| Tarama | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Japan |
| Region | Tarama, Okinawa |
Native speakers | (undated figure of mostly over age 60?[citation needed]) |
| Japanese | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | tara1319 |
TheTarama language is a Japonic language spoken on the islands ofTarama and nearly depopulatedMinna, two of theMiyako Islands of Japan. It is closely related toMiyakoan, but intelligibility is low. Currently, it is only spoken natively by elderly people.
Tarama has four main vowels, and three marginal vowels/e,ə,o/ found in a restricted set of words.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | (e) | (ə) | (o) |
| Open | a |
/ɨ/ is[s̩] between voiceless consonants, otherwise[ˢɨ] after plosives, and[ɨ] elsewhere:
See alsoMiyakoan language#Vowels, for information on the close central vowel.
The sequences/*tɨ/,/*dɨ/,/*nɨ/,/*lɨ/ do not occur. They have changed to/tsɨ/,/zɨ/,/n̩/ and/l/ ([ɭ̆]).
Tarama does have voiced stops:
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |
| Plosive | pb | td | kɡ |
| Affricate | ts | ||
| Fricative | fv | sz | |
| Rhotic | 𝼈⟨l⟩ | ||
| Approximant | w~ʋ | j | |
The 'l' is aretroflex lateral flap, also found in theIrabu language (Jarosz p. 43)./mnfvszl/ occur assyllable codas, as inpail 'to grow' (Japanesehaeru),psks 'to pull' (Japanesehiku).
The two nasals may be syllabic, as inmm 'potato' andnna 'rope'. 'Onsets' include geminate consonants, as inssam 'loose' andffa 'child'. Otherwise, the only consonant clusters are /Cj/, as inkjuu 'today',sjata 'sugar'. Sonorants can end syllables and words, as inkan 'crab',mim 'ear', andtul 'bird'. Vowel sequences include long vowels Vː and the 'diphthongs' Vi, and Vɨ. This structure has been analyzed as a syllable, but initial geminate consonants, long vowels and diphthongs are all bimoraic, and codas are moraic as well, so that e.g.ssam is three moras ([s̩sam̩]. A phonological word must be at least two moras long.
| /a/ | /i/ | /ɿ/ | /u/ | /e/ | /o/ | /ə/ | /ja/ | /ju/ | /jo/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /Ø/ | あ /a/ [a] | い /i/ [i] | イ゚ /ɿ/ [zɨ] | う /u/ [u] | え /e/ [e] | お /o/ [o] | エ /ə/ [ə] | や /ya/ [ja] | ゆ /yu/ [ju] | よ /yo/ [jo] |
| /k/ | か /ka/ [ka] | き /ki/ [ki] | キ゚ /kɿ/ [ksɨ] | く /ku/ [ku] | け /ke/ [ke] | こ /ko/ [ko] | キ゚ェ /kə/ [kə] | きゃ /kya/ [kja] | きゅ /kyu/ [kju] | きょ /kyo/ [kjo] |
