ABSTRACT
The Ryukyuan languages are in a sister relationship with Japanese, and these two language groups form the Japonic family. The Ryukyuan languages fall into Northern Ryukyuan (Amami and Okinawan) and Southern Ryukyuan (Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni, see Lawrence’s and Izuyama’s chapters in this volume). This chapter presents a grammatical sketch of Northern Ryukyuan, with an exclusive focus on the Shuri dialect (Okinawan). Shuri is spoken in an area that was once the capital of the Ryukyu dynasty (ad 1429–1879), and has thus been regarded by the local people as a dominant and prestigious language among all Ryukyuan languages and their sub-varieties. Its written history goes back to the sixteenth century, adapting the Japanese writing system. All Ryukyuan languages including Shuri are, however, in imminent danger of extinction, given that fluent native speakers are in their sixties or older, and that younger generations do not acquire or use Ryukyuan in their daily life, nor do they have a chance to learn it in school. All but two of the eight endangered languages identified by Moseley (2010) are Ryukyuan, including (Shuri) Okinawan as ‘definitely endangered’.
