Yaeyama language

The Yaeyama language is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

Yaeyama language
Native to	Japan
Region	Yaeyama Islands
Ethnicity	Ryukyuan (Yaeyama)
Language family	Japonic Ryukyuan Southern Ryukyuan Yaeyama language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rys
ELP	Yaeyama

Origins

The Yaeyama language is one of the six Ryukyuan languages, which are a group of languages spoken in the Ryūkyū Islands of Japan. The Ryukyuan languages, along with Japanese, form the Japonic language family.^[1]

Status

The Japanese government does not consider Yaeyama to be its own language, labeling it as a Japanese dialect instead.^[2] Most linguists and UNESCO on the other hand do consider Yaeyama to be a language.^[2]

Related pages

• Yaeyama Islands
• Ryukyuan languages