| /g/ | が /ga/ [ga] | ぎ /gi/ [gi] | ギ /gɿ/ [gzɨ] | ぐ /gu/ [gu] | げ /ge/ [ge] | ご /go/ [go] | ギェ /gə/ [gə] | ぎゃ /gya/ [gja] | ぎゅ /gyu/ [gju] | ぎょ /gyo/ [gjo] |
| /s/ | さ /sa/ [sa] | すぃ /si/ [si] | す /sɿ/ [sɨ] | すぅ /su/ [su] | せ /se/ [se] | そ /so/ [so] | すェ /sə/ [sə] | |||
| /dz/ | ざ /dza/ [dza] | ず /dzɿ/ [dzɨ] | ずぅ /dzu/ [dzu] | ぜ /dze/ [dze] | ぞ /dzo/ [dzo] | ずェ /dzə/ [dzə] | ||||
| /sh/ | しゃ /sha/ [ɕa] | し /shi/ [ɕi] | しゅ /shu/ [ɕu] | しぇ /she/ [ɕe] | しょ /sho/ [ɕo] | |||||
| /j/ | じゃ /ja/ [dʑa] | じ /ji/ [dʑi] | じゅ /ju/ [dʑu] | じぇ /je/ [dʑe] | じょ /jo/ [dʑo] | |||||
| /z/ | ズぁ /za/ [za] | ズぃ /zi/ [zi] | ズぅ /ju/ [zu] | ズぇ /ze/ [ze] | ズぉ /zo/ [zo] | |||||
| /t/ | た /ta/ [ta] | てぃ /ti/ [ti] | とぅ /tu/ [tu] | て /te/ [te] | と /to/ [to] | |||||
| /d/ | だ /da/ [da] | でぃ /di/ [di] | どぅ /du/ [du] | で /de/ [de] | ど /do/ [do] | |||||
| /ch/ | ちゃ /cha/ [tɕa] | ち /chi/ [tɕi] | つ /chɿ/ [tɕɨ] | ちゅ /chu/ [tɕu] | ちぇ /che/ [tɕe] | ちょ /cho/ [tɕo] | つェ /chə/ [tsə] | |||
| /n/ | な /na/ [na] | に /ni/ [ni] | ぬ /nu/ [nu] | ね /ne/ [ne] | の /no/ [no] | にゃ /nya/ [nja] | にゅ /nyu/ [nju] | にょ /nyo/ [njo] | ||
| /h/ | は /ha/ [ha] | ひ /hi/ [hi] | ほぅ /hu/ [hu] | へ /he/ [he] | ほ /ho/ [ho] | ひゃ /hya/ [hja] | ひゅ /hyu/ [hju] | ひょ /hyo/ [hjo] | ||
| /p/ | ぱ /pa/ [pa] | ぴ /pi/ [pi] | ピ /pɿ/ [psɨ] | ぷ /pu/ [pu] | ぺ /pe/ [pe] | ぽ /po/ [po] | ピェ /pə/ [pə] | ぴゃ /pya/ [pja] | ぴゅ /pyu/ [pju] | ぴょ /pyo/ [pjo] |
| /b/ | ば /ba/ [ba] | び /bi/ [bi] | ビ /bɿ/ [bzɨ] | ぶ /bu/ [bu] | べ /be/ [be] | ぼ /bo/ [bo] | ビェ /bə/ [bə] | びゃ /bya/ [bja] | びゅ /byu/ [bju] | びょ /byo/ [bjo] |
| /m/ | ま /ma/ [ma] | み /mi/ [mi] | ミ゚ /mɿ/ [mɨ] | む /mu/ [mu] | め /me/ [me] | も /mo/ [mo] | ミ゚ェ /mə/ [mə] | みゃ /mya/ [mja] | みゅ /myu/ [mju] | みょ /myo/ [mjo] |
| /f/ | ふぁ /fa/ [fa] | ふぃ /fi/ [fi] | ふィ゚ /fɿ/ [fɨ] | ふ /fu/ [fu] | ふぇ /fe/ [fe] | ふぉ /fo/ [fo] | ふェ /fə/ [fə] | |||
| /v/ | ヴぁ /va/ [va] | ヴぃ /vi/ [vi] | ヴィ゚ /vɿ/ [vɨ] | ヴぅ /vu/ [vu] | ヴぇ /ve/ [ve] | ヴぉ /vo/ [vo] | ヴェ /və/ [və] | |||
| /ʋ/ | わ /ʋa/ [ʋa] | を /ʋo/ [ʋo] | ||||||||
| /r/* | ら /ra/ [ɾa] | り /ri/ [ɾi] | る /ru/ [ɾu] | れ /re/ [ɾe] | ろ /ro/ [ɾo] | りゃ /rya/ [ɾja] | りゅ /ryu/ [ɾju] | りょ /ryo/ [ɾjo] | ||
| ん /N/ [n, ŋ] | ム /M/ [m] | ヴ /V/ [v] | リ゚ /ɭ/ [ɭ] | ー /ː/ [ː] | っ (final) /ʔ/ [ʔ] | っ /Q/ [k, g, s, dz, ɕ, dʑ, t, d, tɕ, b, p, f] | ||||
* Geminates as /ɭɭ/ [ɭɭ].
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