# Ryukyuan perspectives on the proto-Japonic vowel system

Thomas Pellard

► To cite this version:

Thomas Pellard. Ryukyuan perspectives on the proto-Japonic vowel system. Frellesvig, Bjarke; Sells, Peter. Japanese/Korean Linguistics 20, CSLI Publications, pp.81–96, 2013, 9781575866383. hal-01289288

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<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Ryukyuan perspectives on the
Proto-Japonic vowel system

Thomas PELLARD

JSPS–Kyoto University

## 1 Introduction

The Ryukyuan languages are a family of (at least) five endangered languages spoken in the Ryūkyū Islands, an archipelago stretched between Kyūshū and Taiwan and naturally delimited by the Kuroshio current (Figure 1). They form a sister branch to Japanese, and both derive from a common ancestor, Proto-Japonic (PJ). Ryukyuan can be divided into a Northern branch that includes Amami and Okinawan, and a Southern branch comprising Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni (Pellard 2009).

Traditionally, Japanese historical linguistics has been virtually synonymous with philology, and the reconstruction of PJ has thus exclusively relied on the evidence from the Old Japanese (OJ) texts of the 8th c. CE. Comparative data from the Ryukyuan languages is nevertheless of great importance for this topic, though this importance is still too often underestimated.

In particular, it is known since Hattori (1932, 1978–1979) that the Ryukyuan vowels do not straightforwardly correspond to the Old Japanese ones, and a careful comparison of Ryukyuan and OJ requires reconstructing more vowels in Proto-Japonic than usually posited.
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>FIGURE 1 The Ryukyuan languages</figcaption></figure>

Based on data I collected in the field and from existing sources,<fnref n="1" /> I adduce new comparative evidence from several Ryukyuan languages that add further support to the reconstruction of six vowels in Proto-Japonic, and I propose to reconstruct a new diphthong, namely *oi.

## 2 The reconstruction of the PJ vowel system

### 2.1 The four-vowel hypothesis (4VH)

The application of the method of internal reconstruction to the vowel alternations and vowel crasis phenomena of OJ has led many scholars to reconstruct, more or less independently, only four vowels in PJ (Miller 1967, Matsumoto 1975, Ōno 1977, Whitman 1985, Martin 1987), represented in Figure 2. The other vowels of OJ and later Japanese are said to be later developments of diphthongs constituted of the above four primary vowels: $i_2 < PJ *ui, *əi; e_1 < *ia, *iə; e_2 < *ai, *əi; o_1 < *ua, *au, *uə$.

<footnote n="1">¹ The map in Figure 1 gives the location of the different dialects mentioned in this study. Varieties for which I have first-hand data coming from my own fieldwork (Sakamine, Yuwan, Koniya, Ōgami, Yonaguni) are indicated in italics. In addition, I have used the following sources: Koniya: Uchima and Arakaki (2000), Yoron: Kiku and Takahashi (2005); Boma: Nakama (1992); Nakijin: Nakasone (1983); Shuri: Kokuritsu kokugo kenkyūjo (1963); Hirara: Nevskij (1922–1928 [2005]); Ishigaki: Miyagi (2003); Hateruma: Miyanaga (1930); Yonaguni: Ikema (2003).</footnote>
i

u

ə

a

<caption>FIGURE 2 The four-vowel hypothesis</caption>

This reconstruction is however problematic since it does not take into consideration any comparative data from the Ryukyuan languages, and in fact is not able to account for it, as will be shown below.

## 2.2 The PJ six-vowel hypothesis (6VH)

Previous works on the comparative reconstruction of Ryukyuan and Japanese (Hattori 1978–1979, Thorpe 1983, Serafim 1999, 2008, Pellard 2008, 2009) have led to the addition of two mid vowels, *e and *o, to the 4VH (Figure 3).

i

u

e

ə

o

a

<caption>FIGURE 3 The 6-vowel hypothesis</caption>

For several decades, this hypothesis has been mostly rejected, and the 4VH has remained, and still does for some scholars, the common *doxa* in Japanese historical linguistics. It is only recently, more than thirty years after Hattori's (1978–1979) commanding comparative study of Ryukyuan and Japanese, that it has begun to gain general acceptance.<fnref n="2" />

