The Yonaguni language (与那国語), better known as Dunanmunui (与那国物言), Dunan-munui, or Dunan language, often referred to simply as Dunan, is the indigenous language of Yonagunijima (与那国島), the westernmost island of Japan. As of 2013, it has approximately 400 speakers, the majority of whom are middle-aged or older.
In Japan, Dunan and other Luchuan languages (Ryukyuan languages) are often referred to as “dialects” despite being unintelligible to Standard Japanese or other mainland variants. This is becuause assimilation policies were introduced to Ryukyu Islands after the Imperial annexation, and speaking Japanese has since been mandatory. In the early 20th century, Hougen Fuda (方言札) or dialect cards were commoly used at schools in Okinawa to coerce students into speaking only Standard Japanese.
Today, children no longer learn Dunan as mother tongue in the home, and the language is at risk of falling out of use. In 2009, UNESCO labeled Yonaguni (Dunan language), along with 5 other Ryukyuan languages, as “endangered” in the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing. According to UNESCO, these languages that carry the culture of Luchu (Ryukyu) are on the course of extinction by 2050.
・Classification
1) The Ryukyuan languages form a branch of the Japonic language family.
2) In terms of internal relationships, the Ryukyuan languages are divided into two groups: Northern Ryukyuan languages and Southern Ryukyuan languages.
3) Yonaguni language (Dunanmunui) belongs to the Southern Ryukyuan languages, and it has two dialects: dialect of Tumaimura (祖納村ぬ言葉) and dialect of Ndimura (比川村ぬ言葉). However, most written sources generally do not stress on the two dialects of Dunan simply because differences between them are not salient in perception.
・Writing system
1) Japanese Hiragana and Katakana are used to write modern Dunanmunui, but currently there is no standardized orthography.
2) The most common one for Dunan is full Hiragana writing.
3) Similar to Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan language), it is possible to write Dunan in Kana-Kanji mixed script.
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🌹Let's learn some new vocabulary from the Japanese constitution.
Yonaguni (Dunan) simply does not possess the vocabulary to express many modern concepts, but authors 宮良 作 and 宮良純一郎 managed to coined or developed new political terms by combining different existing words.
This methodology is, of course, very common in Yonaguni terminology.
🌺道筋（みてぃすでぃ）- reason, principle
🌺睦まつぁん（むちまつぁん）- harmonious
🌺睦まさるん（むちまさるん）- to get along well
🌺人人間（っとぅにんぎん）- individual
🌺どぅぬ中（どぅぬなが）- society, world
🌺社会（しゃかい）- society
🌺関わり（かかわり）- relationship, relation
🌺企み（くるみ）- plan
🌺企び（たぐらび）- plan
🌺国（ふん）- country
🌺我達国（ばんたふん）- our country
🌺国ぬ民（ふんぬたみ）- the people, common people
🌺国ぬ形どぅきみひる力（ふんぬかたちどぅきみひるしから）- national sovereignty, the sovereignty of the people
🌺心んききみるん（くぐるんききみるん）- to make a resolution, to pass a resolution
🌺戦道具（いくつぁどぅく゚）- equipment, armed force, gear, weapons
🌺戦道具力（いくつぁどぅく゚しから）- war potential, force, strength, military power
🌺捨てぃひるん（かてぃひるん）- to give up, to relinquish
🌺国どぅ納みひる仕事（ふんどぅうさみるしかま）- national politics
🌺納みひる仕事（うさみるしかま）- politics
🌺意見（いきん）- opinion
🌺永遠（えいいん）- eternity
🌺強さる力（すさるしから）- authority, power,
🌺真高ぬ関係（まーだがぬかんけい）- equal relationship
🌺真丈ぬ関係（まーたぎぬかんけい）- equal relationship
🌺行ない（うぐない）- behavior
🌺確かとぅきみるん（しかとぅきみるん）- to define clearly
🌺使い働ぐん（かいはたらぐん）- to exercise power or authority
1) Kanji (漢字) are logographic Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese and Luchuan (Ryukyuan) writing system.
2) Shuri Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan), the official language of the Luchu Kingdom (Ryukyu Kingdom), was historically written in hiragana-kanji mix.
3) Luchuan languages are often labelled as dialects, and because of this kana-kanji mix used in Luchuan languages has become obsolete.
・Yonaguni kanji (Dunan kanji)
1) Similar to both Japanese and Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan), it is possible to write Yonaguni using mixture of kanji and kana.
2) Currently there is no standardized Yonaguni orthography, and the modern Yonaguni writing system typically uses only Japanese Kana.
3) The book 與那國島圖誌 published in 1926 provides the earliest written account of Yonaguni Kanji.
• There are three types of Kanji reading existing in Yonaguni:
1) 音読み (on’yomi) - Sino-Japanese words pronounced using Yonaguni phonology. These words are associated with Chinese sounds and meanings.
道理（どぅり）, related to 道理 （dàolǐ）in Chinese.
異国 （いくく）, related to 異國 （yìguó）in Chinese.
2) 訓読み (kun’yomi) - The native reading of Yonaguni vocabulary with borrowed Kanji from Modern Japanese that represent their meanings. These are not cognates with any modern Japanese words.
一緒（まどぅん）
3) 琉訓 (ryu’kun) - Words that are cognates with Japanese. These words are also a type of kun’yomi because they are pronounced using Yonaguni phonology while they use borrowed Han characters to represent their meanings.
生ち虫（いちむし）, related to いき and むし in Japanese.
町屋（みしや）, related to まちや in Japanese
大和（だまとぅ）, related to やまと in Japanese.
*It must be noted that since Yonaguni has no standardized writing system, sometimes a word may be written in more than one way. For example, 生ち虫 can be written as 動物 while they are both pronounced as いちむし. The latter one is, obviously, kun’yomi reading.
🌹This is my favourite book for learning Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan). 😍
This book is designed for newcomers to communicate with locals. Even if you don't know the word, you can just point on the pictures in the book and show it to a native speaker.
But I personally don't think that Uchinaaguchi is a "dialect". 😐
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In one of my older posts, I presented a short introduction to Yonaguni orthography. Today we are going to take a look at how to write the language properly so that people/learners can understand you better.
Yonaguni does not have a strong written tradition, meaning everyone can have their own spelling style. To make the language more universally understood, spaces are used between each word.
taigu i: haiti gakkuNki hiri.
たいぐ いー はいてぃ がっくんき ひり。
タイグ イー ハイティ ガックンキ ヒリ。
When Kanji are employed, spaces are no longer needed. Instead, Rubi characters (annotative glosses) placed above or beside each logographic character are used. This is commonly seen in printed texts.
たい いーは がっく ひ
早 ぐ御飯食いてぃ学 校 んき行り。
When typing, Rubi characters (annotative glosses) are placed after the sentence or each Kanji.
早ぐ御飯食いてぃ学校んき行り。 （たいぐいーはいてぃがっくんきひり。）
早（たい）ぐ御飯（いー）食（は）いてぃ学校（がっく）んき行（ひり）り。
For those who have learned the most basic words by heart, it is not necessary to write Rubi charachters.
