitch.
• R - Rising pitch.
• F - Falling pitch.

Verbs

Verbs must be reconstructed as root + infinitive suffix *-i.

In the Ryukyuan languages, some verbs are derived from the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) + *worV-, an auxiliary suffix cognate with 居る (oru < woru, “to be, to exist”).

An example:

• Proto-Ryukyuan *kaki
  • Kikai 書ちゅい (kachui)
  • Okinawan 書ちゅん (kachun)

Adjectives

Use only the adjective root, not a suffix added to it. For example, Japanese 甘い (amai, “sweet”) descends from Proto-Ryukyuan *ama, without a **-sV suffix. Exceptions are シク活用 (shiku katsuyō, “shiku adjective”): e.g. *posi (“wanted, desired”), *kanasi (“dear; cute”).

Further reading

• Proto-Ryukuyan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Japonic References

See also

• Wiktionary:Transliteration
• Wiktionary:Reconstructed terms
• Wiktionary:Etymology
• Category:Proto-Japonic language
• Wiktionary:About Proto-Japonic
• Wiktionary:About Proto-Indo-European