There is a consensus that phonetically notated "p" with the consonantal valuation of [h] dates back to times before any written records were kept. I intend to demonstrate through the data I gathered during my field research trips that the derivation of the phonetically notated "p" is possibly linked to the phonetic transitional process described as [Φ]>[p]. The same process seems to be also related to the vowel shift that resulted in a decrease in the number of vowels employed in the Ryukyu Archipelago from five to three, which yielded [p] and [p^?] in Northern Ryukyu and [p] and [f] in Southern Ryukyu dialects, respectively. If the five-vowel era is granted as the originating point in the consonantal phonetic shift, then, premising [Φ] as the starting phonetic value of the consonantal valuations related to /h/ seems quite reasonable as well. The same phonetic shift also seems to have entailed a process that can be described as [w]>[b]. In view of such phonetic transition and the presumed contemporaneous introduction of relevant vocabulary into the region, I also focus on the relative recentness of the occurrence of the phonetically notated "p". As further elucidation of the phonetic transitional process [Φ]>[p], which most likely took place in the region, I also bring attention to some words that evidently demonstrate the transitional process [kw]>[Φ]>[p].

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This paper examines the transcriptions of Ryukyuan with Chinese characters in the Liuqiu ruxue jianwenlu (1763) in order to discover the sound values of the consonants in the syllables /ha/ and /ka/, and whether the consonant in the syllable /ki/ had palatalized or not. It is concluded that the sound value of /ka/ in some Ryukyuan words was not velar [ka] but instead was glottal [ha] like that of the modern Kudaka and Kikai-jima dialects, and that the consonant in /ha/ had already changed from bilabial plosive [p-] to [hw-] (or[Φ-]) with the exception of one word. It is also shown that the voiceless consonant in [ki] had not yet palatalized, but in some of the vocabulary [gi-] had palatalized to [dzi-]. Chinese characters used in the Liuqiu ruxue jianwenlu reflect the pronunciation of Nanjing Mandarin that Ryukyuan students learned in Beijing China. This is the reason why the Chinese character 色 is used in order to translate the Chinese word 蝦, 'shrimp' in English, Ryukyuan /see/. The pronunciation of 色 for Ryukyuan /see/ reflects the pronunciation of Nanjing Mandarin [s〓], not Beijing Mandarin [sai]. This is a good example to illustrate that Nanjing Mandarin is the base language which was used for the transcription.

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As the desiderative, -itasi first appears as a colloquial expression. This paper proposes a scenario of how the adjective itasi became a desiderative, taking over from the earlier -amaFosi, based on a distinction between post-verbal POSI and ITASI observed in a number of Ryukyuan dialects. In the Hatoma dialect (Southern Ryukyuan), -pus- (POSI) is the desiderative form, but -cca- (ITASI) is also attested, used predominantly when denoting involuntary physical actions. A similar situation is found in the Northern Ryukyuan dialect of Tsuha. In the Agarisuji dialect (Southern Ryukyuan), both POSI and ITASI can be used with the same verbs but the -cca- (ITASI) form implies a very strong form of desire, bordering on necessity. Necessity is what ITASI with involuntary actions indicates, so it can be seen that the Agarisuji situation is a development of the situation observed in the other dialects, with ITASI now co-occurring with controllable actions. It has been noted in the literature that, in contrast with -amaFosi, -itasi was commonly used with verbs expressing physiological desires. This is what would be expected if desiderative ITASI developed from the use of ITASI with involuntary physiological processes, meaning 'extreme feeling / necessity'. I propose that the desiderative usage of ITASI developed from a much earlier usage of ITASI with verbs denoting involuntary physical actions, meaning 'need to'. This is attested in the form nebu-tasi 'be sleepy', but it would also have been widely used in reference to other actions like going to the toilet or vomiting. Because the semantic change from 'sore' to 'physical necessity' appears to be rare (although a similar change is attested in the Yuman language of Hualapai), it is proposed that ITASI already had this meaning in Proto Japano-Ryukyuan, and that the development from 'physical necessity' to desiderative took place independently in mainland Japanese and the Ryukyuan dialects where ITASI is the general desiderative.

