Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 42:3 (2018) ► pp.734–753

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

On the diminutive morpheme -gama in Ikema, a Ryukyuan language

 | University at Buffalo, SUNY
Published online: 19 October 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.18022.fuj
Abstract
Ikema is defined as ‘definitely endangered’ by UNESCO. 2009. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. The study examines an evaluative morpheme -gama used by old Ikema speakers aged 64 to 86 when speaking between Ikema speakers and when speaking Standard Japanese with outsiders. Descriptive grammar of Ikema (Hayashi, Y. 2010. Ikema. In M. Shimoji & T. Pellard (eds.), An Introduction to Ryuukyuan Languages, 167–188. Toyko: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; 2013. Miyami Ryuukyuu Miyako-go Ikema-hougen no Bunpou ‘A grammar of Ikema, a southern Ryukyuan language, Miyako’. Kyoto: The University of Kyoto Ph.D. thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar inter alia) has treated -gama as diminutive morpheme, representing smallness such as tui-gama ‘small bird’ or showing the affections to the base noun. The observations on naturally occurring data, however, revealed that the Ikema speakers barely used -gama by means of describing smallness: the most frequent use of -gama was found to be non-supplementary (Shetter, W. Z. 1959. The Dutch diminutive. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 58(1). 75–90.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and carries various socio-pragmatic functions. The related meanings/functions of -gama are presented in radial category (Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things: what categories reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University Chicago press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Descriptive grammar of Ikema
    • 2.2Diminutive
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1The participants and speaker subgroups
    • 3.2Methodology
    • 3.3Data
  • 4.Meaning/function of -gama
    • 4.1Smallness and affection
    • 4.2Non-supplementary -gama
      • 4.2.1Lexicalized items
      • 4.2.2Female talk
    • 4.3-gama indicating “Low on a scale”
    • 4.4Deteriorative -gama
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (12)
References
Anderson, M. R. 2009. Emergent Language Shift in Okinawa. Sydney: The University of Sydney Ph.D thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., P. Kay, & M. C. O’Connor. 1988. Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: The case of let alone. Language 64(3). 501–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayashi, Y. 2010. Ikema. In M. Shimoji & T. Pellard (eds.), An Introduction to Ryuukyuan Languages, 167–188. Toyko: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013. Miyami Ryuukyuu Miyako-go Ikema-hougen no Bunpou ‘A grammar of Ikema, a southern Ryukyuan language, Miyako’. Kyoto: The University of Kyoto Ph.D. thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iwasaki, S. & T. Ono. 2012. Ikema Ryukyuan: Investigating Past Experience and the Current State through Life Narratives. In H. Sohn, H. Cook, W. O’Grady, L. A. Serafim, & S. Cheon (eds.), Japanese/ Korean Linguistics 191, 351–364. Stanford: CSLI Publifications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jurafsky, D. 1996. Universal tendencies in the semantics of the diminutive. Language 72(3). 533–578. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things: what categories reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University Chicago press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liber, R. 2009. Introducing morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakayama, T. & T. Ono. 2013. In E. Mihas, B. Perley, G. Rei-Doval & K. Wheatley (eds.), Responses to Language Endangerment in honor of Mickey Noonan: New directions in language documentation and language revitalization, 141–156. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shetter, W. Z. 1959. The Dutch diminutive. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 58(1). 75–90.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, E. C., & R. B. Dasher. 2004. Regularity in Semantic Change. Cambride: Cambride University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
UNESCO. 2009. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue