Ryûkyuan: Past, present, and future

• Autores: Akiko Matsumori
• Localización: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, ISSN 0143-4632, Vol. 16, Nº. 1-2, 1995, págs. 19-44
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Ryôkyuan is a general term for the group of vernacular languages spoken in the southern islands of the Japanese archipelago from Amami‐Ôshima near Kyûshû down to Yonaguni‐jima, located adjacent to Taiwan. The sister relationship between these vernaculars and mainland Japanese has been well established although the exact date of separation is not clear. Because Ryûkyuan is spread over a region fairly remote from the main islands of Japan, and on account of Ryûkyû's unique history as an independent kingdom for more than four centuries, Ryûkyuan vernaculars have had a significant position in the study of Japanese language. They have provided many important sources for dialectology and typology, as well as diachronic studies of Japanese.

    Due to socio‐economic changes, and the surge of nationalism at the beginning of this century, a dramatic decline of Ryûkyuan indigenous culture and languages has occurred. Today, Ryûkyuan‐speaking societies are in a typical state of bilingualism without diglossia, i.e. a transition stage from the predominantly monolingual Ryûkyuan‐speaking society of the 19th century to monolingualism in Standard Japanese. This paper introduces some of the factors which facilitated the standardisation process and concomitant deterioration of Ryûkyuan, and points out that the present patterns of language use in this area suggest the language death of Ryûkyuan and the society's impending shift to monolingualism in Standard Japanese. It is further argued that the present situation of bilingualism, involving Standard Japanese and Ryûkyuan vernaculars, provides an excellent opportunity to observe the process of language contact and language change.