The fact few examples were given in support of this hypothesis, with Proto-Ryukyuan (PR) and PJ reconstructions and correspondences sometimes given without clear explanation, probably explains why the 6VH has been rejected so far. The following sections will propose new and straightforward Ryukyuan evidence<fnref n="3" /> for the 6VH and counter-evidence to Whitman (1985)'s criticisms.<fnref n="4" />

<footnote n="2">² See Frellesvig and Whitman (2008a), Vovin (2010).</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ This reconstruction is also partly supported by data from Eastern Old Japanese (EOJ, *Azuma uta*, *Sakimori uta*) and some archaic dialects like Hachijō (Hino 2003, Pellard 2008). See also Miyake (2003) for a summary of the subject.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ Whitman has since accepted the reconstruction of *e and *o (Frellesvig and Whitman 2008a).</footnote>
## 3 The PJ mid vowels *e and *o

### 3.1 PJ *e

The reconstruction of PJ *e has been the most controversial one. There are indeed few examples, and further examples of *e can only be discovered by a minutious examination of the Ryukyuan data. The supporting correspondences are summarized in Table 1.

<table><caption>TABLE 1 Reflexes of PJ *i and *e</caption><thead><tr><th>OJ &lt; PJ &gt; PR &gt; Am. :: Ok. :: Mi. :: Ya. :: Yo.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>i<sub>1</sub> &lt; *i &gt; *i &gt; ?i, N :: ?i, j<i>, N :: 1, w, s, N, Ø :: 1, N, Ø :: i, N, Ø</td></tr><tr><td>*e &gt; *e &gt; <sup>h</sup>i, i :: <sup>h</sup>i, i :: i :: i :: i :: i</td></tr></tbody></table>

Whitman (1985) made the important remark that in all the examples proposed by Hattori (1978–1979) and Thorpe (1983),<fnref n="5" /> *e always appears before a sonorant or a voiced/prenasalized obstruent followed by a high vowel, while *ə never does. He thus proposed to account for *e by the following fronting rule:

$$ (1) \quad \text{PJ *ə} > \text{PR *e}, \text{OJ } i_1 / \underline{\text{C}_{[+\text{voiced}]}} \text{V}_{[+\text{high}]} $$

There are nevertheless counter-examples to Whitman’s (1985) fronting hypothesis, such as *to₂ri* ‘bird’ or *no₂ri* ‘seaweed’, that do not have alternating shapes and thus should simply be reconstructed as *təri and *nəri (Miyake 2003:94). Such words cannot be reconstructed with a final *əi, as shown by their Ryukyuan reflexes (ex: Miyako-Ōgami *tuu*, *su-nuu*, see section 4). Moreover, Arisaka’s (1934b) second law states *ə and *u do not coexist in a disyllabic root, so there is little chance these words come from *tərui and *nərui. Anyway, *tərui and *nərui would have shifted to *tiri and *niri in OJ according to Whitman’s fronting rule. Hattori’s (1978–1979) and Thorpe’s (1983) examples thus remain valid.

Table 2 illustrates a minimal pair PJ *piru ‘daytime’ vs. *peru ‘garlic’, which are homophoneous in OJ but are distinguished in most varieties of Ryukyuan. Other examples where I propose to reconstruct *e include PJ *erə ‘color’, which can be reconstructed from the correspondence OJ *iro₂ :: Ōgami *iru (cf. ‘put in’ OJ *ire :: Ōgami *iri < PJ *irV), and PJ *neNkə ‘get muddy’, from the correspondence OJ *nigo₂r- :: Yuwan *nigurir- (cf. ‘grasp’ OJ *nigi₁ :: Yuwan *nigij- < PJ *niNkir-).

