Reconstruction:Proto-Ryukyuan/sora

This Proto-Ryukyuan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Ryukyuan

Etymology

From Proto-Japonic *sora (“sky”).

Igarashi (2022)[1] considers the meaning of this item to be "treetop" and the modern languages reflect this meaning, stating "[...] pR *sora does not have a meaning ‘sky,’ which is indicated instead by a Chinese loan pR *ten A." The modern forms with the meaning "sky" can probably be reasonably regarded as Japanese loanwords.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /soɾa/

Noun

*sora

the tip of a pole:
1. sugar cane tip
2. treetop

Descendants

Northern Ryukyuan:
- Kikai: すら (sura, “sugar cane tip”)
- Kunigami: すら (sura, “treetop, sugar cane tip”)
- Northern Amami-Oshima: すら (sura, “treetop”)
- Okinawan: すーら (sūra, “treetop”)
- Oki-No-Erabu: すら (sura, “sugar cane tip”)
- Yoron: すら (sura, “sugar cane tip”)
Southern Ryukyuan:
- Miyako: しゅら (shura, “treetop”), すぅら (sura, “sugar cane tip”)
- Yaeyama: すら (sura, “tip, top”)

References

Igarashi, Yosuke. "Reconstruction of Ryukyuan tone classes of Middle Japanese Class 2.4 and 2.5 nouns".

Niinaga, Yuto (2014). "A Grammar of Yuwan, a Northern Ryukyuan Language（北琉球奄美湯湾方言の総合的記述文法)". PhD dissertation.
Celik, Kenan; Aso, Reiko; Nakazawa, Kōhei (2022). "南琉球八重山語宮良方言の名詞アクセント資料 [Report on the Lexical Prosodic System of Nouns in the Southern Ryukyuan Yaeyama Miyara Dialect]", in 国立国語研究所論集 = NINJAL Research Papers.
Kibe, Nobuko; Pellard, Thomas; Hayashi, Yuka; Igarashi, Yosuke; Karimata, Shigehisa; Matsuura, Toshio; Nakajima, Yumi; Tokunaga, Akiko; Morooka, Daigo (2019). "Research Report on Miyako Ryukyuan : General Study for Research and Conservation of Endangered Dialects in Japan".

[1] Igarashi, Yosuke. "Reconstruction of Ryukyuan tone classes of Middle Japanese Class 2.4 and 2.5 nouns".