MIYAKOAN LANGUAGE, PEOPLE, & CULTURE

Welcome to my channel! This is Andy from I love languages. Let's learn different languages/dialects together.
"はーい！ 吾が名ゆばーアンディてぃどぅあい゚。上はっじぶんも？"
"Hāi! Ba ga nā yubā Andy ti du az. Zōhajji bummo?"
/haːi/ /baga naːjubaː andiː tiduaɿ/ /dzoːhaʒʒi bummo/
Hello! My name is Andy. How are you?
Let's talk about the Miyakoan languages.
Miyakoan is a variety of languages that is considerably different from standard Japanese. It is one of the Southern Ryukyuan languages belonging to the Japonic languages. Miyakoan is spoken on the island province of Miyako Islands, which is located about 280 kilometers southwest of Japan's Okinawa Main Island. Those who use Miyakoan on a daily basis are mainly elderly people over the age of seventy, and all speakers are bilingual in Japanese. The exact number of speakers of Miyakoan is not known, but it is estimated that there are at least about 2,000 speakers of the Ikema dialect. Although there is still no established theory, there are five different dialects of Miyakoan, which can be categorized as the Main Island dialect, Irabu dialect, Ikema dialect, Ōgami dialect, and Tarama dialect. For example, the Okinoerabu languages, which are also Ryukyuan languages, have differences but are understandable and communication is possible within Okinoerabu. However, the Miyakoan languages ​​vary greatly even within Miyako, and even the Hirara dialect of Miyako Island, which is the standard language of the region, is hardly understood on Irabu Island or Tarama Island. There are even villages where people in the same community speak different miyakoan dialects ​​just across a road, and neighbouring communities where people speak different small group of dialects.
Miyakoan languages ​​are not mutually intelligible with Japanese.
The Ryukyuan languages, to which Miyakoan belongs, are thought to have branched off from Proto-Japanese at least 1,300 years ago.
According to oral traditions in various parts of Miyako, it seems that immigrants from mainland Japan brought ironware and cultural artifacts to Miyako around 1400 AD, and there are still names of places and things that start with "Yamato," which is used in the Miyako language to mean mainland Japan. On the other hand, Miyakoan and Okinawan languages, both of which are Ryukyuan languages, had already undergone such linguistic change that they were no longer mutually intelligible by the end of the 14th century.
It is unclear when the Miyakoan languages ​​separated from Proto-Ryūkyūan. However, it is believed that after separating from Proto-Ryūkyūan, the Miyakoan languages ​​continued to change without any contact with other Ryukyuan languages ​​until they began to come into contact with Okinawan around the 14th century AD.
The average person in Miyako had virtually no contact with Okinawan, which had historically been the central language. Also, because there was no contact between the general public, Yaeyama and Yonaguni languages, both of which are Southern Ryukyuan, are not mutually intelligible with Miyakoan languages. Before World War II, Miyakoan people who could speak Okinawan were historically limited to those affiliated with the Shuri government's administrative agencies and merchants who had migrated to Miyako from the Okinawan capital, but now there are virtually no Miyakoan people who can speak Okinawan.
The Miyakoan languages were declared "definitely endangered language" by UNESCO in 2009. As a result of Japan's language policy, which treats Miyakoan as a Japanese dialect, these are reflected in the education system and people under the age of seventy tend not to use the language except in songs and songs. Hence, the Miyakoan has not been inherited by the younger generation, who exclusively use Japanese as their first language.
Miyako Islands, a beautiful coral reef islands, is the western islands of the Ryukyu islands. It is also the 4th most populous island group in Ryukyu Islands; in 2023, the resident registration population is about 55,000. Miyako Island's strange festival, the Pāntu is a traditional event where humans dress up as masked deities to ward off evil spirits and pray for good health. The name Pāntu means "ghost" in Japanese, and in the Smazz area this event is called Pāntu punaka, where people and newly built houses on the island are covered with mud taken from sacred sites. On the other hand, in the Nubaru area, this event is also called Satiparō, and a procession led by a child wearing a mask and dressed as Pāntu goes merrily around the village to drive away evil spirits.
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[@YaBoiBaxter2024]

As someone of Japanese ancestry, I hope that my Japonic cousins can preserve their ancient islander traditions, especially in language. Ryukuans are such an interesting bunch, so I hope the youngsters in this new Ryukuan generation can learn this Miyakoan tongue better! 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

[@ArshitRawat-jo6uz]

Ancient japan people were kill native ainu 😢😢😢

[@YaBoiBaxter2024]

@@ArshitRawat-jo6uz Don't forget the Jomon and Emishi!!

