Comments on: Japan’s OTHER Languages

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 07:34:00 +0000

According to Wikipedia, Yaeyama’s vowels are actually ‘a’, ‘i’, and ‘u’ instead of ‘o’.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaeyama_language

By: Yaipon

Yaipon — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:57:00 +0000

Actually there are more… There are more deep dialects in Okinawa – some eight if I am not mistaken. Also, the picture near “Hachijojima” depicts Aogashima island. Would be nice to change it. :)

By: Jonadab

Jonadab — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:21:00 +0000

> Some say that [the Northern Cities Vowel Shift is]
> one of the biggest changes to English in 1,000 years.

That’s a significant exaggeration. A thousand years ago puts you cleanly in the pre-Norman period. The “English” of that period (Old English) is arguably closer to modern German than it is to modern English. It’s certainly closer to Old Germanic than it is to modern English. Nouns inflected according to a five-case system, for crying out loud. The vowel pronunciations in Old English are closer to Latin than to modern English. Don’t even get me started on the pronouns.

The Northern Cities accent is by comparison extremely subtle. You really only notice it if you hear short phrases in isolation, or if you’re paying close attention. It is nowhere near as distinctive as, for example, a Texan accent (which is also comprised mainly of vowel shifts, albeit different ones) or even a New England accent (which has shifted only two or three vowels, but in a very noticeable way).

By: dosankodebbie

dosankodebbie — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:55:00 +0000

Great post. My sister is a JSL interpreter and has done academic research on at least one sign language in Japan that is linguistically distinct from JSL and not understood by those outside their community. I believe it formed spontaneously in a region that was once completely isolated from other regions of Japan and is still used there today. I don’t remember the details, but that means there is at least one more sign language other than the standardized JSL.

Also, being a translator and researcher of Ainu folklore, I should mention that there is more than one dialect of Ainu language even in Hokkaido, which makes for some difficulty in efforts to unite the Hokkaido Ainu into a politically significant community with one voice.

By: Robert Patrick

Robert Patrick — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 00:35:00 +0000

I must add something about JLS : what you’ve shown is just the hiragana spelling, like when there is reading of a kanji to explain, but of course you don’t speak JLS just by flashing hiragana spelling with your hands like ninjas casting seals in Naruto. There is a whole combination of facial expressions and hand movements, like in other sign languages.
And THAT’s where it becomes interesting : I’ve been studying Japanese for more than 10 years and served as an interpreter in a international reunion with deaf and non-deaf people : imagine my surprise when I saw an Isreali that had NEVER learned a single word of Japanese having a long and animated conversation with a Japanese that didn’t know a single word of Hebrew !
Both were deaf and though there are some minor differences between different countries sign language, there is enough of a common base for these people to communicate.

Deaf people from different countries were able to have conversations with each other that night whereas we, the speaking people, had to deal with our knowledge in each of the several languages we were facing (English does have that “international” purpose, but not everyone is actually fluent in English).

My point is : JLS is actually an international language.

By: Jonathan Harston

Jonathan Harston — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:53:00 +0000

I challenge you to watch Trainspotting or Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.