<footnote n="5">⁵ PJ *eNtu ‘which’, *keNtu ‘wound’, *memeNsu ‘earthworm’, *meNtu ‘water’, *peru ‘garlic’, *peNsi ‘elbow’. Serafim (1999), quoted in Miyake (2003), proposed several examples of *e appearing in other environments, but the comparative data underlying his reconstructions remains unknown, and my own data does not agree with most of his reconstructions.</footnote>
<table><caption>TABLE 2 PJ *i vs. *e: PJ *peru ‘garlic’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'daytime'</th><th>'garlic'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>pi<sub>1</sub>ru</td><td>pi<sub>1</sub>ru</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>çir</td><td>φir</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>pju:</td><td>piru</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>p<sup>?</sup>iru:</td><td>p<sup>h</sup>iru:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>ps:-ma</td><td>piu</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>p<sup>1</sup>:r<sup>1</sup></td><td>piŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>ts<sup>?</sup>u:</td><td>çiru</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*piru</td><td>*peru</td></tr></tbody></table>

## 3.2 PJ *o

The reconstruction of *o is less problematic and is supported by many examples of a correspondence OJ *u :: PR *o. As listed in Table 3, PJ *u tends to drop or assimilate to a contiguous nasal, contrary to *o, whose reflex is regularly *u. These two different reflexes are exemplified by PJ *mukap- ‘to face’ vs. *moNki ‘wheat’ (Table 4), *mukaNtV ‘centipede’ vs. *moko ‘bridegroom’ (Table 5), *uma ‘horse’ vs. *omi ‘sea’ (Table 6).<fnref n="6" />

<table><caption>TABLE 3 Reflexes of PJ *u and *o</caption><thead><tr><th>OJ &lt; PJ &gt; PR &gt; Amami :: Okinawan :: Miyako :: Yaeyama :: Yonaguni</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>u &lt; *u &gt; *u &gt; <sup>?</sup>u, N :: u, N</td></tr><tr><td>*o &gt; *o &gt; <sup>h</sup>u :: u</td></tr></tbody></table>

PJ *u also has a special fronted reflex after coronals in most Ryukyuan varieties, which can be seen in the reflexes of PJ *usu ‘mortar’, while *o is always *u, as in *kusori ‘medicine’ (Table 7).

Another example is PJ *ori ‘melon’, which can be reconstructed from the comparison ‘melon’ OJ *uri :: Ōgami *uu (cf. ‘sell’ OJ *ur-i :: Ōgami *vv).

## 4 PJ diphthongs: Where have all the *oi gone?

From morphophonemic alternations occurring in OJ, it is possible to reconstruct two different PJ sources of OJ *i₂:

* *ui, for OJ cases where OJ *i₂ alternates with *u, e.g. *tuku-yo₁ ‘moon(light)’ ~ *tuki₂ ‘moon’ or *sugus- ‘pass (transitive)’ ~ *sugi₂ ‘pass (intransitive)’;

* *ai, where *i₂ alternates with *o₂, like in *ko₂ dati ‘stand of trees’ ~ *ki₂ ‘tree’ or *oko₂ s- ‘raise’ ~ *oki₂ ‘rise’.

<footnote n="6">⁶ See Pellard (2008) for more details on this last reconstruction.</footnote>
<table><caption>TABLE 4 PJ *u vs. *o (1): PJ *moNki ‘wheat’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'to face'</th><th>'wheat'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>mukap-</td><td>mugi<sub>1</sub></td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Sakamine</td><td>mutçui</td><td>muŋi</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Shuri</td><td>ŋke:</td><td>mudżi</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>ŋkai</td><td>mukw</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>ŋkai</td><td>muŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>ŋkai</td><td>muŋ</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*mukae</td><td>*mogi</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 5 PJ *u vs. *o (2): PJ *moko ‘bridegroom’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'centipede'</th><th>'bridegroom'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>mukade (MJ)</td><td>mo<sub>1</sub>ko<sub>1</sub> > muko</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Sakamine</td><td>mukadzi</td><td>muku, mukka</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Shuri</td><td>ŋkadżi</td><td>mu:ku</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>ŋkati</td><td>muku</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>ŋkadza</td><td>muku</td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>ŋkadi</td><td>mugu</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*mukade</td><td>*moko</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 6 PJ *u vs. *o (3): PJ *omi ‘sea’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'horse'</th><th>'sea'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>(m)uma</td><td>umi<sub>1</sub></td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Sakamine</td><td>ma</td><td>?umi</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yuwan</td><td>m<sup>?</sup>a</td><td>?uŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>uma</td><td>uŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>m<sup>?</sup>a:</td><td>?umi</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>mma</td><td>iŋ ~ um<sup>1</sup></td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>mma</td><td>iŋ ~ unnaga</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*uma</td><td>*omi</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 7 PJ *u vs. *o (4): PJ *kusori ‘medicine’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'mortar'</th><th>'medicine'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>usu</td><td>kusuri</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yuwan</td><td>?usi</td><td>k<sup>?</sup>usui</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>?usi</td><td>kusur</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Sakamine</td><td>usu</td><td>sui</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>?uçi</td><td>k<sup>h</sup>usui</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>us</td><td>ffuw</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>us<sup>1</sup></td><td>φucir<sup>1</sup></td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>utçi</td><td>ts<sup>?</sup>uri</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*usu</td><td>*kusori</td></tr></tbody></table>
As first noticed by Arisaka (1934a), and then fully demonstrated by Hattori (1932),<fnref n="7" /> the Shuri dialect preserves this distinction, but this is also the case with many other Ryukyuan varieties<fnref n="8" /> (Table 8). The fact that Ryukyuan faithfully preserves a distinction already lost in Japanese in the 8th c. and only recoverable through internal reconstruction suffices to establish beyond reasonable doubt the two have split *at least* before the beginnings of Japanese history.

