Our language sounds like a cross between Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese....I only speak Japanese, but my mom speaks Shuri and Kunigami uchinaaguchi.
This is completely fascinating. Seems as though the "obscure" languages of Japan don't get nearly as much attention as Japanese does. Hence the "obscure" description... but I feel that they don't have to be. I hope these languages won't die out in favor of the younger generations speaking only Japanese in the future. I wonder what secrets and history are hidden in these languages...
I mean, in the past these languages were deliberately stamped out to a large extent and even today they don't have a lot of place outside of informal situations, so it's not surprising that hardly anybody who isn't a native speaker bothers to learn them, or that there are fewer and fewer native speakers. You see the same trend with low-prestige minority languages all over the world.
UNESCO labels four of the languages "definitely endangered",[2][3][4][5] and two others "critically endangered".[6][7] :( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_languages
I love that he wrote the Okinawan subtitles in traditional Okinawan, instead of the katakana or hiragana-only forms that seem to be prefered these days.
+J.A. Brown Does it make sense to use Chinese characters to write Japanese sounds? Or Korean sounds? Writing Okinawan in katakana is a Japanese perversion left over from their racist and imperialist assimilation policies.
Sturmgewher88 Sorry, I don't know the history. I just figured that from a linguistic viewpoint it would make more sense to use katakana (or hiragana), since they are at least phonetic scripts, whereas kanji are (at least in theory) ideographic.
Same here... The glottal parts sound Korean. I don't think it's that far off though, it could be that they initially migrated from China via the Korean peninsula, like the Japanese did
The islands are near to taiwan which actually austronesian people. Korea and Japan is far from the islands. Most likely it would have connections with austronesian
The top line is Okinawan. Okinawans have used forms of Chinese and then Japanese (kana) for hundreds of years. Since Japanese, (and Korean and Vietnamese not too long ago) use Chinese characters or derivatives, you could say "Okinawan uses Chinese characters but not in the same way as Chinese people" The meanings of the characters are *similar* across the languages, but sound differently and integrate with grammar differently.
Hi! I'm a singer, and I want to sing the original Yaeyaman lyrics of "Asadoya Yunta", but I've only found the Japanese ones. I'd be very grateful if somebody provided me those lyrics. Thanks!
which of the two lines at the top is Japanese? the one on top? so does it mean that Okinawan uses Japanese characters but not in the same way as Japanese?
It's like an offspring of the Japanese and Korean languages. Come on. Both are 50-50 in sounding similar towards its accent and words. Gotta love it. May it not be successfully extinct.
wow.. confusing to hear because my brain's trying extra hard to decode, but it can't be decoded using only standard Japanese. Awesome. This doesn't sound like Korean.
"chizu chukatii, shichimei sabira." If you know some Japanese, and willing to learn some new vocab or changing sounds, Okinawan presents a fun challenge.
我该说什么呢， 我什么也不想说。我能看懂文字一半以上的意思，听着却感觉和日语很像。What should I say, I should not say anything。but，I can understand the meaning of the text more than half, although it sounds like Japanese。hehe，thank you!!!
Our language sounds like a cross between Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese....I only speak Japanese, but my mom speaks Shuri and Kunigami uchinaaguchi.
It's more like austronesian. Tai-kadai (eg thai) is more far from okinawa than austronesian
see also : th-cam.com/video/5tV2av3ENAg/w-d-xo.html
This is completely fascinating. Seems as though the "obscure" languages of Japan don't get nearly as much attention as Japanese does. Hence the "obscure" description... but I feel that they don't have to be. I hope these languages won't die out in favor of the younger generations speaking only Japanese in the future. I wonder what secrets and history are hidden in these languages...
I mean, in the past these languages were deliberately stamped out to a large extent and even today they don't have a lot of place outside of informal situations, so it's not surprising that hardly anybody who isn't a native speaker bothers to learn them, or that there are fewer and fewer native speakers. You see the same trend with low-prestige minority languages all over the world.
