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🌏 Region(s): Ryukyu (Okinawa)

やん

yan

Pronunciation: [jaŋ̍]

Definition

Verb

  1. (Casual) Copula used to predicate sentences: "to be", "is", "are", etc.
    1. くれーとぅいやんくれーやん。】
      kuree tui yan.
      "This is a bird."
    2. わらばーあらんたんあらんたん】。
      warabaa arantan
      "Those weren't children", "They weren't kids"
    3. まやーやん
      mayaa yan.
      "It is a cat."

Etymology

According to Hinds et al., the Okinawan copula やん yan derives by fusion of the topic marker ya and the existential auxiliary verb あん an "to be". The fact that the negative form becomes ~やあらん ~ya aran in simple sentences, rather than the expected form やらん yaran, is used as evidence. (Hinds, John; Senko K. Maynard; Shōichi Iwasaki. "Perspectives on topicalization the case of Japanese 'wa'." John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1987. p. 268.)

Notes

Verbal paradigm:

  Plain Past Negative Past
Predicate やん
yan
"is"
やたん
yatan
"was"
あらん
aran
"is not"
あらんたん
arantan
"was not"
Attribute やる
yaru
やたる
yataru
Same as
above.
Same as
above.

 

Other forms:

Nominative or
linking form
やい
yai
Participle or
linking ti form
やてぃ
yati
Volitional or
presumptive form
やら
yara
Plain emotive ending やさ
yasa
Hypothetical form やんねー
yannee

 

Equivalent polite form: やいびーん yaibiin or, more rarely, ややびーん yayabiin.

意味:です、だ

+ amend/report

Verb Paradigm

Central Okinawan irregular verb: yan (やん)βeta

 

 

Imperfective

Perfective

Negative

Neg. Perfective

Plain

PRED

yan

yatan

aran

arantan

ATT

yaru

yataru

Progressive

PRED

ATT

Causative

PRED

ATT

Passive, Potential

PRED

ATT

Intransitivizing resultative (For transitive verbs only)

PRED

yateen

ATT

yateeru

In preparation/in advance (-te oku)

PRED

ATT

Desidirative (adjective paradigm)

PRED

ATT

 

Affirmative

Negative

Volitional-Presumptive
(“let’s”)

yara

“seems”

yaru-haji

aran-haji

Imperative-Prohibitive

Conjunctive-Participle
(“te form”)

yati

Categories:

やん