#I’m not entirely sure about things like using kana or hiragana in place of standard japanese. like how saki refers to everyone in hiragana | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

okinawanonline · 4 years

Text

How to Write Okinawan

As with any language, the first step is learning how to write and read it. So, how do you write Okinawan? Good question. Sometimes it seems like even native speakers aren’t sure how to write it. That’s because there is no standardized writing system in Okinawan. However, there are a few systems that have been made up or adapted for the Okinawan language.

There are four primary ways to write Okinawan. In order from less to most used, we have Roumaji, Katakana, Hiragana, and Majirigachi.

1. Roumaji Rouma means “Rome” while ji means “character.” This is the Latin Alphabet adapted to write in Okinawan. While you could just write Okinawan in Roumaji and call it a day, it’s probably the least-used writing system for Okinawan. In my experience, the use of Roumaji has been limited to teaching/learning the Okinawan language or for any academic writing about the language. Though Okinawan is usually written in the subsequent writing systems we’ll cover later, you NEED Roumaji to learn Okinawan because Roumaji is the only system that can illustrate certain grammatical conjugations, particularly regarding how you find and create the phonetic stem of a verb.

When we learn about the glottal stop in Okinawan, this will be reflected in Roumaji with an apostrophe (’) at the beginning of the word.

There are different versions of Roumaji (for example, the word Roumaji itself can be rendered as Romaji or Rōmaji depending on which system you’re using). The Roumaji system I will use can be found by looking at the Roumaji assigned to their corresponding kana. What’s kana? Well...

2. Katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, meaning that each character represents a syllable.

Tip for Japanese Speakers: Katakana and Hiragana are Japanese writing systems you are already familiar with. While you have a running start here, please note that there are additional kana combinations for sounds that aren’t present in Japanese, the use of the small ッ/っ to represent a glottal stop, and the variations between how to extend vowel sounds in Hiragana with the ー character.

In the Japanese language, Katakana has multiple uses but is primarily used for foreign loan words. As Okinawan is a foreign language, you may find Okinawan words written in Katakana in Japanese books, signs, or museums. Some Japanese resources will go as far as to create entire textbooks and resources in which Okinawan is written purely in Katakana. However, I and many others think it’s strange to use a writing system for foreign words for the entirety of the language simply because it isn’t the language the script came from. As such, the Hiragana syllabary (covered below) is used much more often by Okinawan speakers when speaking purely in Okinawan.

As Katakana (and Hiragana later on) are both Japanese scripts and the first step in learning actual Japanese, you can find countless resources for learning Katakana and Hiragana. In fact, these resources can probably cover learning these systems better than I can. So, I’ll post some links to where you can learn Katakana and Hiragana and post a reference chart for you to consult later.

「Learn Japanese」 The Katakana Syllabary - Learn Japanese (YouTube)

Katakana - Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese

There are more sounds that can be created with smaller versions of the kana next to certain kana. Please note that there are more sounds in Okinawan than in Japanese so not all of these combinations are covered in the resources above.

EDIT: I completely forgot ティ (ti), トゥ (tu), ディ(di), and ドゥ (du), some kana combinations that show up quite frequently in Okinawan.

Other things to note:

There used to be a スィ (si) but it doesn’t seemed to be used today.

To represent glottal stops at the beginning of a word, a small ッ is placed at the beginning of the word in question.

If a small ッ is in the middle of a word, that means there is a double consonant sound for the first consonant sound of the following character. For example:

マッテ - Matte ヵッチ - Kacchi

Though I’m sure the other resources explained it better, for words like these, you start to say that word and stop mid-consonant before picking back up.

If there is a “ー” after a vowel, that vowel sound is extended. For example:

アー - aa イー - ii ウー - uu エー - ee オー - oo

3. Hiragana Hiragana is another Japanese writing system that runs parallel with Katakana (for every Katakana character, there is a Hiragana character). However, when it comes to writing Okinawan outside of a language study environment, I have noticed that the only-Hiragana writing system is much more common than the only-Katakana system.

There is one point of difference between the Japanese use of Hiragana and the Okinawan use of Hiragana - The “ー” character is (sometimes) used to represent a double vowel in Okinawan Hiragana while in Japanese Hiragana, it is not. As Okinawan has no standard way of writing, some will use ー while others will simply use the Japanese method of writing out the double vowel. For example:

うちなあぐち = Uchinaaguchi うちなーぐち = Uchinaaguchi

Of course, here are some resources that will explain it better than I will, followed by a reference chart.