<table><caption>TABLE 8 PJ *ui and *əi in Ryukyuan</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th colspan="2">*ui</th><th colspan="2">*əi</th></tr><tr><th></th><th>'moon'</th><th>'pass'</th><th>'tree'</th><th>'rise'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td>tuki<sub>2</sub><br>(~ tuku-)</td><td>sugi<sub>2</sub><br>(~ sugus-)</td><td>ki<sub>2</sub><br>(~ ko<sub>2</sub>)</td><td>oki<sub>2</sub><br>(~ oko<sub>2</sub>s-)</td></tr><tr><td>Am. Yuwan</td><td>tsiki</td><td>sigi-</td><td>k<sup>h</sup>i:</td><td>xi:r-</td></tr><tr><td>Ok. Nakijin</td><td>citci:</td><td>çidzi:ruŋ</td><td>ki:</td><td>φukiruŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Ok. Shuri</td><td>tsitci</td><td>sidzijuŋ</td><td>ki:</td><td>?ukijuŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Mi. Ōgami</td><td>ksks</td><td>suki</td><td>ki:</td><td>uki</td></tr><tr><td>Ya. Ishigaki</td><td>tsıkı</td><td>sıgiruŋ</td><td>ki:</td><td>ukiruŋ</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td>*tuki</td><td>*sugi</td><td>*ke</td><td>*oke</td></tr></tbody></table>

In Ryukyuan, PJ *ui and *i merge as PR *i but stay distinct from the merged reflexes of PJ *əi and *e (as well as *ai and *ia, PR *e). On the other hand, in OJ, the primary vowels *i and *e generally merge as $i_I$ (see however subsection 5.2) and stay distinct from $i_2$, the merged reflex of the diphthongs *ui and *əi. These evolutions are summarized in Figure 4.

The PJ system however surprisingly lacks a diphthong *oi. I propose that in fact some of the *ui and *əi usually posited should rather be reconstructed as *oi, and that *oi merges with *ui and not *əi in Ryukyuan to give PR *i.

## 4.1 From *ui to *oi

OJ $u \sim i_2$ apophonic stems usually have Ryukyuan cognates that exhibit a similar *u \sim *i alternation, and are thus reconstructed as *ui in PJ. See for instance *padui 'shame' (Table 9) or *mui 'body, flesh' (Table 10).

However, some $u \sim i_2$ apophonic nouns, traditionally reconstructed as *ui, have an alternating shape (*hifukukei*) that should be reconstructed with a stem-final *o rather than *u, as is clear from their Ryukyuan reflexes. They should thus be reconstructed with a diphthong *oi in PJ.