UNESCO labels four of the languages "definitely endangered",[2][3][4][5] and two others "critically endangered".[6][7]
:(
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_languages
I'm so happy that this exists.
I love that he wrote the Okinawan subtitles in traditional Okinawan, instead of the katakana or hiragana-only forms that seem to be prefered these days.
? Hiragana and katakana is not preferred... Ans the subtitles I'm pretty sure are in Japanese?
+Sturmgewher88 Does it really make sense to use Japanese kanji, which come from China, to write Okinawan sounds, though?
+J.A. Brown Does it make sense to use Chinese characters to write Japanese sounds? Or Korean sounds? Writing Okinawan in katakana is a Japanese perversion left over from their racist and imperialist assimilation policies.
Sturmgewher88
Sorry, I don't know the history. I just figured that from a linguistic viewpoint it would make more sense to use katakana (or hiragana), since they are at least phonetic scripts, whereas kanji are (at least in theory) ideographic.
Kanji are not really ideographic.
I finally found Byron again. Even after practicing Japanese for many years. Uchinaaguchi still twists my brain. 😆
To my untrained ears, this sounds like it fits somewhere between Korean and Japanese, but I doubt this holds up in linguistic terms.
Same here... The glottal parts sound Korean. I don't think it's that far off though, it could be that they initially migrated from China via the Korean peninsula, like the Japanese did
+Yvonne Hoff Yeah I heard sort of an 'imnida' sounding ending sometimes, how fascinating!
+Jasmine Mueller I thought so too. But he actually said "さびら” = Sabira.
The islands are near to taiwan which actually austronesian people. Korea and Japan is far from the islands. Most likely it would have connections with austronesian
see also : th-cam.com/video/5tV2av3ENAg/w-d-xo.html
比嘉光龍さんありがとうございます！字幕もありがとう。おかげでこれ、うちなーぐちの勉強はもっとやすい。にふぇーでーびる！
The top line is Okinawan. Okinawans have used forms of Chinese and then Japanese (kana) for hundreds of years. Since Japanese, (and Korean and Vietnamese not too long ago) use Chinese characters or derivatives, you could say "Okinawan uses Chinese characters but not in the same way as Chinese people"
The meanings of the characters are *similar* across the languages, but sound differently and integrate with grammar differently.
Incredible. Won't anyone document all this?
He is a good teacher, i didn't know that okinawa had six languages. It is important to have a real sense of ryukyu existence.
we love linguistic diversity
So cool! I can't understand all of it but can pick up some words. It sounds like a mixture of Korean and Japanese.
This is amazing🙏🙏🙏
Hope the awareness increases year by year🙇♂️🙇♂️🙇♂️
Any Uchinaguchi programs available for English speakers???
I wish to learn this 😮
Thanks for your efforts!
Hi! I'm a singer, and I want to sing the original Yaeyaman lyrics of "Asadoya Yunta", but I've only found the Japanese ones. I'd be very grateful if somebody provided me those lyrics. Thanks!
wow I never thought anyone would answer my question! thank you.
omfg I speak japanese and I only recognized like 3 words
which of the two lines at the top is Japanese? the one on top? so does it mean that Okinawan uses Japanese characters but not in the same way as Japanese?
Second line is Japanese
I enjoy hearing Byron. I was wondering if he speaks English?
Thanks for posting.f
I'm not sure if he knows English now, but certainly it's not his native language. He was raised only speaking uchinaaguchi.
Great vid finally a good explanation...Sounds like korean japanese mixed...
This is quite interesting. That is very different from Nihongo.
It's like an offspring of the Japanese and Korean languages. Come on. Both are 50-50 in sounding similar towards its accent and words. Gotta love it. May it not be successfully extinct.
can you share me the scripts of okinawan? Like your first line of subtitle.
this is like japanese and korean language mixed, it's so confusing.
Sounds like a combination of Japanese and Korean.
Nifee deebiru Byron-san
wow.. confusing to hear because my brain's trying extra hard to decode, but it can't be decoded using only standard Japanese. Awesome. This doesn't sound like Korean.
