Reconstruction:Proto-Ryukyuan/no

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.

From Proto-Japonic *nə (“genitive case marker”).

*no

1. nominative and genitive case marker

Ryukyuan languages use a hierarchy to determine which of its nominative and genitive markers, *ga and *no, to use. This hierarchy has two layers, consisting of higher and lower layers.^[1]

• The higher nominative and genitive marker is *ga, used primarily by pronouns referring to humans.
• The lower nominative and genitive marker is *no, used by any nominals that do not use *ga.

This hierarchy is subject to much variation in the daughter languages. In Northern Amami-Ōshima, genitive *ga is only used with demonstrative pronouns, while personal pronouns, names of humans, and kinship terms do not take any genitive marker, while Yaeyama lost its reflex of *ga altogether.

• Northern Ryukyuan: 노 (/no/) (Haytong Ceykwukki, 1501)
  • Kikai: ぬ (nu)
  • Kunigami: ぬ (nu)
  • Northern Amami Ōshima: ぬ (nu)
  • Okinawan: ぬ (nu)
  • Okinoerabu: ぬ (nu)
  • Southern Amami Ōshima: ぬ (nu)
  • Tokunoshima: ぬ (nu)
  • Yoron: ぬ (nu)
• Southern Ryukyuan:
  • Miyako: ぬ (nu)
  • Yaeyama: ぬ (nu)
  • Yonaguni: ぬ (nu)

• *ga