<footnote n="7">⁷ Arisaka's paper appeared after Hattori's, but Hattori acknowledged it was Arisaka's discovery.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ In Southern Ryukyuan, *ui-ending polysyllabic verb stems have been reshaped by analogy with the *əi-ending ones, and the *ui/*əi distinction is thus well-preserved in nominals only.</footnote>
<table><caption>TABLE 9 PJ *hadui ‘shame’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'shameful'</th><th>'shame'</th><th>'corner'</th><th>'arm'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>hadukasi</td><td>hadi (MJ)</td><td>kado (MJ)</td><td>ude</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yuwan</td><td>hatsikaça</td><td>hadzi</td><td>kadu</td><td>?udi</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>pantçikaçaŋ</td><td>padzi</td><td>hadu</td><td>udi</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>padzikaçeŋ</td><td>padzi:</td><td>hadu:</td><td>?udi:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>pakskaskam</td><td></td><td>katu</td><td>uti</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>patsıka-</td><td>padzı</td><td>kadu</td><td>udi</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Hateruma</td><td>pasıkahaŋ</td><td></td><td>kadu</td><td>udzi</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*pazu</td><td>*pazi</td><td>*kado</td><td>*Ude</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 10 PJ *mui ‘body, flesh’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'chest'</th><th>'flesh'</th><th>'thing'</th><th>'eye'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>mune</td><td>mi<sub>2</sub></td><td>mono<sub>2</sub></td><td>me<sub>2</sub></td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Sakamine</td><td>muni</td><td></td><td>muŋ</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>ni:</td><td>mi:</td><td>munu</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>ni:</td><td>mi:</td><td>munu:</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>mmi-fku</td><td>miu</td><td>munu</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>nni</td><td>m1:</td><td>munu</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>nni</td><td>mi:</td><td>munu</td><td>mi:</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*mune</td><td>*mi</td><td>*mono</td><td>*me</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 11 PJ *koi ‘yellow’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'yellow'</th><th>'tree'</th><th>'gold'</th><th>'cloud'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>ki<sub>2</sub> (~ ku)</td><td>ki<sub>2</sub> (~ ko<sub>2</sub>)</td><td>kugane</td><td>kumo<sub>1</sub></td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>k<sup>?</sup>i:</td><td>k<sup>h</sup>i:</td><td>k<sup>h</sup>ugani</td><td>k<sup>?</sup>umu</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>kinsaŋ</td><td>çi: ~ çi:</td><td>hugani</td><td>kumu</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>t<sup>?</sup>?</sup>i:ru:</td><td>ki:</td><td>φuga:ni</td><td>k<sup>?</sup>umu:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>ks:-</td><td>ki:</td><td>kukani</td><td>fumu</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>kı:</td><td>ki:</td><td>kugani</td><td>φumu</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Hateruma</td><td>kıŋkı:</td><td>ki:</td><td>kugani</td><td>φumoŋ</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*ki</td><td>*ke</td><td>*kogane</td><td>*kumo</td></tr></tbody></table>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>FIGURE 4 OJ and PR reflexes of the PJ diphthongs</figcaption></figure>

This is the case of ‘yellow’ (Table 11), which appears in OJ as *ku- ~ ki₂ but has a reflex *ko- in PR. This *ko is reconstructed on the basis of the aspiration or lenition of the velar in Northern Ryukyuan, and the *lack of fricativization in Southern Ryukyuan, to be compared with the reflexes of *ku exemplified by PJ *kumo ‘cloud’. This reconstruction is further confirmed by the existence of the later Japanese form *kogane, the standard form since the Middle Japanese period.

The verb ‘exhaust’ (OJ *tukus*- ~ *tuki*₂) should be reconstructed as *tukos- for the same reasons as ‘yellow’. The cognate of OJ *tukus*- in Miyako-Hirara is *tsīkus*-, which implies *tukos- since *ku > f(u) (cf. ‘make’ *tsīfu*₁:: OJ *tukur*-). Moreover, the Amami-Boma (Tokunoshima) form *tsikijū* confirms the PR reconstruction *tuki for the transitive form, which ultimately derives from PJ *tukoi (cf. Boma *uijūn* ‘rise’ < PR *oke < PJ *əkəi*).