I think the Korean-sounding parts are because of the 「どぅー」、「れー」、「でー」and all the other strong intonations on "e" syllables.
"chizu chukatii, shichimei sabira." If you know some Japanese, and willing to learn some new vocab or changing sounds, Okinawan presents a fun challenge.
Byron Fija is the best!!!! This is amazing!
我该说什么呢， 我什么也不想说。我能看懂文字一半以上的意思，听着却感觉和日语很像。What should I say, I should not say anything。but，I can understand the meaning of the text more than half, although it sounds like Japanese。hehe，thank you!!!
Lol wo hui shuo hanyu...kan ri yu de han zi hehe
It is totally incomprehensible to me, despite my knowing Japanese.
the last one sounds kinda Polinesian
Irfan Radzman yeah, the last one
Irfan Radzman no
true, true. I still cant understand a word of it.
Ssankyuuu
but have some nice similarities as well :D
tandi gaa tandi miyako island
Do you speak the miyako language?
nifee deebiru
与那国語の例は「うるさいよー！」に聞こえるw
奄美は「ありがとう」って言うとですね。知らんやったです。鹿児島弁も聞いても分からんです。文字にすると少しわかりやすうなります。琉球の言葉も九州の言葉に似とう節のあります。ほとんどわからんばってん…
主格の「の」やら、「ように」っちゅう意味の「ごと」やら、「大概」やら「いっちゃん」やらは沖縄でん使うとですね。
「南風（はえ）」は古文に出てくる単語ですね。
奄美の「ありがたさまりょうた」はシマヤマトゥグチです。本来の奄美語ではUbukuriDaryonと言います。比嘉先生から教えて頂きました。
More like Korean for me..
arigatasamaryota
tootu ganashi
The first introduction sounds very Korean!
nifaiyuu
比嘉バイロン氏は「沖縄大学地域研究所 特別研究員」という社会的に責任のある立場に居ながら、無責任にも「ありがっさまりょうた！」の奄美語を紹介した。しかも本人自身が同じ意味のObokuriDaryonを知っているにもかかわらず謝罪も訂正もしない。島々のUtaSaa/UtaShaaの招待にも奄美人は含まれない。専門家としてもっと責任感のある対応をお願いしたい。
トカラ・奄美「土人」宣言！北方の要塞・奄美人が土人宣言をした。沖縄県民の運命は奄美人が握っている。長い間奄美人との連帯を真剣に模索しなかったのだからもう逃げ場がない。
トカラは琉球文化圏なのか？
@@waterfox7218コメント有難うございます。良い問題提起だと思います。では逆にお尋ねする事で議論を始めませんか？トカラは大和文化圏でしょうか?
僕は専門家ではないので詳しくはわかりません。ただ、トカラ島の勢力が薩摩の琉球侵攻を手助けしていたことから考えてヤマト勢力圏なのではないのかと素人ながら推測します。それにもし、将来、琉球独立となった場合には日本人としてあまり多くの領土を琉球に与えたくないと思います。必要以上に領土を与えた場合、諸外国に弱みを見せたことになり日本のその他も領土も奪われるか独立工作される可能性も存在するからです。
比嘉バイロン氏は「沖縄大学地域研究所 特別研究員」と言う肩書で琉球復国運動を行っている。彼は現地調査もせずトカラ全域を日本語圏と安易に規定し琉球文化圏「北限」を縮小したのである。此の事は琉球国復国運動の領土確定に重大な失策を行った。わざわざ大和に差し上げる愚かな事をしたのである。しかし彼は此の事に関して真摯に向きあうよりも誤魔化す姿勢を続けている。
フィージャバイロンさんに一言。奄美人の開拓話の有るトカラ地域を「明確に」日本語圏とすることには慎重に。これでは琉球自決権拡張運動にとって政治的にトカラ地域を自ら大和に差し上げる事になるではないですか。せめて中立地帯として空白に。連合軍は元々北緯30度以南を分断しています。