#murasachi

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Sketch Dump #2

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Basic Okinawan Colors

This vocabulary list includes some basic colors in Okinawan. Because colors usually fall under the category of adjectives, there are both na-Adjectives and sa-Adjectives on this list. 

White: 白・しるー・Shiruu (na-Adj.) // 白さん・しるさん・Shirusan (sa-Adj.)

Gray: 灰色・ふぇーいる・Feeiru (na-Adj.)

Black: 黒・くるー・Kuruu (na-Adj.) // 黒さん・くるさん・Kurusan (sa-Adj.)

Purple: 紫・むらさち��Murasachi (na-Adj.)

Blue: 青色・おーるー・Ooruu (na-Adj.) // 青さん・おーさん・Oosan (sa-Adj.)

Green: 緑・みどぅり・Miduri (na-Adj.)

Yellow: 黄色・ちーる・Chiiru (na-Adj.)

Orange:  橙色・でーでーいる・Deedeeiru (na-Adj.)

Pink: 桃色・むむいる・Mumuiru (na-Adj.)

Red: 赤・あか・Aka (na-Adj.) // 赤さん・あかさん・Akasan (sa-Adj.)

Brown: 茶色・ちゃーいる・Chaairu (na-Adj.)

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A redraw of a picrew of one of my characters and a monkey boi

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Okinawan Topic-Marking Particle — Ya

The Okinawan language is one that is held together with particles, simple words that mark the grammatical role the word it follows plays in the sentence. Today, let’s start with one of the most important particles in Okinawan, the particle that marks the topic of the sentence — Ya.

Tip for Japanese Speakers: Ya is the Okinawan equivalent to the Japanese topic-marking particle は. However, please continue reading to learn about particle assimilation, something that exists in Okinawan but not in Japanese.

In the English sentence That is a cat, “That” is the topic of the sentence (often overlapping with the concept of the subject of the sentence). In Okinawan, we mark the topic of the sentence with the ya particle. Let’s look at some example sentences. 

今日や木曜日やん。 ちゅうやもくよーびやん。 Chuu ya Mokuyoobi yan. Today is Thursday.

ごーやーや野菜やん。 ごーやーややしぇーやん。 Gooyaa ya yashee yan. Goya is a vegetable. 

沖縄や島やん。 うちなーやしまやん。 Uchinaa ya shima yan. Okinawa is an island.

There is one important thing to keep in mind when using the ya particle, and that’s particle assimilation. Note that for all the examples above, I chose nouns that ended in double vowels. Chuu, Gooyaa, Uchinaa. This is because if the word before the particle ends in a double vowel, the ya is NOT assimilated. You simply place the ya after the word as seen above without any changes.

HOWEVER, if the word before the ya does NOT end in a double vowel, then the ya IS assimilated. Here are some rules to keep in mind:

If the word before the ya ends in an -a sound, the ya is assimilated and the word ending becomes -aa. 

Hana + ya = Hanaa くぬ花ー紫やん。 くぬはなーむらさちやん。 Kunu hanaa murasachi yan. This flower is purple. 

If the word before the ya ends in an -i sound or an -e sound, the ya is assimilated and the word ending becomes -ee. 

Sui + ya = Suee 首里えー所やん。 すえーとぅくるやん。 Suee tukuru yan. Shuri is a place.

If the word before the ya ends in an -u sound or an -o sound, the ya is assimilated and the word ending becomes -oo. 

Basu + ya = Basoo バソーくまやん。 Basoo kuma yan. The bus is here.

If the word before the ya ends in an -n sound, the ya is assimilated and the word ending becomes -noo.

Sanshin + ya = Sanshinoo 三振のー鳴物やん。 さんしのーないむんやん。 Sanshinoo naimun yan. The Sanshin is an instrument.

There is one more exception and that is the first person pronoun wan (I, Me). Instead of wan ya, the ya is assimilated to become the unique word wannee. 

Wan + ya = Wannee わんねーアミリカ人やん。 わんねーアミリカんちゅやん。 Wannee Amirikanchu yan. I am an American.

[I should note here that I’m not 100% certain on the majirigachi when it comes to ya assimilation. I do know that 三振のー is correct. In that example, though 三振 is read as さんしん, it loses that final ん in its reading when や is assimilated, making it さんし・のー. Does that mean it’s okay to drop the final character in the reading of all assimilated words that have their final sound adjusted? If that’s the case, then 首里, which is read as すい, would become 首里えー (すえー), correct? But it seems strange to take something like 雨 (あみ) and make it 雨めー to me. I’ll let you know if I find anything more about ya assimilation in the writing style of majirigachi but for now, we’ll follow 三振のー as a model.] 

In review:

The Okinawan language uses particles to create sentences.

Ya is the topic marking particle and is placed after the topic of the sentence.

Ya can be assimilated into the topic word depending on the final sound of the topic word. 

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Okinawan Particle N — Also, Too

Now that we’ve covered the topic-marking particle ya, let’s take a look at the particle n which represents “also” or “too.”

Tip for Japanese Speakers: The Okinawan particle n is the equivalent to the Japanese particle も. However, just  as with the Okinawan particle ya, there are some assimilation rules that don’t exist in Japanese so keep reading!

To use the n particle, simply attach it to the end of the word in question that “also” or “too” would apply to. Let’s look at some examples and I’m sure you’ll understand right away. 

ごーやーん野菜やん。 ごーやーんやしぇーやん。 Gooyaan yashee yan. Goya is also a vegetable. 

沖縄ん島やん。 うちなーんしまやん。 Uchinaan shima yan. Okinawa is an island, too. 

くぬ花ん紫やん。 くぬはなんむらさちやん。 Kunu hanan murasachi yan. This flower is also purple. 

As you can see, the n directly attaches to the word before it. However, what do we do if the word before it already ends in an -n? In that case, instead of a double nn, the final n of the word is dropped and -nun is attached.

三振ぬん鳴物やん。 さんしぬんないむんやん。 Sanshinun naimun yan.  The Sanshin is an instrument, too.

And, just like with ya assimilation, wan (I, me) is an exception as it becomes wannin.

我にん沖縄人やん。 わんにんうちなーんちゅやん。 Wannin Uchinaanchu yan. I’m Okinawan, too.

Note: I recently discovered that the kanji form of wan is 我. While in previous versions I wrote wan with Hiragana, in the future I will use 我 in majirigachi. I do believe that わん is still appropriate in majirigachi, but I will use it to illustrate it’s majirigachi form. 

In review:

N is the particle that has the meaning of “too”, “as well”, or “also.”

N is attached directly to the end of the word before it, sometimes resulting in altered versions of the word to make room for the particle.