Career
He is a Japanologist, linguistic historian and professor at the University of Hawaii. The widely accepted linguistics term "Japonic languages" was coined by Serafim to identify and characterise the Japanese which is spoken on the main islands of Japan and the Ryukyuan spoken on the island of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands. At the end of Serafim"s studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Oriental Languages.
After further study at the University of Hawaii, he earned a master"s degree in East Asian Languages in 1976.
His Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics was conferred by Yale University in 1984. He is associated with the university"s Centers for Japanese Studies.
Seratim was the founding Director of the Center for Okinawan Studies. His on-going research investigates the relationship of changes in language, culture, and demography of the Ryukyus.
