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Okinawan is a Japonic language, derived from Proto-Japonic and is therefore related to Japanese. The split between Old Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages has been estimated to have occurred as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 12th century AD. Chinese and Japanese characters were first introduced by a Japanese missionary in 1265. [10]
Traffic safety slogan signs in Kin, Okinawa, written in Japanese (center) and Okinawan (left and right).. The Ryukyuan languages (琉球語派, Ryūkyū-goha, also 琉球諸語, Ryūkyū-shogo or 島言葉 in Ryukyuan, Shima kotoba, literally "Island Speech"), also Lewchewan or Luchuan (/ l uː ˈ tʃ uː ə n /), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the ...
Kunigami or Northern Okinawan (山原言葉, ヤンバルクトゥーバ, Yanbaru Kutūba) is a Ryukyuan language of Northern Okinawa Island in Kunigami District and city of Nago, otherwise known as the Yanbaru region, historically the territory of the kingdom of Hokuzan.
The Northern Ryukyuan languages, also known as the Amami–Okinawan languages, are a group of languages spoken in the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture and the Okinawa Islands, Okinawa Prefecture of southwestern Japan.
An example of traditional Okinawan writing circa 1471. Okinawan, spoken in Okinawa Island, was once the official language of the Ryukyu Kingdom.At the time, documents were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan.
The kanji used to spell this word, "按司", appears to be phono-semantic matching, consisting of the words "keep under control" + "official". [citation needed]The Liuqiu Guan Yiyu (琉球館訳語), a Okinawan word list written in Chinese, states that "大唐大人 大刀那安只" ("[The] Tang nobility [are called] *taj.taw.na.an.tʂr̩"), while the Zhongsang Zhuanxinlu (中山伝信録 ...
In English, they are also known as Okinawans [21] or Lewchewans. [22] Their usual ethnic name derives from the Chinese name for the islands, Liuqiu (also spelled as Loo Choo, Lew Chew, Luchu, and more), [5] which in the Japanese language is pronounced Ryūkyū. In the Okinawan language, it is pronounced Rūchū.
Konkōkenshū (混効験集, literally "list of mixed effective [words]") is the first dictionary of the Okinawan language and the first of any Ryukyuan language.The dictionary was compiled by a group of seven people under the order of King Shō Tei, dated no later than 1711.