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Japonic or Japanese-Ryukyuan is a language family composed of Japanese and Ryukyuan. Their common ancestral language is known as Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan. The essential feature of this classification is that the first split in the family resulted in the separation of all dialects of Japanese from all dialects of Ryukyuan. Hattori in 1954 placed this separation event in the Yamato period (250–710).^[1]

Some linguists reserve judgment on this point because much is still unknown about the history of the settlement of the Ryukyu Islands by the ancestors of their current inhabitants (when each island was settled and where each group came from). In their view, the term Proto-Japanese is preferable until clearer evidence on these questions emerges.

Members

The Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) languages are:

• Japanese language (日本語)
  • Hachijō (conservative dialects of the Hachijōjima and Daitō Islands, including Aogashima)
  • Mainland Japanese
    • Eastern Japanese, most dialects from Nagoya east
    • Western Japanese, most dialects west of Nagoya
    • Kyūshū, most of Kyūshū
    • Satsugū, southern Kyūshū, around Satsuma

• Ryukyuan languages (琉球語)
  • Amami (奄美語)
    • Northern Amami
      • Tanegashima dialect
      • Yakushima dialect
      • Northern Oshima dialect
    • Southern Amami
      • Southern Oshima dialect
      • Yoron dialect
  • Okinawan languages (沖縄語)
    • Kunigami (or Northern Okinawan)
    • Ie
    • (South-Central) Okinawan (Standard Okinawan)
    • Shimajiri (the classification of the Shimajiri dialects are uncertain, but are often included geographically as Southern Okinawan)
  • Miyako (宮古語)
    • Miyako dialect
    • Irabu dialect
  • Yaeyama (八重山語)
    • Ishigaki dialect
    • Iriomote dialect
    • Taketomi dialect
  • Yonaguni (与那国語)

Classification

The relationship of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) languages to other languages and language families is controversial. There are numerous hypotheses, none of which is generally accepted.

References

External links

• Ethnologue report for the Japanese language family