Efforts to Revitalize the Ryukyuan Languages and や・が・ぬ
Efforts to Revitalize the Ryukyuan Languages and や・が・ぬ
Hi, Duo with a Japanese accent!
What's up?I found out that all Ryukyuan languages were labelled "definitely endangered" or in an even more endangered state. Are there any revitalization efforts?What's up? Um... I mean sorry. Yes, all Ryukyuan languages are endangered. Let's start with the unfortunate news.The bad news is that many young Okinawans refuse to speak their native language compared to the older generation because Japanese is taught in schools and think it's embarrassing to speak the local language.Fortunately, the good news is that there are many organizations to help revive the Ryukyuan languages, despite only being supported in Japanese. In addition, many Okinawans are beginning to feel some sort of connection to their language based on recent surveys.This is why this course was created! The goal is for English speakers to learn Okinawan!Wow! That's awesome! I didn't know this course is so relevant! However, how can I be sure that this course is legit? And for free?!Don't worry, this course is created by native Okinawan speakers who speak English fluently or natively to ensure the quality and help revive the Ryukyuan languages! The people working on this course are doing this for free during their spare time because they would like to revive their language!(Also, it seems that there is some interest for Okinawan resources for English speakers according to Reddit, no matter how little.)So be sure to check this site frequently and do every story available! (Or I'll sneak in through your backdoor at night...)Uh... what...?Um... I mean I just wanna have a cookie! The cookies you make are amazing!Fine, under one condition. Please answer some questions I have!Sure thing!A week later, Duo and Falstaff meet up for some cookies.So... I was wondering if I could learn about Okinawan in Japanese or English other than this course.There are a couple of things. If you're using Japanese, you could buy textbooks or sign up for online classes, but you can search it up by yourself in Japanese because there are many organizations that will teach you both paid and free. As for English, there aren't many resources. I would mainly recommend this course.Ah... I see... Could you also explain what や, が, and ぬ are in Okinawan? I see it quite often...Sure thing. The biggest rule is to understand that the subject is before the particle や, the object is before the particle が, and ぬ usually indicates possession of some sort.However, if the letter after the subject is ends with "a", "e", or "o", you lengthen the vowel by adding a ー. If it ends with a "i" or "u", you change it to "ee" and "oo" respectively. If the end of the subject is ー, you add や, and finally, if the end of a subject is ん, then you change that to のー with the exception of 我 meaning I, which becomes 我ねー (I (am)).As for the object marker, you use ぬ for proper nouns and が for improper nouns!To mark possession, you usually use ぬ, but if the noun is improper, you use が such as ありが (his/her), with the exception of some pronoun possessions such as 我ー (my) and やー (your (very informal)).Then how can I know if が and ぬ are used for possession or an object marker?Simple! if が or ぬ precedes a verb, it is used as a object marker. If it precedes a noun, it's used to mark some sort of possession. Understood?Yup. Thanks for the explanation!Okay, no problem. I think that's enough about Okinawan particles and grammar for now. Have fun learning!