Yonaguni writing. Yonaguni numbers. Yonaguni language resources. Yonaguni is one of the Ryukyuan languages or dialects, as classified by Japan , with about remaining speakers and based in the westernmost part of Japan, close to Taiwan, as shown at 1 in this dialect map from The Languages of Japan Shibatani, :. There are two tones: high and low.
The former is marked with an acute accent , while the latter is represented with a grave one. Vowels are doubled to show that they are long. Stress is normally found on the first syllable that has a long vowel. If there is none , the last syllable is stressed.
Nouns are marked for number singular and plural. Gender is not explicitly marked but can be expressed using prefixes. Inanimate nouns do not distinguish gender. There are no articles. Personal pronouns are classified into two sets , one of which is used to indicate only the subject , while the other can be used for both subject and object. Third-person pronouns do not make a gender distinction. Verbs are marked for mood, aspect, person, and number , but not for tense , which is expressed by a combination of aspect, inherent lexical aspect, and context.
Pronunciation differences have been reported, but there is no official dialect classification. The former is marked with an acute accent. Some dialects feature a third, mid tone. Words never begin with a vowel. Nouns are marked for possession and number. However, the plural suffix is not usually used. Nominal roles in the sentence are expressed by postpositions , which act like suffixes. There are three classes of object pronouns: verbal object, nominal object, and postpositional object.
Subject pronouns are incorporated into the verb. Verbs are marked for tense, mood, aspect, person, and number. In addition to the common three persons, there are two additional persons: indefinite human and indefinite nonhuman. Tlingit used to have five dialects, Northern, Transitional, Southern, Inland, and Tongass , but the latter became extinct in the s.