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The aim of this study is to describe yari-morai constructions in the Yaeyama Ryukyuan, and to point out that the honorific yari-morai verbs in Yaeyama have a system closely similar to that of Pre-modern Japanese. I will especially focus on taborun and taborarin, which are honorific words. Taborun is almost the same as kudasaru in Modern Common Japanese, but sometimes is used in the sense of itadaku or oataeninaru. On the other hand, taborarin basically means itadaku. In Common Japanese kudasaru and itadaku cannot be used with the same construction, such as "X-ga Y-ni hon-o kudasarul *itadaku" (where X's social position is higher than Y's), meaning "X gives the book to Y". But taborun and taborarin can be used with the same construction, such as "X-gara Y-ge hon-ju taborun/taborarin." in the Miyara dialect. Here, X can take the ablative case. Taborun thus has a different grammar from Modern Common Japanese, which has restrictions on givers and/or receivers NPs in yari-morai constructions. Yari-morai constructions in Yaeyama do not have such person restrictions. They are similar to constructions in Pre-modern Japanese. I found the meaning of taborun is close to that of tamawaru in Pre-modern Japanese of about the 15th-16th century. In Yaeyama and Pre-modern Japanese, yari-morai constructions have an honorific-priority system; the verb which shows giving or receiving is chosen according to the deference for giver or receiver, in place of person restrictions. In those systems, I found the following common typological features: (1) The nominative case does not have to be used. A giver takes the ablative case, therefore the contrast in the meanings of oataeninaru, kudasaru and itadaku is lost. (2) When receivers become the subject, a passive verb is used, like tamaw-aru from tamawu in Pre-modern Japanese, and tabor-arin from taborun in the Yaeyama Ryukyuan.

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Honorificity in the Taketomi dialect, as well as in the other Yaeyama dialects, is expressed in two ways: one is through the use of topic-person-oriented honorifics, which function as expressing respect for the person who is the topic, indicated by honorific verbs or auxiliary verbs; the other is through the use of addressee-oriented honorifics, which function to show politeness toward the addressee, indicated by sentence-final particles. Regarding the former type, in this paper I focus on the subject honorific auxiliary verb to:ruN (a respectable person 'gives'), and the object honorific auxiliary verbs oisuN ('give' to a respectable person) and Q∫eriruN ('say' to a respectable person), investigating in what context these can be used and at what stage of the bleaching (grammaticalizing) process they are located. It is observed that with the auxiliary to:ruN, the benefactive meaning is diminished; on the other hand, the auxiliary Q∫riruN retains the meaning of 'saying'. Regarding the latter addressee-oriented honorific sentence-final particles, I considered the distinction between ju: and na:ra. Though politeness toward the addressee is common to both particles, ju: expresses that the speaker keeps a distance from the addressee, whereas na:ra is used to actively show that the speaker and addressee share a common position.

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Many scholars have argued that the du particle in the Ryukyuan language and zo particle in Old Japanese texts are cognate, and have proposed that Ryukyuan has the kakari construction. This claim is based on the fact that the syntactic construction in which the particle du links to a non-conclusive conjugational form is very common in the Ryukyuan language. This is similar to the kakari construction where the particle zo takes the rentaikei or adnominal form. In Ryukyuan there are other particles that behave in the same way as the particle du. They are the ga, and kuse particles. Uchima (1985), investigating the ga particle in Naha, Nakasone (1983), looking into the particles ga and kuse in Nakijin, and Hirasawa (1985), studying the particles ga and nu in Miyako dialects, claim that Ryukyuan has a set of the kakari constructions. However contrary to their claims, by pointing out that the particles du and ga do not always require the rentaikei form or the realis form to complete the sentence, I argue that kakari constructions do not exist in Ryukyuan. Although the Ryukyuan particles in question seem to behave like the kakari particles in Old Japanese, they are not the same as far as their functions are concerned. My scrutiny of the constructions concludes that the particles in Ryukyuan are focus markers.

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This work aims to verify within Ryukyuan languages and dialects the validity of the authors' kakari musubi hypothesis (including reconstruction of Proto-Japonic forms, typologies, origins, and detailed historical changes), heretofore built up through comparisons and analysis within the Okinawan and Japanese languages. In the |ga|-Type kakari musubi hypothesis that this work focuses on, we distinguished three usage subtypes, Type I (agreement of sentence-internal |ga| and the so-called mizenkei), Type II (agreement of sentence-internal |ga| and the more conventional adnominal form), and the sentence-particle use of the kakari particle. The test shows that the Type I and Type II patterns and functions in Kushi dialect of Kunigami district of Okinawa accord with the hypothesis, and that its pseudo-sentence-final usage is interpretable as a grammaticalization from the Type II pattern. In the dialects Inokawa (Tokunoshima island), Benoki and Kanna (Kunigami), and Hatoma (Yaeyama in the Sakishima group), we have presented our views concerning the voiced / voiceless allophones of |ga| in its sentence-particle usage. We have proposed a heretofore unnoticed sound change in Torishima dialect for a usage in which the construction appears to be Type II but the function Type I, and thus argued that these data do not disprove our hypothesis. In addition, with regard to a discrepancy of form and function in Nishizato dialect of Miyako, we attempted a defense of our hypothesis. Finally, we disagreed with the generally accepted explanation that Nakijin |kuse:| is the cognate of Japanese koso, and laid out our hypothesis that |ga| played a part in its emergence.

