Okinawan scripts

{{For-text|the modern writing system|Okinawan language#Orthography. For the writing systems of the Ryukyuan languages in general, see Ryukyuan languages#Orthography}}

File:Letter of Kanamaru.jpg

Okinawan, spoken in Okinawa Island. Documents in Ryukyu Kingdom were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan.

Although generally agreed among linguists to be a distinct language, most Japanese, as well as some Okinawans, tend to think of Okinawan as merely a regional dialect of Japanese, even though it is not intelligible to monolingual Japanese speakers.{{Cite web|title=Okinawan, Central|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ryu|url-access=subscription|access-date=2022-02-24|website=Ethnologue|language=en}} Modern Okinawan is not written frequently. The Japanese writing system is used in Okinawan scripts.

File:スクリーンショット_2025-02-19_113245.png

Systems

=Conventional usages=

The modern conventional ad hoc spellings found in Okinawa.

=Council system=

The system devised by the Council for the Dissemination of Okinawan Dialect ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070307035533/http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~knaka/hogen/index.html 沖縄方言普及協議会]). [https://web.archive.org/web/20011031162127/http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/spe/kotoba20010829.html]

=University of the Ryukyus system=

This system was devised by [https://web.archive.org/web/20190512211946/http://ryukyu-lang.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/srnh/sign.html Okinawa Center of Language Study], a section of University of the Ryukyus. Unlike others, this method is intended purely as a phonetic guidance, and basically only uses katakana. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article.

=New Okinawan letters=

新沖縄文字 (Shin Okinawa-moji), devised by {{Nihongo|Yoshiaki Funazu|船津好明|Funazu Yoshiaki}}, in his textbook Utsukushii Okinawa no Hōgen (美しい沖縄の方言; "The beautiful Okinawan Dialect"; {{ISBN|4-905784-19-0}}). The rule applies to hiragana only. Katakana is used as in Japanese; just like in the conventional usage of Okinawan.

Basic syllables and kai-yōon (palatalized syllables)

