The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu islands and make up a subfamily of the Japonic family. Some disagree as to how these languages should be divided; there is however a general consensus among Ryukyuanists that there are 6 different languages.
- Amami Spoken: islands of the Amami district, Standard: Naze, Speakers: 130000
- Miyako (Miyako: myaaku hutsi) Spoken: islands of the Miyako district, Standard: Hirara, Speakers: 55783
- Okinawan (Okinawan: ucinaaguci) Spoken: southern and central districts of the Okinawan mainland and the surrounding minor islands, Standard: traditionally Shuri , modern Naha, Speakers: 900000
- Kunigami Spoken: the Yanbaru district of the Okinawan mainland as well as the surrounding minor islands, Standard: Kunigami, Speakers: ???
- Yaeyama (Yaeyama: yaima munii) Spoken: islands of the Yaeyama district, Standard: Ishigaki, Speakers: 44650
- Yonaguni Spoken: Yonaguni island in the Yaeyama district, Standard: Yonaguni, Speakers: 1800
In many cases, speakers of the Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama, or Yonaguni languages will also know Okinawan. Many Yonaguni speakers also know Yaeyama. Since Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni are less urbanised than the Okinawan mainland, their languages are not declining as quickly as that of Okinawa proper, and children continue to be brought up in these languages. The proportion of adults to children in speakers of Okinawan is much more uneven than with the other languages: it is quickly losing ground as a native language, while the other Ryukyuan languages, although they are losing ground, are slipping only gradually.
Since the beginning of WWII, most Mainland Japanese and even many Ryukyuans have regarded the Ryukyuan languages as a dialect or group of dialects of Japanese. Experts, however, regard them as separate languages. It might also be noted that during WWII, Korean, Palauan, and other various languages were considered dialects of Japanese, which they are most certainly not by any modern consideration.
With Ryukyuan languages, the distinction is not quite as clear as it is for former "dialects" such as Korean and Palauan. Before the annexation of the Ryukyuan Kingdom to Japan in the late 1800s, nobody would question the status of Ryukyuan languages as independent from Japanese.
They are said to differ more in vocabulary and grammar than do English and German. The Okinawan language is only 71% lexically similar to Tokyo Japanese. Even the southernmost Japanese dialect (Kagoshima dialect ) is only 72% lexically similar to the northernmost Ryukyuan language (Amami). The Kagoshima dialect of Japanese, however, is 80% lexically similar to Tokyo Japanese. Other Ryukyuan languages such as Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni are even further from Tokyo Japanese.
Nowadays, there are a little over 1 million native speakers of Ryukyuan languages, but many of them are elderly (a significant percentage are even centenarians). There are still some children learning Ryukyuan languages natively, but this is rare on mainland Okinawa and usually only happens when children live with grandparents. Native speakers of Okinawan under 20 are rare.
