Miyako language
| Miyako | |
|---|---|
| 宮古口/ミャークフツ Myaakufutsu | |
| Pronunciation | [mjaːkufutss̩] |
| Native to | Okinawa, Japan |
| Region | Miyako Islands |
| Ethnicity | 68,000 (2000) |
|
Native speakers
|
(mostly over age 20 cited 1989) |
|
Japonic
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | miya1259 |
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|
The Miyako language (宮古口/ミャークフツ Myaakufutsu [mjaːkufutss̩] or 島口/スマフツ Sumafutsu) is a language spoken in the Miyako Islands, located southwest of Okinawa. The combined population of the islands is about 52,000 (as of 2011). Miyako is a Southern Ryukyuan language, most closely related to Yaeyama. The number of competent native speakers is not known; as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the Miyako dialect (宮古方言 Miyako hōgen?), reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60 tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation mostly uses Japanese as their first language. Miyako is notable among the Japonic languages in that it allows non-nasal syllable-final consonants, something not found in most Japonic languages.
The most divergent dialect is that of Tarama Island, the farthest island away. The other dialects cluster as Ikema–Irabu and Central Miyako.
An illustrative lexeme is Alocasia (evidently an Austronesian loan: Tagalog /biːɡaʔ/). This varies as Central Miyako (Hirara, Ōgami) /biʋkasːa/, Ikema /bɯbɯːɡamː/, Irabu (Nagahama) /bɭbɭːɡasːa/, Tarama /bivːuɭɡasːa/.
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