SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics. Volume 20 (2021): 142–164 142 While we are asleep: Master/Mentor-Apprentice language learning initiative in the Ryukyus Miho Zlazli 601339@soas.ac.uk Abstract I currently conduct participatory action research with new speakers of Ryukyuan languages by running a project called MAI-Ryukyus, which is designed based on Hinton’s Master/Mentor-Apprentice Language Learning Program, to explore both emotional and cognitive aspects of learning one’s own Indigenous ancestral tongue. The findings of the PhD research will be discussed in a future article. In this paper, I introduce my research design, discuss the issues identified in current language revitalisation efforts through ethnographic observation, and conclude with future directions. Keywords: Indigenous transformative paradigm, language revitalisation efforts, Master/Mentor-Apprentice Language Learning Program, new speakers, Ryukyuan languages. 1. Imaginary paradise in Japan Ryukyuan languages 1 are spoken in the Ryukyu 2 Islands which spread across six hundred miles in the north-western Pacific of South Japan (Kan 2011) (Figure 1). While the Ryukyu Islands have been a popular domestic destination for Japanese tourists where local people are assimilated to Japanese to the right degree with a touch of exoticism (Tada 2015), historical contexts of the Ryukyus and their current political affairs (“Tai Chugoku” 2021) arising from the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (MOFA 1960) are less known among them. 3 For example, Irisuna Island was used as a symbol of imaginary southern paradise in a popular TV drama series called Churasan 4 (NHK 2001) (Figure 2) in the context of a so- called “Okinawa Boom” that has flooded Japanese popular culture and mass media since the mid-1980s or 1990s (Ina 2010; Murray 2017). However, it is hardly known (except among residents of the adjacent Tonaki Island) that Irisuna Island has been heavily used as a US Rifle Range following WWII (Figure 3). For the residents of Tonaki Island, Irisuna Island is an irreplaceable place that has sacred groves (see Figure 5, utaki). Here, a repercussion of Japanese imperialism is identifiable. Inoue (2012) illustrated that pre-WWII colonial discourses were pervasive to the extent that they permeated into children’s literature of the time. Kawamura (1992 as cited in Inoue 2012) exemplified a 1 Ryukyuan languages belong to the Japonic language family alongside Japanese language (Pellard 2015). 2 The name Ryukyu (琉球: Lewchew) was given by the Xuande Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1430 (Lim 2016). I use the Japanese reading Ryukyu for the time being, following the current academic convention. 3 I would like to thank community people for their insights, my PhD supervisors and colleagues for their support and guidance, and CHASE AHRC Studentship and Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen project for funding my research. 4 Churasan means ‘pure’ in Okinawa language.