Language

Within the Ryukyuan language (extending from Amami Oshima to Yonaguni), the Okinawan language itself is comprised of many diffferent dialects and sub-dialects from village to village.  The Shuri dialect was standardized under the Ryukyuan kingdom central administration estiablished by King Sho Shin (1477-1526).  It was the official language used in conversation by the aristocratic class of Shuri castle.  Most Okinawan songs and poems were composed in the Shuri dialect.

The Shuri dialect is characterized by complexity of honorific markers which differentiate class, sex, and age.  A diversity of respect forms was strictly adhered to among the three social classes of aristocracy, gentry, and commoners; between male and female; and also between different age groups.  The appropriate respect forms had to be used not only when two speakers were from the same class, same sex, and even to the same age when the hierarchical distinction only related to the month of birth.  When two speakers were completely different status, conversational usage was extremely complex.

The phonological characteristics of the Shuri dialect as compared to standard Japanese are mainly the vowel changes of e to i and o to u.  For exmaple, the word for rain is pronounced ame in Japanese while it is pronounced ami in Shuri.  In the same manner, the word for cloud is pronounced kumo in Japanese while it is pronounced kumu in Shuri.  Some differences between Japanese and Shuri dialect also exist in consonants.  Some of the common differences are as follows: