In a story of both serendipity and shared passion, two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni, Shoichi Iwasaki and Rumiko Shinzato, reunited after more than thirty years to co-author Basic Okinawan: From Conversation to Grammar, the first textbook of its kind for English speakers.
The scholars bemoaned the lack of an Okinawan-language textbook in English and decided to write one themselves to preserve and teach the endangered Okinawan language. The resulting text was published by UH Press in May.
“I am passionate about letting people know the fate of the 3,000–5,000 languages that may vanish from the face of the earth in the next 100 years. Okinawan is just one of such languages,” said Iwasaki.
For Shinzato, the motivation was personal: “I wanted to give back something meaningful to my homeland, the people and our ancestors, as they have given me so much.”
While working on his master’s in East Asian languages at UH Mānoa, Iwasaki briefly met Shinzato, who was working on her PhD in linguistics. Years later, the professors reunited and co-wrote the recently published book.
Iwasaki credits Shinzato with the idea to structure the textbook around the story of an American exchange student living with a host family in Okinawa. Shinzato also recorded native speakers’ voices to supplement the book’s written dialogues.
Critically endangered language
According to the authors, the Okinawan language, part of the Ryukyuan language family, faces a dire future. Once the primary tongue of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Okinawan was systematically suppressed after Japan annexed the region in 1879.
In 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially declared the language “endangered.” Fifteen years later, many now consider the language “critically endangered,” as it is predominantly spoken by older generations and rarely passed on to children.
Cultural and educational impact
In Hawaiʻi, the Okinawan diaspora remains an integral part of Hawaiʻi’s rich cultural fabric, with nearly 50,000 people of Okinawan descent living in the islands.
The textbook has been met with high praise from experts in the field. “I wish it had been available when I took my first steps in the language. With the learning of Okinawan made such a pleasant experience, this will become the standard English-language work, hard to beat in the years to come,” said Leon Serafim, a retired professor of Japanese and former director of the UH Center for Okinawan Studies.
The multidisciplinary center, based on the Mānoa campus, offers courses, sponsors cultural events, and supports exchange programs. UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library houses the Sakamaki-Hawley Collection, one of the world’s most significant Okinawa-related archives.