「Learn Japanese」 Intro to Japanese - The Hiragana Syllabary, Vowels, Pitch Accents, and More - Learn Japanese (YouTube)

Hiragana - Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese

EDIT: I completely forgot てぃ (ti), とぅ (tu), でぃ(di), and どぅ (du), some kana combinations that show up quite frequently in Okinawan.

Other things to note:

There used to be a すぃ (si) but it doesn’t seemed to be used today.

To represent glottal stops at the beginning of a word, a small っ is placed at the beginning of the word in question.

If a small っ is in the middle of a word, that means there is a double consonant sound for the first consonant sound of the following character. For example:

まって - Matte かっち - Kacchi

Though I’m sure the other resources explained it better, for words like these, you start to say that word and stop mid-consonant before picking back up.

In one way to write Okinawan Hiragana, if there is a “ー” after a vowel, that vowel sound is extended. For example:

あー - aa いー - ii うー - uu えー - ee おー - oo

4. Majirigachi First of all, full disclosure, I’m not 100% sure majirigachi is a word. The Japanese word to describe the phenomena here is mazegaki and the Okinawan readings of those characters is majirigachi. Is it actually the Okinawan equivalent of mazegaki? I have no idea. But what is (what I’ll be calling) Majirigachi? Majiri means “mix” while gachi means “writing.” So a mixed script.

Tip for Japanese Speakers: Majirigachi is the same phenomena in Japanese known as mazegaki. This refers to the primary writing system of Japanese, a mix of using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji in one system. I do believe Okinawan uses less Kanji than Japanese due to a significantly decreased influence of the Chinese language.

Just like in Japanese, the most common way to write Okinawan today is through a mix of kana and Chinese characters called kanji. These characters represent ideas and come with multiple readings, often attached with kana.

Historically, Okinawan actually didn’t use kanji. However, in the modern day, as most Okinawan speakers speak Japanese and have become more familiar with associating words with kanji, Okinawan words that have Japanese equivalents that use kanji apply the kanji in a similar way to themselves. This modern form of Okinawan writing can be seen in modern day Okinawan texts as well as on things like plaques for monuments, etc.

While Japanese has countless resources on learning kanji with their Japanese readings, there are few resources on the Okinawan readings of kanji. The best method would be to know the Japanese language as apply what you know in Japanese to Okinawan (indeed, if you have a background in Japanese, applying kanji to Okinawan isn’t that hard as follows a fairly common sense reasoning as to why certain words use certain kanji). For now, I will use an approach similar to how some students learn Chinese which has a significantly higher volume of characters compared to Japanese - Learn to recognize the characters with the words. I also reccomend looking into resources for the Japanese language regarding kanji and find which method of learning Japanese kanji works best for you. I intend on tackling the issue of how to learn kanji later. But for now, let’s just learn to recognize the characters for words when they show up.

(Before we move on, I should mention that there have been efforts to create a unique Okinawan writing system but none of them have been spread significantly from the academic circles they originated in. Because most Okinawan speakers wouldn’t recognize the characters created in these bubbles, I will be disregarding them)

Okinawan Writing on This Blog In order to help facilitate the learning of Okinawan, I will be using the Roumaji, only-Hiragana, and Majirigachi writing systems like so:

わんねー沖縄人やいびーん。わんねーうちなーんちゅやいびーん。 Wannee Uchinaanchu yaibiin. (I am an Okinawan.)

I am using Majirigachi to help you become more familiar with the use of kanji in Okinawan. The only-Hiragana style will help you with the readings of these kanji. I will be using the ー character in the only-Hiragana style as I’ve seen that style pop up more often. And, of course, the Roumaji will help you as you begin learning Okinawan, help you identify new words, and will be crucial to understanding things like verb conjugation in the future. If you speak Japanese, you already have a head start on things like kana, but if you do not know Hiragana (and even Katakana), I HIGHLY recommend you first start with learning those scripts with the additional unique Okinawan characteristics discussed here and wait until you have a solid foundation in kana before moving forward.

In review

There is no standard way to write Okinawan.

Okinawan is written in many non-uniform ways, including Roumaji, Katakana, Hiragana, and Majirigachi.

Roumaji is usually only used in academics but is also critical for learning the language.

Only-Katakana is usually used to write Okinawan from a Japanese perspective as a foreign language.

Only-Hiragana and Majirigachi are the most common ways to write Okinawan.

#Okinawan Online #Okinawa #Okinawan #Uchinaaguchi #Writing

15 notes · View notes