Amami Ōshima language
Appearance
Amami | |
---|---|
Native to | ![]() |
Region | Amami Islands |
Native speakers | 30,000 |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ryn – inclusive codeIndividual codes: ryn – Northern Amamiams – Southern Amami |
The Amami language (奄美語) is spoken by around 30,000 people in the Amami Islands south of Kyūshū. It is a Ryukyuan language, most closely related to Okinawan.
Amami is sometimes considered two languages. The main dialects are as follows:
Phonology
![]() | This article needs attention from an expert in Japan. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article.(December 2009) |
Consonants
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Place- less | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stops and affricates |
p pj b bj | t d | tʃ tʃj | k kj kw ɡ ɡj ɡw | ʔ ʔj ʔw | Q | ||
Flaps | ɺ̠ ɺ̠j | |||||||
Fricatives | θ | s sj z zj | çj | x xj | h hj hw | |||
Nasals | m mj ʔm | n nj ʔn ʔnj | N | |||||
Approximants | j | w̜ |
Vowels
There are seven distinct vowels in Amami, in addition to a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels.
Short | Long | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Zurück | |
High | i | ɨ | u | iː | ɨː | uː |
Mid | e | ɘ | o | eː | ɘː | oː |
Low | a | aː |
External links
- Northern and Southern Amami-Oshima on Ethnologue