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No Ryukyuan language has a general writing system, or orthography, which is no doubt a powerful tool for helping a language to survive, especially in the modern world. This paper argues that there are two possible factors that have brought about this current situation: socio-political history and linguistic diversity. The socio-political factor refers to the fact that there have been few chances for a writing system specifically devised for Ryukyuan to be developed in the history of the languages. One of the very few chances was when the Ryukyu Kingdom was established in the fifteenth century. However, it ended up with no orthography of its own. The factor of linguistic diversity also causes a big problem in developing orthography. It is well known that Ryukyuan languages consist of diverse varieties, and linguists have tried to publish dictionaries and other materials for individual varieties. Although many authors adopt kana-based systems, they use different modifications. In other words, linguists have not reached an agreement as to how to devise a consistent writing system, especially for lay persons to use. Instead, they have simply employed their own ways of writing, leaving people with inconsistent orthographies that differ from person to person. It is thus urgently necessary for researchers to get together and develop a consistent writing system for Ryukyuan languages from a wider perspective and to start discussing relevant issues such as whether alphabetic letters or syllabic letters should be used.

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The establishment of Ryukyuan linguistics as a discipline in its own rights is rather recent. This manifests, among other things, in the late establishment of sociolinguistic research. Prominent topics of sociolinguistic research in the past few years have mainly focused on assessing the degree of language endangerment, the study of language shift, and the study of Ryukyu's changing language regime. This leaves many important fields of research unexplored at present. Ryukyuan sociolinguistics henceforth will need to grow considerably, and cooperate more closely with descriptive research and attempts of language revitalization, if it is to play a decisive role in supporting Ryukyuan language maintenance.

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The object of this paper is to introduce a prototype of the Digital Museum Project in our attempt at the documentation of Ikema, one of the endangered dialects of Southern Ryukyuan, spoken on Miyakojima Island, Okinawa, Japan. The language is no longer acquired by younger people, and is spoken fluently only by people in their 60's or older. We have been studying one of the dialects of the language spoken in Nishihara since January 2006, and have made recordings of natural discourse and elicitation sessions totaling over 500 hours. The local people, especially the senior generations, are deeply concerned about the imminent disappearance of their language and culture, and have been making every effort to pass them on to younger generations. Their enthusiasm culminated in the creation of a vernacular musical titled Nishihara Muradate (The Making of Nishihara Village), depicting their migration to Nishihara from the Ikema Island, their ancestral island in 1874. It was performed in July 2007, at the 45th anniversary of the foundation of Midorikai, the local senior members club, with about a hundred people participating in the performance. It was filmed by Miyako Television, a local broadcasting station, and was made into a DVD. Attempts at documenting the language are also being made by a nursery school principal, who has written fairy tales for children, scored traditional songs, and collected proverbs about raising children, all prepared bilingually in Ikema and the standard Japanese. We will introduce a digital museum, a web-based digital storage space that we are constructing to store the recordings we have made and to make the works accomplished by local people accessible to the public.

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The author's past research has focused on the etymologies of words (omoro, gusuku, teda, etc.) on the one hand, and grammatical properties (kakarimusubi or particle-predicate dependency, adjectives, etc.) on the other, of Okinawan, by comparing the language used in Omorosausi with classical Yamato Japanese. In the present article, I turn to (a) the original meaning of dyau (often written in the literature with the Kanji character for 'gate'), (b) the etymology of urizun (the name of a season around the third month of the lunar calendar), (c) a and wa, both of which are first-person pronouns, and (d) the Omorosausi notation vs. pronunciation of the particle ha. The present article argues (a) that dyau originally meant a lock for a gate, and, (b) through an examination of its usages in Omorosausi, that the original source of urizun should be traced to 'the cleaning (of the air) by being moistened (by rain fallen on the ground)'. Furthermore, an examination of usages of those first-person pronouns that can be classified into the a-group and the wa-group has found (c) that different kinds of words tend to follow a-ga and wa-ga. Finally, the present article claims (d) that those particles written as ha were pronounced /ba/ rather than /wa/ when their grammatical functions corresponded to that of the particle o.

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