Amami language
| Amami | |
|---|---|
| Amami Ōshima | |
| 島口/シマユムタ Shimayumuta | |
| Native to | Japan |
| Region | Amami Ōshima and neighboring islands, Kagoshima Prefecture |
|
Native speakers
|
ca. 12,000 (2004) |
|
Japonic
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: ryn – Northern ams – Southern (Setouchi) |
| Glottolog | oshi1235 |
Tan in south: Southern Amami.
Green, pink, and tan in north: Northern Amami. Each orange area indicates where people characterize the local dialect as being the same language as they speak. |
|
The Amami language or languages (Japanese: 島口, シマユムタ, Shimayumuta), also known as Amami Ōshima or simply Ōshima ('Big Island'), is a Ryukyuan language spoken in the Amami Islands south of Kyūshū. The southern variety of Setouchi township may be a distinct language more closely related to Okinawan than it is to northern Ōshima.
As Amami does not have recognition within Japan as a language, it is officially known as the Amami dialect (奄美方言 Amami Hōgen?).
The number of competent native speakers is not known, but native speakers are found mostly among old people—as a result of Japanese language policy, the younger generations speak mostly Japanese as their first language. Estimates run around 10,000 for the northern variety and 2,000 for the southern (Setouchi) variety.
Linguists mostly agree on the validity of the Amami–Okinawan languages as a family. The subdivisions of Amami–Okinawan, however, remain a matter of scholarly debate, with two major hypotheses:
The two-subdivision hypothesis is convenient for discussing the modern languages since the posited linguistic boundary corresponds to the centuries-old administrative boundary that today separates Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures. In addition, several isoglosses do group Northern and Southern Amami together. In Amami, word-medial /k/ is changed to /h/ or even dropped when it is surrounded by /a/, /e/ or /o/. This can rarely be observed in Okinawan dialects. Standard Japanese /-awa/ becomes /-oː/ in Amami and /-aː/ in Okinawan.
The three-subdivision hypothesis is more phylogenetically-oriented. A marked isogloss is the vowel systems. Standard Japanese /e/ corresponds to /ɨ/ in Northern Amami Ōshima while it was merged into /i/ in Southern Amami Ōshima through Okinawan.
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