Tokunoshima language

Tokunoshima
Tokunoshima
シマユミィタ; Shimayumiita
Native to	Japan
Region	Tokunoshima of the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture
Native speakers	5,100 (2004)
Language family	Japonic Ryukyuan Northern Ryukyuan Amami Ōshima–Tokunoshima Tokunoshima; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Japanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tkn
Glottolog	toku1246 Toku-No-Shima

The Tokunoshima language (シマグチ (島口) Shimaguchi or シマユミィタ Shimayumiita), also Toku-no-Shima, is a dialect cluster spoken on Tokunoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture of southwestern Japan. It is part of the Amami–Okinawan languages, which are part of the Japonic languages.

Dialects

Okamura (2007) posits two divisions of Tokunoshima: Kametsu–Amagi in the north and Isen in the south.^[2] Kametsu is the traditional politico-cultural center of the island. It has been a center of distributions of new lexical traits, some of which were not confined in Tokunoshima Town but spread to Amagi Town in the northeast and, less frequently, to Isen. The dialects of Isen are considered more conservative by the speakers.^[3]

Folk terminology

According to Okamura Takahiro (b. 1936 in Asama, Amagi Town), the speakers of Tokunoshima call their tongues sïmagucï, which consists of two morphemes. The first part sïma (Standard Japanese shima) refers to an island both in Standard Japanese and Tokunoshima but it also means (one's own) local community in Tokunoshima and other Amami dialects. The second part kucï (Standard Japanese kuchi) means a mouth, and by extension, speech. Hence, sïmagucï refers to the speech of one's own community and of the island as a whole. Note that sïmagucï is more strongly associated with the former because the speakers of Tokunoshima are fully aware that each shima has a distinct language.^[2]

Phonology

The following is the phonology of the Kametsu dialect, which is based on Hirayama et al. (1986).^[4]

Consonants

As with most Ryukyuan languages to the north of Central Okinawan, stops are described as "plain" C’ and "glottalized" C‘. Phonetically, the two series are lightly aspirated [Cʰ] and tenuis [C˭], respectively.^[5]

Consonant phonemes
	Bilabial			Alveolar			Post- alveolar				Velar			Glottal	Moraic
Nasal		mˀ	m		nˀ	n									Q N
Stop	pʰ		b	tʰ	t˭	d					kʰ	k˭	ɡ	ʔ
Affricate							t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʃ˭	dz
Fricative				s										h
Approximant										j			w
Flap									r^{[clarification needed]}

Notes

The zero onset /'/ may be added. It is contrasted with glottal /h/ and /ʔ/.
/h/ is [ç] before /i/ and /j/, and [ɸ] before /u/ and /w/.
/pʰ/ is new and infrequent.
/si/, /t͡ʃʰɨ/ and /t͡ʃ˭ɨ/ are realized as [ʃɪ], [t͡sʰɨ] and [t͡sɨ], respectively.
/dz/ is [d͡z] before /ɨ/ and /ɘ/, and [d͡ʒ] elsewhere.
[ʃa], [ʃe], [ʃu] and [ʃo] are phonemically analyzed as /sja/, /sje/, /sju/ and /sjo/, respectively.
[t͡ʃʰa], [t͡ʃʰe], [t͡ʃʰu] and [t͡ʃʰo] are phonemically analyzed as /t͡ʃʰja/, /t͡ʃʰje/, /t͡ʃʰju/ and /t͡ʃʰjo/, respectively.
[t͡ʃa], [t͡ʃu] and [t͡ʃo] are phonemically analyzed as /t͡ʃ˭ja/, /t͡ʃ˭ju/ and /t͡ʃ˭jo/, respectively.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Notes

The exact quality of /ə/ is debated, with some analyzing it as a front-mid /ɛ/.^[6]

Correspondences to Standard Japanese

Only major sound correspondences are listed.

Standard Japanese /e/ mostly corresponds to /ɨ/.
Standard Japanese /o/ is merged into /u/.
Tokunoshima /e/, /ɘ/ and /o/ are of secondary origin and mostly correspond to Standard Japanese diphthongs.
Standard Japanese /hi/ and /he/ corresponds to Tokunoshima /sɨ/ and /hwɨ/, respectively.
Standard Japanese /si/ and /zu/, /zi/ and /zu/, and /t͡ʃi/ and /t͡ʃu/ are merged into /sɨ/, /zɨ/, and /t͡ʃɨ/, respectively.
The fusion of two consecutive morae resulted in glottalized consonants in Tokunoshima.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

