Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the current state of the Tsushima dialectal varieties of Japanese based on the data gathered during two fieldwork trips taken in 2018 and 2019. Their major features, internal variation, and the level of language attrition will be discussed.

Paper long abstract:

This paper deals with the current state of the Tsushima dialectal varieties of Japanese based on the data gathered during two fieldwork trips taken in 2018 and 2019. The data has been gathered from several different sites on the island: Tsutsu, Sago, Waniura, and Toyo. These sites were chosen for the relatively high usage of dialect in the daily speech and to be as representative of the variability of the dialectal varieties of Tsushima as possible. The sites are situated both in the very south (Tsutsu), and in the north, be it in the northwest (Sago), or at the northernmost tip of the island (Waniura and Toyo). These varieties belong to Western Japanese dialects, showing clear Western Japanese features with prominent Kyushu influence on one hand, and on the other hand vocabulary and features seldom encountered outside of Tsushima. While these varieties are clearly closely related, there is a discernable difference between the Tsutsu variety, and the northern varieties (Sago, Waniura, and Toyo) both in vocabulary and phonology. As with most dialectal varieties of Japanese, they are endangered by dialect leveling and massive adoption of standard Japanese by the younger generations.

Major grammatical features of these varieties and their vocabulary will be remarked upon, as well as on their relative levels of language attrition. The variation among them will also be discussed in detail. Finally, several remarks will be made on the history of these varieties as seen through the gathered modern data and its implications on the development of Japanese in general.

Paper short abstract:

Studies on the history of Japanese dialects have not been deepened. This paper examines manuscripts written in Cyrillic script reflecting the Kagoshima dialect in the 18th century, and identifies features of the manuscripts through an analysis of the passive affix.

Paper long abstract:

The term "History of Japanese language" often refers to the linguistic history of Japanese political and cultural centers because there are very few documents written in dialects. Therefore, the history of many dialects is not well understood. However, each dialect has its own history, and it is possible to trace its history from the few manuscripts written by chance in some regions.

We introduce Russian manuscripts written in a Japanese dialect that comprise bilingual Russian and Japanese material made by Gonza, a Japanese who drifted ashore in Russia in the first half of the 18th century. Since he was from Kagoshima, an area at the southern tip of mainland Japan, he translated his Japanese into Russian based on the Kagoshima dialect, not Central Japanese. Since this material is transcribed into Cyrillic, the pronunciation of the dialect at that time can be identified and the meanings of words and sentences can be clarified from the corresponding Russian translation. In this paper, I would like to show the characteristics and usefulness of the manuscripts, especially through the analysis of the passive affixes, and points to be noted regarding the Cyrillic transcription.

In these manuscripts, the passive affix appears as follows:

(1) passive affix

Russian：называюся（This word stands for called.）

Kagoshima dialect：иваюръ（iw-ajur）【Russian manuscript orbis pictus chapter 103】

On the other hand, in the modern Kagoshima dialect, -(r)aur is the passive suffix; -(r)ajur is not. Also, the passive affix -(r)arur in modern dialects is not used, but -(r)ar, which has a similar form, is used. And -(r)ar is said to express an honorific sense in the Russian manuscripts. In other words, there is a gap between the 18th century forms and the modern dialect, as shown in (2).

(2) 　18th century Modern Kagoshima dialect

passive：-(r)ajur -(r)arur

honorific：-(r)ar -jar

In this paper, we discuss the factors underlying the discrepancies between the materials in the Russian manuscripts and the modern dialects based on the characteristics of the materials. In addition, we would like to examine the voice system in the dialect at that time.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation addresses the potentials of "digital" linguistic ethnography, based on the author's making a documentary film on Miyako Island. The outcome appeared 1) to raise awareness of the speakers and 2) may well provide the platform of new "interactional sociolinguistics".

Paper long abstract:

In 2003, UNESCO announced that there are eight "endangered languages" in Japan, namely, Ainu, Hachijo, Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyakoan, Yaeyaman and Dunan (Yonaguni). The Myaakufutsu, Miyakoan language, is one of them.

During the modernization dating back to the Meiji period, Japanese language was widely spread through school education, teaching 'national language (kokugo)' and using hyojungo as medium of instruction, due to the Meiji central government's language policy of 'a standard language (hyojungo)' (Fujita-Round & Maher, 2008; Heinrich, 2015; Yasuda, 2006). As a result of these language education policies, some languages on Japan's periphery came to be endangered languages (Fujita-Round 2016).

In the author's fieldwork from 2012 to grasp the endangerment of Myaakufutsu in Miyako Island City, the author conducted questionnaire and follow-up interviews at Junior High School and extended the interviews to the selected pupils' parents and grandparents. In the community base fieldwork, the author has embarked on documenting interviews by video camera from 2015 collaborating with a video artist. Together with the scenes of islanders' effort of language revitalisation, we edited and finalized a documentary film in 2019 as a result of the research.

The digital technologies encouraged to articulate new directions of ethnography; such as virtual ethnography, internet ethnography and digital ethnography. In addition, a new sub-discipline of anthropology such as digital anthropology emerged (Varis & Hou, 2019: 229). However, author's documentary film is sprung from linguistic ethnography as a discipline within sociolinguistics, the "digital" ethnography approach supplemented the audio interview data more holistic, i.e. the speakers' native pronunciation, intonation and choice of words with their facial expression and also local features/contexts of background. Beyond our assumption, the documentary film was well received by the interviewees, particularly appreciated by those who are "passive" bilingual speakers. For the question to revitalize those languages framed as endangered, the digital approach may have future potentials to raise the awareness of the speakers in the endangered Ryukyuans.

Also, the digital linguistic ethnography may well demonstrate and provide the platform of new "interactional sociolinguistics". It was developed by John Gumperz, "a foundational figure in contemporary sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology (Rampton, 2019)".