[@Flower-bb1on]

@@ArshitRawat-jo6uzPlease! Don’t kill me on the internet lol

[@martaleszkiewicz5115]

That definitely doesn't sound like a dialect of Japanese, rather a distinct language that is loosely related.

[@rarearyantroops]

Since it is a Southern Ryukyuan language, it cannot be a Japanese dialect.

[@icanfly5964]

It's more like a sister language than a dialect

[@user-pp5yg8yw7w]

本土の人間として、字幕付きなら分かるぐらいですかね。

[@zachchen9564]

But you still can spot some cognates, like all numbers from 1 to 10, pïtu-hito, in-inu, tsïkï-tsuki, im-umi, upumunu-ooi, garasa-karasu, tubi-tobi, nak-naku, aspī-asobi, kstā-kita, umui-Omni, saki-sake, fusa-kusa, atu-ato

[@edwardwang5880]

Both Japanese and Miyakoan are in the Japonic language family, but Miyakoan descends from the Ryukyuan branch of the family whereas Japanese is from the main Japonic branch

[@dafomat9550]

fやvなど、日本語にない音がある あと、日琉語族の言語なのに閉音節というのも興味深い 標準語（首都圏方言）や関西弁など、日本でよく話される方言は必ず母音で終わる。（つまり、音節構造は「子音+母音」だけであり、「子音+母音+子音」の組み合わせは、標準語や関西弁ではありえない）

[@sonnysonny5087]

Quali lingue giapponiche o ryukyuane hanno parole che finiscono con la consonante tipo (C+V+C/semivocalico)

[@LinusYip]

標準語は必ず母音で終わることじゃない（理論的な音節構造は限りなく複雑、例えば「きつく口利きし尽くす」の理論的な発音はkytsk'kchkykyshtsksで、完全に子音だけで構成） 例えば「です」の実際の発音はdesで、音節構造は「子音+母音+子音」である

[@user-py6cl8bo3c]

@@LinusYip The case you mentioned is a kind of weak form. I have a similar example in Mandarin Chinese. 「豆腐」 (eng: tofu) pronounced as /tʌu˥˩ fu˨˩/ in standard form, but in casual conversations, the /fu˨˩/ would be weakened to /f/ for some people including me. /tʌu˥˩ fu˨˩/ -> /tʌu˥˩ f/

[@Phoenix7998.]

pls check Kagoshima Satsugū dialect. it has consonant syllable endings.

[@NUSORCA]

Like Korean

[@guney2811]

as a native Turkish speaker, i undersood 0% of this language

[@derburgermeister4644]

in terms of vocabulary there were 2-3 words that were altered ban - ben I in - it Dog

[@piedwagtailrameau]

Well done

[@Solotocius]

​@@derburgermeister4644"aagu" for "song" also loosely sounds like the Turkish "şarkı"

[@kendawg_mcawesome]

Altaicists in tears.

[@Solotocius]

@@kendawg_mcawesome I mean, even in confirmed language families the mutual intelligibility is oftentimes nonexistent

[@ImAnon-md7xz]

The location of Miyako island ,Yonaguni island ,Ishigaki island ,Iriomote island and Yaeyama island are a bit close to Formosa 😮

[@miguelbesana6468]

is it just me or it sounded like Japanese mix with some Austronesian languages

[@dimulaidari]

Indeed.

[@blueberrypie7889]

They are thecnically pacific islander too

[@angsilaw]

@@blueberrypie7889That’s not how that term works. They would not be bunched with Pacific Islanders, like how Filipinos aren’t.

[@anthonyfox585]

​@@angsilaw Tagalog is so heavily influenced by Spanish that it's kind of not a very good comparison to make to other Pacific Islander languages

[@blueberrypie7889]

@@angsilaw I mean japonic people dwelling in pacific archipelago too

[@adnyc82]

It’s interesting to see the much stronger influence of older forms of Chinese, eg 吾 for “I,” on Miyakoan than on Japanese.

[@user-py6cl8bo3c]

This should be just how they choose the words. That is, they choose Chinese character "吾" to represent the meaning of the pronunciation of their native language, but the pronunciation of "吾" in Chinese is not relevant to the pronunciation in Miyakoan. "吾" should have a initial consonant "ng" in old to middle Chinese and some modern Chinese languages tho it has been dropped in Mandarin Chinese (without initial consonant). Therefore, I don't think 吾 is the influence from older forms of Chinese natively. Instead, I think their writting/transcription system was formed without too long history, and 吾 was chosen by modern scholars designing that system.

