Grammatical nominalization in Yoron Ryukyuan

Abstract Despite extensive research on Ryukyuan languages, relatively few attempts have been made to describe Ryukyuan nominalization. This paper sets out the agenda for exploring Ryukyuan nominalization with special reference to Yoron Ryukyuan, which, we propose, has four nominalizers: -si, hutu, munu, and O (zero). We divide nominalization into GB (Gap-Based) and GL (Gap-Less) nominalization. Firstly, -si is the most productive; it realizes GB/GL nominalization and derives clefts, relatives, and stance constructions. Secondly, hutu is less productive; its use in GB nominalization is restricted, and it derives only stance constructions. Thirdly, munu is viewed as a formal noun in that it encodes the general meaning ‘person, thing’ and usually requires a modifying element. Finally, O is the least productive, found only in fixed constructions. Based on these observations, we propose a non-discrete view of nominalizer and formal noun and a cline of their productivity.