Амами: Языки и диалекты островов Амами

Ryukyuan language of Japan

The Amami language or languages (島口, シマユムタ, ), also known as Amami Ōshima or simply Ōshima ('Big Island'), is a Ryukyuan language spoken in the Amami Islands south of Kyūshū. The southern variety of the Setouchi township may be a distinct language more closely related to Okinawan than it is to northern Ōshima. As Amami does not have recognition within Japan as a language, it is officially known as the Amami dialect (奄美方言).

The number of competent native speakers is not known, but native speakers are found mostly among old people—as a result of Japan's language policy which suppresses proliferation of minority languages, the younger generations speak mostly Japanese as their first language. Estimates run around 10,000 for the northern variety and 2,000 for the southern (Setouchi) variety. Northern Amami Ōshima (perhaps together with Kikai) and Central/Southern Okinawa form two branches, while the intervening varieties – Southern Amami Ōshima (Setouchi), Kunigami, and the dialects/languages of the islands between – form a third branch. In this proposal, Amami Ōshima does not constitute a single language, and the northern and southern varieties are not even more closely related to each other than they are to other Ryukyuan languages. The two subdivision hypothesis is convenient for discussing the modern languages since the posited linguistic boundary corresponds to the centuries old administrative boundary that today separates Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures. In addition, several isoglosses do group Northern and Southern Amami together. In Amami, word medial is changed to or even dropped when it is surrounded by , or This can rarely be observed in Okinawan dialects. Standard Japanese becomes in Amami and in Okinawan. tentatively group Kikai dialects together.

According to Osada Suma (1902–1998), the dialect of Yamatohama, Yamato Village of Amami Ōshima had for 'language', for 'island language' (i. e. Amami Ōshima) and for the language of mainland Japan (i. e. Standard Japanese). Another term, shimaguchi , is absent from Osada's dictionary. According to Kurai Norio (b. 1923), a local historian from Amami Ōshima, shimaguchi contrasted with Yamatoguchi, while shimayumuta was associated with accentual and intonational differences among various shima (villages). Ebara Yoshimori (1905–1988), a folklorist from Naze, Amami Ōshima, conjectured that shimaguchi was of relatively recent origin, possibly made through analogy with Yamatoguchi. He thought that the dialect of one's home community was better referred to as .

In the southern Shodon dialect, the consonants occur at the end of a word or syllable, as in 'neck', 'cherry blossom' and 'well'.