| Southern Ryukyuan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Geographic distribution | Sakishima Islands,Okinawa Prefecture |
| Linguistic classification | Japonic
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| Proto-language | Proto-Sakishima |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | ryuk1244 |
TheSouthern Ryukyuan languages (南琉球語群,Minami Ryūkyū gogun) form one of two branches of theRyukyuan languages. They are spoken on theSakishima Islands inOkinawa Prefecture. The three languages areMiyako (on theMiyako Islands) andYaeyama andYonaguni (on theYaeyama Islands, of theMacro-Yaeyama subgroup). The Macro-Yaeyama languages have been identified as"critically endangered" byUNESCO[1][2] and Miyako as "definitely endangered".[3]
All Ryukyuan languages are officially labeled asdialects ofJapanese by the Japanese government despitemutual unintelligibility. While the majority of Ryukyuan languages have usedChinese orJapanese script for writing, the Yaeyama Islands never had a full-featured writing system. Islanders developed theKaidā glyphs as a simple method to record family names, items, and numerals to aid in taxaccounting. This system was used until the 19th century introduction of Japanese-language education. Even today, communication in the Yaeyama or Yonaguni languages is almost exclusively oral, and written communication is done in Japanese.[4]
Proto-Sakishima, theproto-language ancestral to the Southern Ryukyuan languages, has been reconstructed by Bentley (2008).[5]
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| Ryukyuan |
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