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| Yonaguni | |
|---|---|
| 与那国物言ドゥナンムヌイDunan Munui | |
| Pronunciation | [dunaŋmunui] |
| Native to | Japan |
| Region | Yonaguni |
Native speakers | 400 (2008)[1] |
| Japanese | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yoi |
| Glottolog | yona1241 |
| ELP | Yonaguni |
 | |
 Yonaguni is classified as Severely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. [2] | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheYonaguni language (与那国物言/ドゥナンムヌイDunan Munui) is aSouthern Ryukyuan language spoken by around 400 people on the island ofYonaguni, in theRyukyu Islands, the westernmost of the chain lying just east ofTaiwan.[3] It is most closely related toYaeyama. Due to the Japanese policy on languages, the language is not recognized by the government, which instead calls it the Yonaguni dialect (与那国方言,Yonaguni hōgen). As classified byUNESCO, the Yonaguni language is one of the most endangered languages in all of Japan, after theAinu language.
The table below shows thevowels present in the Yonaguni language. Vowels which are onlyallophonic or marginal appear in parentheses.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | (ɪ) | (ʊ) | |
| Close-Mid | (o)[a] | ||
| Open | a | (ɑ) |
The table below shows theconsonants present in the Yonaguni language.
| Labial | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Plosive | lenis | tʰ | kʰ | |||||
| fortis | pˀ | tˀ | kˀ | |||||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||
| Affricate | tsˀ ~[tɕˀ][a] | |||||||
| Fricative | [ɸ][b] | s ~[ɕ][a] | [ç][c] | [ʍ][b] | h | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Plosive and affricate phonemes have three-way contrast. Hirayama et al. (1967) describe the contrast as voiceless non-laryngealized, voicelesslaryngealized, andvoiced.[5] Yamada et al. (2015) describe the contrast asfortis (unaspirated andtense), lenis (weakly aspirated andlax), and voiced. The lenis/fortis distinction neutralized in word-medial positions, both becoming phonetically fortis.[4]
In positions other than prevocalic, all nasals are phoneticallyhomorganic with a following consonant (e.g. ng[ŋɡ], nd[nd], nb[mb]). Nasals are velar ([ŋ]) in final position.[4]
As a Southern Ryukyuan language, Yonaguni, similar toMiyakoan andYaeyama, has/b/ in place withStandard Japanese/w/, such as Yonaguni/bata/ ('stomach, belly'), cognate with Japanese/wata/ ('guts, bowels'). Yonaguni also has/d/ where Japanese and other Ryukyuan languages have/j/ (orthographicallyy). Thus, for example, Yonaguni/dama/ ('mountain') is cognate with Japanese and Yaeyama/jama/ ('id.'). Yonaguni/d/ is probably a recent development from an earlier*/j/, however, judging from the fact that even the*/j/ in loanwords ofSinitic origin is pronounced/d/ by speakers of the Yonaguni language, such asdasai 'vegetables' from Middle Chinese*jia-tsʰʌi (野菜). An entry in the late-15th-century Korean annalsSeongjong Taewang Sillok records the local name of the island of Yonaguni inIdu script as 閏伊是麼, which has the Middle Korean readingzjuni sima, withsima glossed in the text as the Japonic word for 'island'. That is direct evidence of an intermediate stage of the fortition*j- >*z- >d-, leading to the modern name/dunaŋ/ 'Yonaguni'.[6]
The Yonaguni language exhibits intervocalic voicing ofplosives, as do many Japonic languages. It also exhibits the tendency for/ɡ/, especially when intervocalic, to be pronounced as a velar nasal/ŋ/, as in Standard Japanese.
Below is the syllable template for Dunan:
Theonset allows for a single consonant with the occasional presence of a glide. Thenucleus can contain up to two vowels. The only allowablecoda is a moraic nasal.