The reconstruction of ‘moon’ (OJ *tuku*- ~ *tuki*₂) as PJ *tukoi proposed by Thorpe (1983:355) is less secure. Though Thorpe is very confident<fnref n="9" /> about his proposal, he doesn’t clearly explain his reasoning, and the Yaeyama- Hateruma form *sīkeŋ* is the only evidence he adduces. This is perhaps based on the fact that Hateruma *e* comes from *oe (‘burn’ PJ *mojai* > PR *moe* > me:) or *ae (‘front’ PJ *mape* > PR *mae* > me:), but never *ue. The evolution of the Hateruma form might then be reconstructed as follows:

(2) PJ *tuko-jo > *tuko-je > *tsīkoe > sīkeŋ (with prothetic -η)
(cf. Ishigaki *tuko-jo > *tuko-je > tsīkui)

<footnote n="9">⁹“This is why one can legitimately pick out a word like *sīkeN* ‘moon’ in the remote Hateruma language as convincing evidence for *ko* in JR *tukojo* ‘moon(night)’ millenia earlier” (Thorpe 1983:355)</footnote>
## 4.2 From *əi to *oi and *ə to *o

Traditionally, all instances of OJ $i_2 \sim o$ alternations have been interpreted as involving an $o_2 < *ə$, and thus automatically reconstructed as *əi. However, several problems arise from this mechanistic reconstruction. First, cases where no $o_{1/2}$ distinction is attested could theoretically go back to an earlier *o rather than *ə. Moreover, in some cases this *o coexists with *a in the same root, which according to Arisaka's (1934b) third law is almost never possible for an $o_2$. But the most conclusive piece of evidence comes from Ryukyuan: some examples have reflexes with PR *i, while OJ $i_2 \sim o_2 < PJ *əi$ usually corresponds to PR *e, like 'tree' OJ $ki_2 \sim ko_2^-$: PR *ke. Reconstructing these exceptional cases not as *əi but *oi permits to solve all these problems.

Such examples include 'be, sit', 'fire', 'get drained' and 'indigo', which I respectively reconstruct as PJ *woi, *poi, *poi and *awoi (instead of the traditional *wai, *pai, *pəi and *awəi, cf. Martin 1987) on the basis that these have a vowel *i in PR. OJ makes no distinction between $o_1$ and $o_2$ after *w and *p, and there is thus nothing that could prevent us from reconstructing an *o instead of an *ə in these. Tables 12 to 15 give the reflexes of the above words in Ryukyuan and contrast them with examples of PR *e in similar environments.

I must admit that all the examples where I propose to correct the reconstruction from *əi to *oi contain a labial consonant before the vowel. It could thus be the case that PJ *əi merges with *ui after a labial to give PR *i rather than the usual PR *e:

(3) PJ *əi > PR *i / C[LABIAL]_

There is however at least one counter-example to this generalization: the PR *o(p)pe 'big' form (Yuwan *xï*: :: Koniya *phi*: :: Nakijin *φupi*: :: Shuri *ʔuφi*) is undoubtedly related to OJ *opo* 'big' ~ *opi₂* 'grow'. Since this form has a reflex with *e in PR and that nearly every (C)oco form in OJ have an $o_2$ in both syllables, it can be safely reconstructed as PJ *əpəi. This form thus exemplifies a case where PJ *əi corresponds to PR *e and not *i after a labial.

The distributional constraint observed might also be just a coincidence: *o usually gets raised to *u* in OJ, which leaves few possibilities for $i_2 \sim o_1$ alternations. There are not so many cases of $i_2 \sim o$ alternations anyway, and only a handful of examples remain after all cases clearly involving an $o_2$ are eliminated. Not surprisingly, most remaining examples involve syllables where OJ has no $o_{1/2}$ distinction: *po, bo, mo, wo*, which all have a labial initial. Some examples with unclear $o_{1/2}$ attestation after a non-labial consonant are found, but they seem to have no cognates in Ryukyuan.