		i	u	e	o	ya	yu	yo
class="wikitable"
(Initial) ¹		{{IPA\|[i]}} {{IPA\|[ji]}}	{{IPA\|[u]}} {{IPA\|[wu]}}	{{IPA\|[e]}} {{IPA\|[je]}}	{{IPA\|[o]}} {{IPA\|[wo]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[ja]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[ju]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[jo]}}
(Elsewhere)		colspan=4 \| (Not used) ²
Conventional		い　いぃ	ううぅ　をぅ	えいぇ	おをうぉ	rowspan=4 \| や	rowspan=4 \| ゆ	rowspan=4 \| よ
Council		ゆぃ	rowspan=2 \| をぅ	ゆぇ	rowspan=3 \| を
Ryukyu Univ.		ゐ	え
New Okinawan		い゙	14px	え゙
'	'a a	'i i	'u u	'e e	'o o	'ya	'yu	'yo
(Initial) ¹	{{IPA\|[ʔa]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔi]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔu]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔe]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔo]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[ʔja]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[ʔju]}}	rowspan=2 \| {{IPA\|[ʔjo]}}
(Elsewhere)	{{IPA\|[a]}}	{{IPA\|[i]}} {{IPA\|[ji]}}	{{IPA\|[u]}} {{IPA\|[wu]}}	{{IPA\|[e]}} {{IPA\|[je]}}	{{IPA\|[o]}} {{IPA\|[wo]}}
Conventional	rowspan=4 \| あ	rowspan=4 \| い	rowspan=4 \| う	えいぇ	おうぉ	や	ゆ	よ
Council	え	rowspan=3 \| お	っや	っゆ	っよ
Ryukyu Univ.	いぇ	いゃ	いゅ	いょ
New Okinawan	え	14px	14px	14px
k	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko	kya
	{{IPA\|[ka]}}	{{IPA\|[ki]}}	{{IPA\|[ku]}}	{{IPA\|[ke]}}	{{IPA\|[ko]}}	{{IPA\|[kja]}}
	か	き	く	け	こ	きゃ
g	ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gya
	{{IPA\|[ɡa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡu]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡe]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡo]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡja]}}
	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご	ぎゃ
s	sa	si (s-i) ! su	(sye) se ! so	sya	syu
	{{IPA\|[sa]}}	{{IPA\|[ʃi]}}	{{IPA\|[su]}}	{{IPA\|[ʃe]}}	{{IPA\|[so]}}	{{IPA\|[ʃa]}}	{{IPA\|[ʃu]}}
Others	rowspan=2 \| さ	し	rowspan=2 \| す	しぇ	rowspan=2 \| そ	rowspan=2 \| しゃ	rowspan=2 \| しゅ
Ryukyu Univ.	しすぃ	しぇせ
t	ta	ti	tu	te	to
	{{IPA\|[ta]}}	{{IPA\|[ti]}}	{{IPA\|[tu]}}	{{IPA\|[te]}}	{{IPA\|[to]}}
Others	rowspan=2 \| た	てぃ	とぅ	rowspan=2 \| て	rowspan=2 \| と
New Okinawan	14px	14px
d	da	di	du	de	do
	{{IPA\|[da]}}	{{IPA\|[di]}}	{{IPA\|[du]}}	{{IPA\|[de]}}	{{IPA\|[do]}}
Others	rowspan=2 \| だ	でぃ	どぅ	rowspan=2 \| で	rowspan=2 \| ど
New Okinawan	14px	14px
ts		tsi	tsu
		{{IPA\|[tsi]}} {{IPA\|[tʂi]}}	{{IPA\|[tsu]}}
Ryukyu Univ.		つぃ	つ
z	za ! zi (dzi) ! zu (dzu) ! ze ! zo !
	{{IPA\|[dza]}}	{{IPA\|[dzi]}} {{IPA\|[dʐi]}}	{{IPA\|[dzu]}}	{{IPA\|[dze]}}	{{IPA\|[dzo]}}
Others	rowspan=2 \| ざ	じ	ず	rowspan=2 \| ぜ	rowspan=2 \| ぞ
Ryukyu Univ.	づぃ	ずづ
ty c	tya ca	tyi ci	tyu cu	tye ce	tyo co
	{{IPA\|[tʃa]}}	{{IPA\|[tʃi]}}	{{IPA\|[tʃu]}}	{{IPA\|[tʃe]}}	{{IPA\|[tʃo]}}
	ちゃ	ち	ちゅ	ちぇ	ちょ
zy dy ! zya dya ! zyi dyi ! zyu dyu ! zye dye ! zyo dyo !
	{{IPA\|[dʒa]}}	{{IPA\|[dʒi]}}	{{IPA\|[dʒu]}}	{{IPA\|[dʒe]}}	{{IPA\|[dʒo]}}
Others	じゃ	じ	じゅ	じぇ	じょ
Ryukyu Univ.	じゃぢゃ	じぢ	じゅぢゅ	じぇぢぇ	じょぢょ
n	na	ni	nu	ne	no	nya	nyu
	{{IPA\|[na]}}	{{IPA\|[ɲi]}}	{{IPA\|[nu]}}	{{IPA\|[ne]}}	{{IPA\|[no]}}	{{IPA\|[ɲa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɲu]}}
	な	に	ぬ	ね	の	にゃ	にゅ
h	ha	hi	hu hwu ! he	ho	hya	hyu	hyo
	{{IPA\|[ha]}}	{{IPA\|[çi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɸu]}}	{{IPA\|[çe]}}	{{IPA\|[ho]}}	{{IPA\|[ça]}}	{{IPA\|[çu]}}	{{IPA\|[ço]}}
	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ	ひゃ	ひゅ	ひょ
b	ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bya	byu	byo
	{{IPA\|[ba]}}	{{IPA\|[bi]}}	{{IPA\|[bu]}}	{{IPA\|[be]}}	{{IPA\|[bo]}}	{{IPA\|[bja]}}	{{IPA\|[bju]}}	{{IPA\|[bjo]}}
	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ	びゃ	びゅ	びょ
p	pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pya	pyu
	{{IPA\|[pa]}}	{{IPA\|[pi]}}	{{IPA\|[pu]}}	{{IPA\|[pe]}}	{{IPA\|[po]}}	{{IPA\|[pja]}}	{{IPA\|[pju]}}
	ぱ	ぴ	ぷ	ぺ	ぽ	ぴゃ	ぴゅ
m	ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mya	myu	myo
	{{IPA\|[ma]}}	{{IPA\|[mi]}}	{{IPA\|[mu]}}	{{IPA\|[me]}}	{{IPA\|[mo]}}	{{IPA\|[mja]}}	{{IPA\|[mju]}}	{{IPA\|[mjo]}}
	ま	み	む	め	も	みゃ	みゅ	みょ
r	ra	ri	ru	re	ro
	{{IPA\|[ɾa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɾi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɾu]}}	{{IPA\|[ɾe]}}	{{IPA\|[ɾo]}}
	ら	り	る	れ	ろ