[@asdkdk7913]

@@user-py6cl8bo3c In Southern Ryukyuan languages, including Miyakoan, the "/b/" consonant corresponds to the standard Japanese "/w/" consonant. It is probably related to the pronoun "吾 (わぬ) wanu" which is the Eastern Old Japanese word for "I". The basic form of the Miyako word for "I" is "吾 (ban)," but the ending changes to "吾が (ba ga)," "吾ぬー (ba nū)," or "吾やー (ba yā)" depending on the particle that follows. There is also a region called ``吾 (a)''.

[@asdkdk7913]

@@user-py6cl8bo3c Most of the existing ancient documents from Miyako are old official records that were recorded and edited by administrative officials in Miyako in order to report to the competent authorities of the Ryukyu government, which was the central government office of the time. They were written in the 1700s, and although some of the writing styles are classical Chinese (漢文), most of them are in 'variant form Chinese writing (hentai-kanbun 変体漢文)' reminiscent of Japanese contexts (和文脈), or Japanese sentences (和文) in 'Chinese writing Japanese reading (kanbun kundoku 漢文訓読)', and some seem to be imitating the Heian period writing style (Early Middle Japanese) (擬古文). The characters used in these documents were mostly a combination of kanji, hiragana, and katakana, and it can be inferred that the Miyako people who were involved in recording and editing them from the early 18th century onwards had become quite proficient in mainland Japanese. In fact, in the original text of "宮古島記事仕次," a book that seems to have been compiled by an administrative official from Miyakojima with the intention of being a history book of Miyakojima, the editor's preface contains a writing style that seems to be an imitation of the Heian period writing style (Early Middle Japanese) (擬古文), which was favored by Japanese scholars of Japanese classics in the Edo period. Furthermore, the terminology in the main text of this book quotes phrases commonly used in Chinese classics, such as '邯鄲のまくら,' '南柯の夢,' '胡馬北風にいななく,' and '越鳥南枝に巣くう.' What is particularly surprising is that the author of this book, a local government official from Miyako, borrows a waka (和歌, "Japanese poem") from the early 10th century, "忘るなよ ほどは雲井になりぬとも 空行く月の めぐり逢ふまで," as a song for the lord in "The Sad Story of Separation between the Lord and His Lady of Miyako Island." This suggests that in the early 18th century, there was a literate class of Miyako people who were well versed in Chinese classics, Japanese classics, and the Japanese language used in mainland Japan at the time. However, this influence was limited to a small portion of the samurai class at the time, and the Miyako people's language in general was limited to the borrowing of broken Chinese words that were said to have been used in mainland Japan at the time, such as "だんかふ 談合" (dankā) , "はうか 放下" (pauka) , "なんれう 南鐐" (namdza) , and "ぶぎやう 奉行" (vgyau).

[@asdkdk7913]

Most of the existing ancient documents from Miyako are old official records that were recorded and edited by administrative officials in Miyako in order to report to the competent authorities of the Ryukyu government, which was the central government office of the time. They were written in the 1700s, and although some of the writing styles are classical Chinese (漢文), most of them are in 'variant form Chinese writing (hentai-kanbun 変体漢文)' reminiscent of Japanese contexts (和文脈), or Japanese sentences (和文) in 'Chinese writing Japanese reading (kanbun kundoku 漢文訓読)', and some seem to be imitating the Heian period writing style (Early Middle Japanese) (擬古文). The characters used in these documents were mostly a combination of kanji, hiragana, and katakana, and it can be inferred that the Miyako people who were involved in recording and editing them from the early 18th century onwards had become quite proficient in mainland Japanese. In fact, in the original text of "宮古島記事仕次," a book that seems to have been compiled by an administrative official from Miyakojima with the intention of being a history book of Miyakojima, the editor's preface contains a writing style that seems to be an imitation of the Heian period writing style (Early Middle Japanese) (擬古文), which was favored by Japanese scholars of Japanese classics in the Edo period. Furthermore, the terminology in the main text of this book quotes phrases commonly used in Chinese classics, such as '邯鄲のまくら,' '南柯の夢,' '胡馬北風にいななく,' and '越鳥南枝に巣くう.' What is particularly surprising is that the author of this book, a local government official from Miyako, borrows a waka (和歌, "Japanese poem") from the early 10th century, "忘るなよ ほどは雲井になりぬとも 空行く月の めぐり逢ふまで," as a song for the lord in "The Sad Story of Separation between the Lord and His Lady of Miyako Island." This suggests that in the early 18th century, there was a literate class of Miyako people who were well versed in Chinese classics, Japanese classics, and the Japanese language used in mainland Japan at the time. However, this influence was limited to a small portion of the samurai class at the time, and the Miyako people's language in general was limited to the borrowing of broken Chinese words that were said to have been used in mainland Japan at the time, such as "だんかふ 談合" (dankā) , "はうか 放下" (pauka) , "なんれう 南鐐" (namdza) , and "ぶぎやう 奉行" (vgyau).