Anyway, 'blue' should be reconstructed as *awo in order to comply with Arisaka's (1934b) third law, which states OJ *a and $o_2$ (* < *ə) seldom co-exist in the same morpheme.
<table><caption>TABLE 12 PJ *woi ‘sit’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'sit'</th><th>'be'</th><th>'get drunk'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>wi</td><td>wor-</td><td>wep-</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Shuri</td><td>jijuŋ</td><td>wuŋ</td><td>wi:juŋ</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>pwr-</td><td>ur-</td><td>pi:</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>biruŋ</td><td>uŋ</td><td>biŋ</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*wir-</td><td>*wor-</td><td>*we</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 13 PJ *poi ‘fire’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'fire'</th><th>'moldboard, spatula'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>pi<sub>2</sub></td><td>pe<sub>1</sub>ra</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>p<sup>?</sup>i:</td><td>p<sup>h</sup>ira:</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>p<sup>1</sup>:</td><td>pira</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Hateruma</td><td>p<sup>1</sup>:</td><td>pira</td></tr><tr><td>Yonaguni</td><td></td><td>t<sup>?</sup>?</sup>i:</td><td>çira</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*pi</td><td>*pera</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 14 PJ *poi ‘get drained’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'get drained'</th><th>'moldboard, spatula'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>pi<sub>2</sub></td><td>pe<sub>1</sub>ra</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>çir-</td><td>φira</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Nakijin</td><td>p<sup>?</sup>juŋ</td><td>p<sup>h</sup>ira:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>ps:</td><td>pira</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Ishigaki</td><td>p<sup>1</sup>suŋ</td><td>pira</td></tr><tr><td>Yaeyama</td><td>Hateruma</td><td>p<sup>1</sup>suŋ</td><td>pira</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*pi</td><td>*pera</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>TABLE 15 PJ *awoi ‘indigo’</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'blue'</th><th>'indigo'</th><th>'front'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>awo</td><td>awi</td><td>mape<sub>1</sub></td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>ʔo:sa</td><td>ʔe:</td><td>mə:</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Yoron</td><td>o:saŋ</td><td>ai</td><td>me:</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Hirara</td><td>o:kai</td><td>ai</td><td>mai</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*aU</td><td>*ai</td><td>*mae</td></tr></tbody></table>
# 5 Further developments and remaining issues

## 5.1 A seventh PJ vowel?

Evidence for a seventh vowel in PJ remains scarce. Two proposals for a seventh, high central vowel exist, but they have been made on the basis of completely different kinds of evidence.

Hattori (1978–1979) reconstructs *ü in a handful of words only, most of which are problematic. First, the reconstruction of ‘all’ as *müina ~ *mürə is only valid if the two OJ words *mi₂na and *mo₂ro₂ are indeed etymologically related, which remains unsure. Then, ‘finger’ (Hattori’s *əjübəi) is a word with a complex history, and Hattori didn’t clearly explain his motivations for this reconstruction (Hattori 1978–1979:(9)116). Finally, Hattori’s *püi ‘fire’ and *pü-dai/*pü-dee ‘lightning’ are reconstructed with *ü since they have a reflex *i in PR instead of the expected *e, but this can be explained by my own hypothesis as cases of *oi.

On the other hand, Frellesvig and Whitman’s (2008a) *i is reconstructed on the main basis of OJ-internal evidence, and there seems to be no supporting comparative evidence from Ryukyuan, EOJ or Hachijō (Table 16). While this hypothesis is interesting, well-founded, and aims at explaining a few otherwise irregular vowel alternations, I feel there are still too few good examples. There is little merit in reconstructing an extra vowel in PJ over recognizing a small number of irregular forms.

<table><caption>TABLE 16 F & W’s PJ *ə and *i</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>'seaweed'</th><th>'this'</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>F&W’s PJ</td><td></td><td>*mə</td><td>*ki</td></tr><tr><td>OJ</td><td></td><td>mo</td><td>ko₂</td></tr><tr><td>Amami</td><td>Koniya</td><td>mu:</td><td>kʰu</td></tr><tr><td>Okinawa</td><td>Shuri</td><td>mu:</td><td>kuri</td></tr><tr><td>Miyako</td><td>Ōgami</td><td>mu:</td><td>kuri</td></tr><tr><td>PR</td><td></td><td>*mU</td><td>*kuri</td></tr></tbody></table>

