Ryukyuan religious songs as a language resource: focusing on the Okinawan archipelago

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K19995
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Daito Bunka University (2023); Kyushu University (2022)
• Principal Investigator: Carlino Salvatore 大東文化大学, 外国語学部, 助教 (60965565)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 琉球諸語 / 沖縄語 / 神歌 / 言語ドキュメンテーション / 琉球 / 沖縄

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The primary objective of this project was to create and publish an online corpus of traditional songs sung in the Okinawan language, spoken in the Okinawa Islands. This primary goal has been achieved with the creation of the "Ryukyu Kamiuta Corpus," which is now available online (http://kamiutaco.net). Currently, the text of "terukoguchi," a song performed during the "Unjami" festival in Dana, Iheya Village, Okinawa Prefecture, has been published. This text includes phonological transcription, kana transcription, glosses, and translations. In the future, audio recordings will be added, and data from songs of other regions will be included as well. Although the initial version started with the Okinawa Islands, there are plans to expand it to include songs sung throughout the entire Ryukyu Archipelago

Free Research Field

フィールド言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

琉球列島で話される琉球諸語が消滅の危機に瀕しており、記録と復興のためその記述が緊急の課題になっています。近年、これらの言語の記述が進むようになりました。記述の一貫として、談話、民話、民謡にグロスが付与され、言語資源として活用されていますが、今まで神歌を対象にしたものがなく、本プロジェクトで作ったコーパスの神歌を対象にしたのは初の試みになりました。神歌には現代語で見られない特徴が多く見られるため、歴史的研究での活用が期待されます。また、言語と同様継承されていない伝統文化を記録するために重要な役割もあり、社会的意義もあります。