[@joshuafajardo646]

Miyako has Okinawan Dances and all food

[@gudgoodsteps8036]

Way of Speaking, Delivery, and some Content is Very Similar to Batanic Languages (Northern Philippines)

[@paiwanhan]

The word for sun, tida and Old Ryukyuan's tidaN, sound very similar to Pangcah's cidal, which ultimately came from PAN *siNaʀ. The word for daybreak in Pangcah is tadengal.

[@runningoutof_ink]

i always love when this channel uploads ryukyuan related videos, god im so proud to be an okinawan

[@gyara7329]

There is something about this language, along with the other Ryukyuan languages that comes off as "Austronesian", is there any evidence that the Ryukyuan peoples descend from perhaps a melding of proto-japonic speakers and austronesian speakers?

[@suliwa670]

Their word for ghost, Paantu is close to Malay which is Hantu

[@alecdaniel1538]

@@suliwa670similar to Filipino "Multo" (Ghost)

[@amuis5409]

No, the genetic ancestry composition between the Yaeyama (Southern Ryukyu) and the Austronesian Formosan people is very different. The Yaeyama people inherit more genetics from the Jomon people (Y chromosome haplotype D), as compared to Honshu Yayoi people who are closer to Austronesians, Kra-dai, Hmong-mien, Chinese, and Korean (Y chromosome haplotype O). Resemblance of language is only a coincidence. Malay Hantu comes from Proto-Austronesian *qalitsu, while Miyako Paantu comes from Pamu-Pitu (食む人、はむひと) which means Eating-Person "people who eat".

[@user-if9cd1gk6q]

However, this is a spanish loanword (muerto) though the meaning has changed ​@@alecdaniel1538

[@Code-pd5hy]

​@@amuis5409 I do agree but that's if you're talking about paternal side. Maternally, ryukyu islands have high percentage of M7a while austronesian groups near it like taiwanese aboriginals and northern Philippines have high percentage of M7c so there is a connection maternally. Although I am not concluding that they're 100 percent related but there's a possibility.

[@jinxinliu2497]

It’s surprising to see that Ryukyu languages are way less influenced by Chinese than the Japanese language. Chinese loanwords are almost non-existent in the language

[@nickpatella1525]

They are not almost nonexistent. In the video, I can pick out at least the following loanwords: 大事(daiz), 上手(jōz), 同志(dus), 談合(dankā), ばんざーい(万歳), 一番(itsban), 胴(dū). There are some I've omitted due to the possibility of them being ateji. A lot of these are probably loanwords from Japanese rather than directly from Chinese, as they also exist in Japanese. 胴 in particular meant "large intestine" in Chinese but developed the meaning of "torso/body" in Japanese, which was back-imported into Chinese. Also, this is not far off from the quantity of loanwords you would find in premodern spoken Japanese. Sino words traditionally were more concentrated in academia and government. Some trickled down to the average person's vocabulary, but only to an extent. The abundance of Sino-Japanese words in modern spoken Japanese is due to education, as well as the translation of Western concepts en masse in order to remain competitive as a nation. Comparing pre-Meiji spoken Japanese to post-Taishou spoken Japanese shows a large difference. Modern Japanese would inevitably bring a new stratum of words to the Ryukyuan languages. I suspect they are showing the language in a form that is uninfluenced by Modern Japan, i.e. avoiding modern loanwords.

[@jinxinliu2497]

@@nickpatella1525 i agree with your analysis. Sino words were used mostly by upper class literati, so in pre-modern time, we should be able to observe a clear lexical distinction in between the classical language of the elites and the colloquial language of the commoners. In Japan, a part of modernization is the democratization of elite knowledge, including kanji and Sino words. In Ryukyu, after the annexation by Japan, the elites class got wiped out along with their language and culture, replaced with post modernization Japanese counterparts. I think similar process happened to Korea as well, but to a lesser extent.

[@isalikki]

Thank you for this, I really enjoyed it! I'd like Dunan dialect too if possible, which I believe has the most exotic sound among Japonic languages.

[@user-lw8dr6xx8i]

interesting. i'm okinawan but except for just a couple of words, i have totally no clue what they're saying.

[@ShorzawckgiBanhtieuwroeutt]

I feel it's Sound like old Japanese mixed with a little bit of chinese austronesian languages families with a strong korean accent😅

[@DionysianLovecraftian]

Fascinating

[@Ainigmos13]

Please video about Proto-Sakishima language: the ancestor of Miyakoan.

