ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a long-term fieldwork held in parts of Ryukyuan islands in Japan. Linguists have traditionally claimed the Ryukyus is linguistically diverse, having five to six “endangered” indigenous Ryukyuan languages. The discourse of saving these Ryukyuan languages, as shown in many other Indigenous language communities also exists in the Ryukyuan linguistics, including the Yeayaman language community. This chapter challenges the assumption that “the South is diverse or that languages are endangered” (Pennycook & Makoni 2020: 17), by showing an example of one community from the Ryukyus. I use my long-term field experiences in language revitalization activities both in Yaeyaman and Okinawan community in the Ryukyus. By using ethnographic interviews, I show the assumption of promoting linguistic diversity, multilingualism or mother tongue education based on the gaze from the North could be painful for the Ryukyuan language communities. People in the Ryukyus are not conscious in what the Northern scholars call “multilingualism.” Multilingualism in the Ryukyus seems to be labelled from a Northern gaze, which affected how I viewed the Ryukyus after gaining higher education from European universities. By defining these local uses of languages by the Northern terminologies, there is a danger of creating another layer of colonialism. Finally, I attempt to question the concepts including “language endangerment” and “language revitalization.” In conclusion, I discuss a need for a decolonial solution based on local indigenous epistemologies.