: ¹: At the beginning of a word.

: ²: University of the Ryukyus system is an exception, always using ゐ, をぅ, え, を (ヰ, ヲゥ, エ, ヲ) for {{IPA|[i]}}, {{IPA|[u]}}, {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[o]}}, and い, う, いぇ, お (イ, ウ, イェ, オ) for {{IPA|[ʔi]}}, {{IPA|[ʔu]}}, {{IPA|[ʔe]}}, {{IPA|[ʔo]}}, respectively.

Gō-yōon (labialised syllables)

	wa	wi	we
class="wikitable"
	{{IPA\|[ɰa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɰi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɰe]}}
Conventional	rowspan=4 \| わ	rowspan=2 \| うぃ	rowspan=2 \| うぇ
Council
Ryukyu Univ.	ゑぃ	rowspan=2 \| ゑ
New Okinawan	ゐ
'	'wa	'wi	'we
	{{IPA\|[ʔɰa]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔɰi]}}	{{IPA\|[ʔɰe]}}
Conventional	わ	うぃ	うぇ
Council	っわ	っうぃ	っうぇ
Ryukyu Univ.	うゎ	うゐ	うぇ
New Okinawan	24px	24px	24px
k	kwa qua	kwi qui	kwe que
	{{IPA\|[kʷa]}}	{{IPA\|[kʷi]}}	{{IPA\|[kʷe]}}
Conventional	くぁくゎ	rowspan=2 \| くぃ	rowspan=3 \| くぇ
Council	rowspan=2 \| くゎ
Ryukyu Univ.	くゐ
New Okinawan	24px	24px	24px
g	gwa	gwi	gwe
	{{IPA\|[ɡʷa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡʷi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɡʷe]}}
Conventional	ぐぁぐゎ	rowspan=2 \| ぐぃ	rowspan=3 \| ぐぇ
Council	rowspan=2 \| ぐゎ
Ryukyu Univ.	ぐゐ
New Okinawan	24px	24px	24px
h	fa hwa	fi hwi	fe hwe
	{{IPA\|[ɸa]}}	{{IPA\|[ɸi]}}	{{IPA\|[ɸe]}}
Conventional	rowspan=2 \| ふぁ	rowspan=3 \| ふぃ	rowspan=3 \| ふぇ
Council
Ryukyu Univ.	ふゎ
New Okinawan	24px	24px	24px

Others

	n ³	⁴	⁵
class="wikitable"
	ん	っ	ー
'	'n
Conventional	ん
Council	rowspan=2 \| っん
Ryukyu Univ.
New Okinawan	24px

: ³: Hatsuon (moraic n)

: ⁴: Sokuon (geminated consonants)

: ⁵: Chōon (longer vowels): In conventional usages, longer vowels are sometimes spelled like in mainland Japanese as well; "ou" (おう) for ō, doubled kana for others. (e.g. うう for ū.)

References

External links

[https://www.pref.okinawa.lg.jp/site/bunka-sports/bunka/shinko/documents/02_shimakutubahyouki.pdf 沖縄県における「しまくとぅば」の表記について] (Trans.: About the notation of "Shimakutuba" in Okinawa Prefecture), March 2020. Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Okinawa Prefecture.

Category:Ryukyuan languages

Category:Japanese writing system