## 5.2 Vowel raising in OJ

There are several cases of *eᵢ₁* and *oᵢ* in OJ that cannot be explained away as originating in earlier diphthongs, and these thus constitute exceptions to the vowel raising process that affected OJ. Examples of unraised *eᵢ₁* in OJ include for example *pe₁ra* ‘moldboard, spatula’, *ke₁pu* ‘today’, *pe₁ta* ‘near the shore’, *sake₁b-* ‘shout’, *kape₁r/s-* ‘return’, *uke₁ra* ‘Atractylodes japonica’, *ter-* ‘shine’, etc. Instances of unraised *oᵢ* can be seen in *ko₁pi₂* ‘love’, *ko₁ga-* ‘burn’, *to₁ma* ‘woven rain-cover’, *so₁ra* ‘sky’, *to₁ra* ‘tiger’, *yo₁wa-* ‘weak’, *mo₁zu* ‘shrike’, *ko₁mo* ‘eelgrass’, etc.
Several explanations have been proposed to account for such cases of un-raised *e and *o in OJ. One of these states a phonotactic constraint stipulating final position blocks raising (Frellesvig and Whitman 2008a). This hypothe-sis does not however explain the cases where an unraised vowel is found in a non-final syllable, such as those quoted above. Hattori (1978–1979) proposed on the other hand it is vowel length that blocks raising, and that unraised *e and *o should be reconstructed as long *ee and *oo in PJ. This is however at odds with the general trend of vowel changes, since long vowels generally tend to rise (Labov 1994:116). If vowel length is to be reconstructed, Hattori’s hypothesis should be reversed and raised vowels reconstructed as long (this might account for their relative paucity). Other solutions could include re-constructing those unraised vowels as diphthongs (*ia and *ua or *uə), but the lack of alternating shapes for these deprives us of a solid basis to do so. Reconstructing still extra vowels (*s, *ɔ?) would be quite unparsimonious. The explanation could lie into a combination of two or more of the above hypotheses.

## 6 Conclusions

A detailed examination of the correspondences between Old Japanese and the different Ryukyuan languages leads to a revision of earlier hypotheses about the Proto-Japonic vowel system. The most important improvements are the reconstruction of the two mid vowels *e and *i and of the diphthong *oi, as well as the reinterpretation of several cases of *ɔ as *o. The Ryukyuan vowel systems are in a way more archaic than the OJ system, since they pre-serve a distinction between the vowels *i/*e, *u/*o, *ui/*əi as well as *oi/*əi, which had already merged by the time of the first OJ texts. This is not to say we can dispense with the OJ data, which reveals several distinctions absent from Ryukyuan (*i vs. *ui/*oi, *e/*ia/*iə vs. *ai/*əi).

Though the Ryukyuan data supports the reconstruction of a six-vowel sys-tem for PJ, it offers no solid evidence for a seventh vowel, which is anyway supported by too few examples. The reconstruction of the PJ vocalism how-ever still suffers from several problems to be solved by future research. The most important question to be answered concerns the details of the evolu-tion of the PJ vowels in OJ, namely the exact conditions of mid vowel raising. Further work is also needed in order to find more examples of PJ *e, which are still not very numerous, and more evidence for a distinction between *oi and *əi after labials in Ryukyuan. Many other details of the PJ vocalism are still obscure, like the distributional constraints described by Arisaka’s laws.

A large-scale comparison of Ryukyuan and Japanese, followed by the ap-plication of the methods of internal reconstruction, is without doubt the key to a better understanding of the PJ vowel system.
## Note on and transcriptions

Old Japanese syllable distinctions are marked with subscript numbers, with 1 indicating the *kō-rui* series and 2 indicating the *otsu-rui*. PR *U indicates it is not possible to decide whether the vowel should be reconstructed as *u* or *o*, and *N* stands for an unknown nasal.

The various Ryukyuan data taken from existing sources have been converted to a broad phonetic notation, that mostly follows the principles of the IPA, except for the symbol [ɪ], that marks a sound rather freely alternating between an alveolar approximant and a fricative, and for [ʔ], which marks non-ejective glottalization. Contextual devoicing and tones are left unmarked.

## Acknowledgments

I express my gratitude to all the Ryukyuan speakers whose help made this study possible. This study was supported by a *Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research* (22-01000) from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

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