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Yonaguni was once written with a unique writing system calledKaidā logograms. However, after conquest by theRyukyu Kingdom and later annexation by theEmpire of Japan, the logograms were replaced by Japanese kana and Kanji.[7][failed verification]
| /a/ | /i/ | /u/ | /e/ | /o/ | /ja/ | /ju/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /Ø/ | ア /a/ [a] | イ /i/ [i] | ウ /u/ [u] | エ /e/ [e] | オ /o/ [o] | ヤ /ya/ [ja] | ユ /yu/ [ju] |
| /k/ | カ /ka/ [ka] | キ /ki/ [ki] | ク /ku/ [ku] | ケ /ke/ [ke] | コ /ko/ [ko] | キャ /kya/ [kja] | キュ /kyu/ [kju] |
| /k'/ | か /k'a/ [kˀa] | き /k'i/ [kˀi] | く /k'u/ [kˀu] | け /k'e/ [kˀe] | こ /k'o/ [kˀo] | ||
| /g/ | ガ /ga/ [ga] | ギ /gi/ [gi] | グ /gu/ [gu] | ゲ /ge/ [ge] | ゴ /go/ [go] | ギャ /gya/ [gja] | ギュ /gyu/ [gju] |
| /ŋ/ | カ゚ /ŋa/ [ŋa] | キ゚ /ŋi/ [ŋi] | ク゚ /ŋu/ [ŋu] | ケ゚ /ŋe/ [ŋe] | コ゚ /ŋo/ [ŋo] | ||
| /s/ | サ /sa/ [sa] | シ /ɕi/ [ɕi] | ス /su/ [su] | セ /se/ [se] | ソ /so/ [so] | シャ /ɕa/ [ɕa] | シュ /ɕu/ [ɕu] |
| /t/ | タ /ta/ [ta] | ティ /ti/ [ti] | トゥ /tu/ [tu] | テ /te/ [te] | ト /to/ [to] | ||
| /t'/ | た /t'a/ [tˀa] | てぃ /t'i/ [tˀi] | とぅ /t'u/ [tˀu] | て /t'e/ [tˀe] | と /t'o/ [tˀo] | ||
| /d/ | ダ /da/ [da] | ディ /di/ [di] | ドゥ /du/ [du] | デ /de/ [de] | ド /do/ [do] | ||
| /ts'/ | ツャ /ts'a/ [tsˀa] | チ /tɕ'i/ [tɕˀi] | ツ /ts'u/ [tsˀu] | ||||
| /n/ | ナ /na/ [na] | ニ /ni/ [ni] | ヌ /nu/ [nu] | ネ /ne/ [ne] | ノ /no/ [no] | ||
| /h/ | ハ /ha/ [ha] | ヒ /hi/ [çi] | フ /hu/ [hu] | ヘ /he/ [he] | ホ /ho/ [ho] | ヒャ /ça/ [hja] | ヒュ /çu/ [hju] |
| /p/ | パ /pa/ [pa] | ピ /pi/ [pi] | プ /pu/ [pu] | ペ /pe/ [pe] | ポ /po/ [po] | ピャ /pya/ [pja] | ピュ /pyu/ [pju] |
| /b/ | バ /ba/ [ba] | ビ /bi/ [bi] | ブ /bu/ [bu] | ベ /be/ [be] | ボ /bo/ [bo] | ビャ /bya/ [bja] | ビュ /byu/ [bju] |
| /m/ | マ /ma/ [ma] | ミ /mi/ [mi] | ム /mu/ [mu] | メ /me/ [me] | モ /mo/ [mo] | ||
| /w/ | ワ /wa/ [wa] | ||||||
| /r/ | ラ /ra/ [ɾa] | リ /ri/ [ɾi] | ル /ru/ [ɾu] | レ /re/ [ɾe] | ロ /ro/ [ɾo] | ||
| ン /N/* [n, m, ŋ] | ー /ː/ [ː] | ッ (final) /ʔ/ [ʔ] | ッ /Q/ [k, g, s, ts, t, d, h, b, p] | ||||
* /m/ before labial consonants and /ŋ/ before velar consonants. Example ディンブンキルン [dimbuŋkirun] "to have a goal for".
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