Several Ryukyu Languages Dying

[commando]

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200902210050.html

UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger listed eight languages in Japan, such as the Ainu language, as independent tongues under international standards rather than indigenous dialects, an official with Paris-based UNESCO said.

"Few people speak Ainu in everyday life," said the Sapporo-based Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture.

The seven other endangered languages in Japan are Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Okinawa, Kunigami, Miyako in Okinawa Prefecture, Amami in Kagoshima Prefecture, and Hachijo in Tokyo. The first six languages are spoken on the Nansei island chain, which stretches from north of Taiwan and south of Kyushu, and Hachijo in Tokyo's Hachijojima island and nearby islets.

UNESCO described the Yaeyama and Yonaguni languages as "severely endangered," while the other five were "definitely endangered."

Osamu Sakiyama, professor emeritus of linguistics at the National Museum of Ethnology, welcomed UNESCO's approach, saying a dialect should be treated as an independent language if its speakers have a distinct culture.

"Coupled with the myth that Japan is ethnically homogenous, people tend to think that one language is spoken in Japan. But I want people to know there is quite a diversity," Sakiyama said.

A long, but interesting look at Japan, the US and Okinawa’s Endangered Languages. (http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/2586)

[Blues]

Japan is a lot less homogeneous than they perceive themselves to be, international marriages are on the rise, interracial births are supplementing the birth rate, and more openness to migrant workers.

Naturalizing citizens are going to redefine the definition:
To be Japanese does not restrict someone to only being born from native Japanese parents in Japan.

[commando]

Yes, I'd agree with most of that ZM. The migrant workers are having a bit of a hard go of it at present, with Toyota slashing costs and jobs (the Japanese-Brazilians who'd come to work there and at affiliated companies were the first to be let go, and since they were living in company apartments and dorms, are homeless as well as jobless). The locals in the area with the factories are not always warm and welcoming towards the workers.

As for the second article I linked to (http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/2586), I found the scholarly part a bit hard to work through. It is in the writer's second language, but some of the ideas and analogies fall short for me. Far more interesting was the second part - the interview of Fija Byron. I had heard of him, but was surprised how down he is on America and Americans given his roots. I was also surprised by his strong opposition to bases and his rather militant sounding radical Okinawan views. In some parts, the interview seemed more like a rant. He could well be a great guy, but he didn't seem able to express a clear direction for Okinawa as a place and as a people, though he talked a lot about that. His own personal direction is interesting and impressive though.

[Asshat]

I was also surprised by his strong opposition to bases and his rather militant sounding radical Okinawan views. In some parts, the interview seemed more like a rant. He could well be a great guy, but he didn't seem able to express a clear direction for Okinawa as a place and as a people, though he talked a lot about that. His own personal direction is interesting and impressive though.

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the interview, and I did not find him at all "down" on America anymore than I find other Americans down on America. Certainly growing up not knowing his father, nor having any cultural identity with America has shaped some of this thinking.

However, I am very impressed with his decision to grasp local languages and do something about his Okinawan heritage. Missing from his interview are historic perspectives, or perhaps his lack of attributing certain loss of Okinawan culture to post WWII Japanese mandates in the schools for example.

Still, I can appreciate where he is at and where he is going, and the necessity he feels towards never using English. I think most of us who have lived here for awhile can understand that necessity. Again, thanks for the link.

[commando]

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the interview, and I did not find him at all "down" on America anymore than I find other Americans down on America. Certainly growing up not knowing his father, nor having any cultural identity with America has shaped some of this thinking.
Yeah, I'm sure it was rough growing up the way he did. At least it sounds like his extended family helped a lot (seems to be relatively common here). It also sounds like he was in a similar situation to a lot of Japanese manga otaku, or samurai students - just the reverse. He had these impressions and imaginations of America from afar, only to have his bubble burst by reality when he got there.

However, I am very impressed with his decision to grasp local languages and do something about his Okinawan heritage. Missing from his interview are historic perspectives, or perhaps his lack of attributing certain loss of Okinawan culture to post WWII Japanese mandates in the schools for example.
The author goes a little bit into that in the first section. The "dialect sign" you had to wear around your neck for speaking the local language in the classroom at school. That apparently was started pre-war, and pursued quite enthusiastically by the Okinawans themselves, if the author's research is sound. Post-war, he claims the Americans promoted everything Ryukyu to foster anti-Japanese feelings, but the backlash by the locals meant that they actually got a stronger Japanese identity, and spoke more or less exclusively in "standard" Japanese.

Still, I can appreciate where he is at and where he is going, and the necessity he feels towards never using English. I think most of us who have lived here for awhile can understand that necessity. Again, thanks for the link.
Here is where he loses me. I think in an increasingly more interconnected, interdependent world, English ability will be more important for Okinawans to both get their point of view out there, and to be able to control their own destiny culturally and economically. Exactly when and how they learn it can certainly be improved upon.

[TheLastDon]

I wonder what Fija Bairon thinks about 流神マブヤー.

I think it's a good way for young kids to get familiar with uchinaguchi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG--lOiIVac&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%E6%B5%81%E7%A5%9E%E3%83%9E%E3%83%96 %E3%83%A4%E3%8

[TheLastDon]

Seriously, I love this show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWw4tkbBjgU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu7xrvLQlCI&feature=related

[Richard Burns]

Naturalizing citizens are going to redefine the definition:
To be Japanese does not restrict someone to only being born from native Japanese parents in Japan.

where have you been there are a ton of naturalized Japanese people. To be Japanese never exclusivly meant being born from Native Japanese parents.

[P_chan]

I wonder what Fija Bairon thinks about 流神マブヤー.

I think it's a good way for young kids to get familiar with uchinaguchi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG--lOiIVac&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%E6%B5%81%E7%A5%9E%E3%83%9E%E3%83%96 %E3%83%A4%E3%8

LOL is the bad guy a habu? He's pretty bad ass and I like his theme music:D

:edit: LOL I'm not sure how to spell it but did he say "Ichiriba cho dae?". Oh and he keeps saying "sha sha sha sha", is that supposed to be the sound a snake makes?

[-Rudel-]

WHen I was at the Library near gate-2, I found a whole book typed up by a former Navy officer, who studied and indulged himself in the Uchinaguchi language. When I get back to Oki, I plan on getting that book again and scan all the pages to PDG. :D

This book go from Nasal sounds, to throat sound from different regions of Okinawa. It's very detailed.

The book is Yellow and in English. I found it near the Eisa poem books.

[P_chan]

I wonder what Fija Bairon thinks about 流神マブヤー.

I think it's a good way for young kids to get familiar with uchinaguchi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG--lOiIVac&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%E6%B5%81%E7%A5%9E%E3%83%9E%E3%83%96 %E3%83%A4%E3%8


LOL so I sent this video to my wife and asked her if she ever heard of it. Turns out she went to junior high with the guy who plays habu debiru. I'll have to get his autograph someday:D