[@dimulaidari]

Up!

[@SK-zi3sr]

I actually love the sound of this language I wish it could regain numbers back and to here songs in this language would be beautiful

[@Elias-eh4gk]

We must protect this language at all costs, no matter what

[@Joshayne]

Can you do Hachijo dialect next plz?

[@jaironperezcopa6503]

Beautiful legend❤

[@dhu2056]

It would be cool if this channel did sign languages!

[@angsilaw]

That would be awesome I think! Would probably help people doing research

[@zvya3da]

Please make an appointment in Am languages Amami, North and South.

[@saigonpunkid]

Sounds like Japanese with Austronesian flavour and a hint of Wenzhounese.

[@KingsleyAmuzu]

What languages are similar to this language?

[@Support_lifestyle]

I'm sorry if you already said this and I missed it. But which dialect of miyako is this?

[@Torpedo11_]

Can you do Chinese korean/hanja?

[@Think_Vibes]

Please make video on eastern Hindi Languages like: avadhi, Chhattisgarhi, Bagheli, sargujiya etc

[@o0...957]

You can volunteer and mail her the sample yourself if you speak any of those eastern Hindi languages.

[@Beisklafki]

As a Japanese speaker, I can understand 15% of this.

[@zach0gr]

this is for me a usage of "amazir or chechen voice twist" into a malay language with japanese toning

[@stanley4583]

The word "paantu" sounds very much like the Malay word "hantu" (ghost)

[@iwannabeyourdog4195]

it's interesting that friend is apparently 同志 (comrade)

[@KingsleyAmuzu]

Request: Finnish and Mongolian?

[@xdgamer2765]

Considering the map, Yeah this is definitely austronesian mixed with japanese.

[@edoardosalza]

It sounds like a fictional language of a Miyazaki movie

[@dalubwikaan161]

I am guessing; written Miyako is actually rare.

[@tyougoukenm]

I'm Japanese. But I can't find even just 1 word!!

[@ElidaeDanh]

Uchinagucchi languages are languages but get called dialects due to discrimination by japan and Europe

[@KingsleyAmuzu]

Could you make Iraqi Arabic and Persian?

[@Jote_09]

Iraqi arabic is covered, search Mesopotamian Arabic

[@ohkeydan6357]

Malay : lagu = song Miyakoan : a:gu = song Lagu in Malay from Sanskrit and I wonder the origin of a:gu in Miyakoan ?

[@alefff2265]

Mizo - Fa (Child) Miyakoan - Ffa (Child)

[@equilibrum999]

why they named Palace Ancient Entrance? 宫古口?

[@asdkdk7913]

In Miyakoan languages, 口 (futsɹ̩) means not only mouth but also language.

[@equilibrum999]

@@asdkdk7913 but why have named 宫古？

[@asdkdk7913]

@@equilibrum999 Miyako island is also referred to as ``密牙古'', ``彌抄槐'', ``悖羅彌古'', ``大平山'', ``大みやこまきり'', ``都'', ``麻姑山'', etc. It is a phonetic character and has no meaning. Not only in mainland Japan, but also in the Ryukyu Islands, there are countless examples of people borrowing only the sounds of kanji rather than their meanings. According to one theory, the center of Miyako Island was called by two names, ``ぴさら (ひらら) =平良'' and ``みやこ =宮古'', but the former became the name of the village and the latter the name of the island. Probably ``ひらら'' means flatland, and ``みやこ'' means capital, indicating the center of power.

[@equilibrum999]

@@asdkdk7913 so they are 宫古族 [Gongguzu] and it is phonetic only and has no special meaning to the Miyako people? ok.

[@shnofata2416]

@@equilibrum999 what is gongguzu? Chinese?

[@joseg.solano1891]

Inner Mongolian, please

[@MrAllmightyCornholioz]

BUDDHA BLESS THE RYUKYU ISLAND!

[@fixieskids]

Please of the Ukrainian language

[@user-lo5uh5su5l]

Some somilarities with Turkic language amazing

[@ohkeydan6357]

What is the similarities between them?

[@gachi1297]

@@ohkeydan6357Nothing besides maybe some shared sound and grammatical patterns

[@Jote_09]

@@ohkeydan6357as a turk I’ll say turks love to imagine anything is related to them

[@martinkhoe]

Ryukyu ( lewchew/liuqiu ) is not japan until the end of 19 century and they are japanized

[@user-rw2kw9zu6i]

Why Sea of Japan?

[@dafomat9550]

Because it is