Amami Japanese (トン普通語,Ton-futsūgo) is a variety of theJapanese language spoken on the island ofAmami Ōshima.^[1][2] Its native termTon-futsūgo means "potato standard". Much likeOkinawan Japanese, it is a descendant of Standard Japanese but with influences from the traditionalRyukyuan languages (in this case, Amami Japanese is influenced by theAmami Ōshima language).

In the past, the locals of Amami Ōshima spoke the Amami Ōshima language, which belongs to the northern group of the largerRyukyuan language family. However, as a result of Japanese assimilation policies, a language shift towards Japanese began. The same occurrence happened in the other parts of theRyukyu Islands.^[3]

Despite Japanese becoming widespread in Amami Ōshima, a substrate from the Amami language was present.^[2] This caused the creation of Amami Japanese, known locally asTon-futsūgo. Amami Japanese was looked down upon for much of its existence. However, in modern times, the variety is viewed positively by its speakers.^[2]

The last two English examples are not words on their own. They instead list the situations in which the Amami Japanese words are used.〜ちば indicates a quote, and the wordかい marks a question when placed at the end of a phrase.

• Kagoshima dialect
• Okinawan Japanese, the equivalent of Amami Japanese spoken on theOkinawa Islands
• Amami Ōshima language, the language that influenced this variety of Japanese
• Amami Ōshima, the island whereTon-futsūgo is spoken