Pronouns
		1st person	2nd person
		1st person	Polite	Non-Polite
Singular	Non-fusional	wan / wa	uri	ura
Singular	Fusional	waa	uri	uraa
Dual	Non-fusional	wanten	urinten	uranten
Dual	Fusional	wattari	urinten	uranten
Plural	Non-fusional	waakya	uri-taa	ura-taa
Plural	Fusional	wakkya	ukkya

Personal pronouns in Tokunoshima are only used for the 1st and 2nd person referents; demonstrative pronouns are used for 3rd person referents. Non-fusional forms of pronouns are followed by case-marking suffixes, while fusional forms are not suffixed and stand as independent topical subjects of clauses. The 'bare' form of the 1st person non-fusional singular, wa, is used before the nominative particle -ga.^[6]

Numerals

Numerals 1-10
Number	Cardinal	Iterative	Personal	Prefix
1	tˀin	tˀyukeeri	tˀyuuri	tˀyu-
2	tˀaacï	tˀakeeri	tˀaari	tˀa-
3	miicï	mikeeri	mityaari	mi-
4	yuucï	yukeeri	yutaari	yu-
5	icïcï	ityukeeri	(gonin)	icï-
6	muucï	(rokkai)	(rokunin)	mu-
7	nanacï	(nanakai)	(nananin/sityinin)	nana-
8	yaacï	(hatyikai)	(hatyinin)	ya-
9	kuunucï	(kyuukai)	(kyuunin)	(kyuu)-
10	tuu	(zyukkai)	(zyuunin)	(zyuu)-

Forms in parentheses in the table above are Japanese or Sino-Japanese in origin. Cardinal forms are used in counting non-human entities, iterative for frequencies of events. Personal for counting people. Prefix forms are applied to some non-human nouns, e.g. t˭yu-uban for 'one night.' When referring to numbers as abstract mathematical concepts, Sino-Japanese words are used.^[6]

References

^ Tokunoshima at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b Okamura Takahiro 岡村隆博 (2007). Amami hōgen: kana moji de no kakikata 奄美方言—カナ文字での書き方 (in Japanese).
^ Shibata Takeshi 柴田武; et al. (1977). Amami Tokunoshima no kotoba 奄美徳之島のことば (in Japanese). pp. 42–43.
^ Hirayama Teruo 平山輝男, ed. (1986). Amami hōgen kiso goi no kenkyū 奄美方言基礎語彙の研究 (in Japanese).
^ Samuel E. Martin (1970) "Shodon: A Dialect of the Northern Ryukyus", in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 90, no. 1 (Jan–Mar), pp. 97–139.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kato, Kanji (2022). "Tokunoshima (Kagoshima, Northern Ryukyuan)". In Shimoji, Michinori (ed.). An Introduction to the Japonic Languages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 25–57. ISBN 978-90-04-51910-7. Retrieved 12 April 2025.

Sources

Tokunoshima hōgen jiten (2014) by Okamura Takahiro, Sawaki Motoei, Nakajima Yumi, Fukushima Chitsuko and Kikuchi Satoru. Based on Okamura's Asama dialect.

External links

Literature on the Tokunoshima dialect by Fukushima Chitsuko (in Japanese)

[e18-1] Tokunoshima at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[okamura2007-2] Okamura Takahiro 岡村隆博 (2007). Amami hōgen: kana moji de no kakikata 奄美方言—カナ文字での書き方 (in Japanese).

[shibata1977-3] Shibata Takeshi 柴田武; et al. (1977). Amami Tokunoshima no kotoba 奄美徳之島のことば (in Japanese). pp. 42–43.

[hirayama1986-4] Hirayama Teruo 平山輝男, ed. (1986). Amami hōgen kiso goi no kenkyū 奄美方言基礎語彙の研究 (in Japanese).

[5] Samuel E. Martin (1970) "Shodon: A Dialect of the Northern Ryukyus", in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 90, no. 1 (Jan–Mar), pp. 97–139.

[kato2022-6] Kato, Kanji (2022). "Tokunoshima (Kagoshima, Northern Ryukyuan)". In Shimoji, Michinori (ed.). An Introduction to the Japonic Languages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 25–57. ISBN 978-90-04-51910-7. Retrieved 12 April 2025.

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v t e Languages of Japan
National language	Japanese Variants
Indigenous languages	Hokkaido Ainu Hachijō Ryukyuan Amami Ōshima Kikai Kunigami Miyako Kurima Okinawan Okinoerabu Tokunoshima Yaeyama Yonaguni Yoron
Non-Indigenous languages	Portuguese Chinese Cantonese Hoochew Hokkien Mandarin English Russian Esperanto Turkish Indonesian Vietnamese Zainichi Korean Sakhalin Ainu † Kuril Ainu †
Creole languages	Bonin English
Sign languages	Nihonshu Amami Oshima Sign Miyakubo Sign