Amami Japanese

Not to be confused with Amami languages or Amami Ōshima language.

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

Amami Japanese
トン普通語
Native to	Japan
Region	Kagoshima Prefecture (Amami Ōshima)
Ethnicity	Ryukyuan
Language family	Japonic Japanese Amami Japanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
IETF	ja-u-sd-jp46

History

In the past, the locals of Amami Ōshima spoke the Amami Ōshima language, which belongs to the northern group of the larger Ryukyuan 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 the Ryukyu 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 as Ton-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]

Features

Amami Japanese Words^[1]

English	Amami Japanese	Standard Japanese
I, me, myself	ワン (wan)	私 (watashi)
you	ヤー (yaa)	貴方 (anata)
quotations	〜ちば (chiba)	〜って (tte)
question marker	かい (kai)	か (ka)

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.

See also

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