Chapter 31: Chapter 1

Subtitle: Review of Late A2: part 1

Subtitle: が (as an indefinite interrogative particle)

Translate the following from English to Okinawan:

[Side note: For those who already know advanced grammar, 3rd level formality out of 5 levels for the first two, if not just think formal. Think of 1st level formality out of 5 levels for the last two, or informal.]

English

Okinawan

くれー、何（ぬー/なん）やいびーが？

くれー、食（か）み物（むん）やいびーん。

くれー、飲（ぬ）み物やん。

くれー、味噌汁（みそじる）やさ。

Explanation:

くれー is basically just くり + や. Review しまくとぅば６級 (modern-day C-判定 or simply easy) exam questions for the reasoning why.

For who, what, when, where, why, how questions, always add a が at the end for asking questions for #1.

やん is informal, やいびーん is formal if it is after nouns. (The Japanese equivalent is (だ orである) and です respectively.)

The rest of the vocabulary should be straight forward for memorization.

Side Note:

Ryukyuan Folk Song, 「ベーベーぬ草刈いが」(Transliteration: Beebee nu Kusakai ga; Translation: Is the goat going to mow the grass) has a line that says, 「いったー 母（あんまー） まーかいが」which actually is a shortened form of 「いったー 母（あんまー） まーかいや が」same thing can happen in some Ryukyuan plays were they say 「誰（たー）が？」instead of 「誰（たー）や が？」 so sometimes if there is a や in front of a が (as an indefinite interrogative particle), it can sometimes be omitted or shortened down.

ベーベー is more metaphorical for the word "goat" ひーじゃー is the more common word, the metaphor is from the sounds goats make.

Homework (Answers in the Answer Chapter B, Answer Key B-4):

Subtitle: み (as a definite interrogative particle)

Translate the following from English to Okinawan:

[Side note: For those who already know advanced grammar, 3rd level formality out of 5 levels for the first two, if not just think formal. Think of 1st level formality out of 5 levels for the last two, or informal.]

English

Okinawan

Explanation:

み is actually a combinations of ん(n) + いぃ(yi) -> /nyi/ ~ /mi/. This is also the questionative particle に which is a combination of the same thing, but we will discuss that in Lesson 2-1.

み is used as a questionative particle when it is a yes/no question.

Homework (Answers in the Answer Chapter A, Answer Key A-7):

Translate the following from English to Okinawan

Subtitle: On Yes and No

Remember how I used うー and うぅーうぅー?

In terms of using it normally, I use うー and うぅーうぅー. However, to be more precise, this would be the most accurate in Sui dialect (de facto standard):

WORD: YES| Higher Rank| Lower Rank ---|---|--- Younger| うー| いー (or んー) Older| うー| おー Friends| んー| んー

From formal to least formal, it would be: うー、おー、んー、いー.

WORD: NO| Higher Rank| Lower Rank ---|---|--- Younger| うぅーうぅー| いーいー (or んーんー) Older| うぅーうぅー| おーおー Friends| んーんー| んーんー

Some liberal areas in Okinawa, people might use んー and んーんー. The more conservative side of Okinawa (e.g., Sui, where ranks matter way more) would be much stricter in their usage.

What do I, the author, personally use? It depends.

Usually when I write, I use うー and うぅーうぅー when I'm writing as to avoid making it seem that I'm not trying to offend the other. When I'm speaking with my family, I use んー and んーんー. When I go to a different area, say Yomitan, I would use their dialectal words of いー and んーんんー.

Subtitle: いぃ (or い) as a questionative particle.

In Lesson 1-2, I mentioned in the explanations that み is a combination of the last ん part and いぃ.

So what is いぃ?

It is a questionative particle meaning: "Is it (a)... ? "

You put it at the end of the noun. Should be self-explanatory.

Homework (Answers in Answer Chapter A, Answer Key A-2):

Subtitle: Introduction to the る / どぅ emphasis bind

Translate the following from English to Okinawan:

Be sure to use the emphasis bind for these to emphasize your point.

English

Okinawan

Explanation:

あん is state of being (things, plants), but could also mean so/right in this context.

どぅ/ る is a bind. So when e.g., あんどぅ has that, the ending must also be どぅ/ る as well.

omit the last ん for non-negative sentences, but keep the ん for negative sentences. いぃ / い at the end is the questionative particle (see lesson 1-4, the previous lesson, for details).

Homework (see Answer Key Chapter B, Answer Key B-2):

Translate the following from English to Okinawan using the る / どぅ emphasis bind:

Subtitle: On Sui pronunciations d/r.

In the Sui (de facto standard) dialect, there is no difference between r/d. For any word that contains an r or d, you can swap it out with another. That being said, there are some words that sound more natural than the other. For instance, the world 大事（でーじ）, which is a very common word, is more likely to be deeji than reeji. That being said, in some dictionaries, they may only list one or the other, so just be aware of that.