The Amami languages are a collection of dialect clusters spoken across the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest o ...

of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. All dialects are members of the

Ryukyuan languages The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. ...

, specifically its northern branch.

Classification

There are many distinct clusters of the Amami languages, most of which have their own

ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for ...

codes: *

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km2 in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is ...

** Northern Amami Ōshima ** Southern Amami Ōshima * Kikai *

Tokunoshima , also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrativ ...

* Okinoerabu * Yoron Scholars are divided on the specific subgrouping of these dialects. The Okinoerabu and Yoron clusters may be grouped within the

Kunigami language The Kunigami or Northern Okinawan language (), is a Ryukyuan language of Northern Okinawa Island in Kunigami District and city of Nago, otherwise known as the Yanbaru region, historically the territory of the kingdom of Hokuzan. The Nakiji ...

References

{{Japonic languages Ryukyuan languages Amami Islands