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Language Lineage

Northern Ryukyuan

Amami, Kunigami and Okinawan. In Okinawan the mid vowels rose, e becoming i and o becoming u, so Japanese ame 'rain' and kokoro 'heart' are Okinawan ami and kukuru.

c. 10th century CE – presentThe Amami Islands and Okinawa
On this page
  1. Okinawan
  2. After the War
  3. Where it's spoken
  4. Turning points

01

Okinawan

Okinawan, the language of the Ryukyu Kingdom's capital at Shuri, was the prestige language of the islands. Its most obvious sound change raised the mid vowels, so that e became i and o became u: Japanese ame 'rain' and kokoro 'heart' are Okinawan ami and kukuru. The Omoro Sōshi, a collection of court and religious songs compiled between 1531 and 1623, is the most important early Ryukyuan text, written in hiragana with some characters.

02

After the War

Okinawa suffered the only large ground battle fought on Japanese soil in 1945, and it remained under US administration until 1972. Few Okinawans born after the war learned the language from their parents. Since the 2000s, local governments, schools and artists have promoted Okinawan and its neighbours, and Okinawa Prefecture marks 18 September as a day for the Ryukyuan languages.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Japan

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Sound lawc. 14th – 17th century CEContested

    Mid vowels rise

    *e → i · *o → u (ame → ami 'rain', kokoro → kukuru 'heart')

    In Okinawan, e rises to i and o to u, leaving three basic vowels: ame → ami 'rain', kokoro → kukuru 'heart'. Similar raising occurs in other Ryukyuan languages. Its date and whether it spread from one centre are debated.

    Compare with other vowel shifts across families →

    Sources (1)
    • Shimoji, Michinori & Thomas Pellard, eds. 2010. An Introduction to Ryukyuan Languages. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
  2. Writing1531 – 1623

    The Omoro Sōshi

    The Ryukyu court compiles the Omoro Sōshi, some 1,500 songs in Old Ryukyuan written mostly in hiragana, the main written record of the language before modern times.

    Sources (1)
    • Heinrich, Patrick, Shinsho Miyara & Michinori Shimoji, eds. 2015. Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
  3. Contact1945 – 1972

    War and occupation

    The Battle of Okinawa devastates the civilian population, and 27 years of US administration follow. The postwar generation grows up speaking Japanese.

    Sources (1)
    • Heinrich, Patrick. 2012. The Making of Monolingual Japan: Language Ideology and Japanese Modernity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.