Key facts
- Pronunciation
- [ dunaŋmunui ]
- Native to
- Japan
- Region
- Yonaguni
- Native speakers
- 400 (2008)
- Language family
- Japonic Ryukyuan Southern Ryukyuan Macro-Yaeyama Yonaguni
- Writing system
- Japanese
- Iso 639 3
- yoi
- Glottolog
- yona1241
- Elp
- Yonaguni
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Yonaguni language (与那国物言/ドゥナンムヌイ Dunan Munui) is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken by around 400 people on the island of Yonaguni, in the Ryukyu Islands, the westernmost of the chain lying just east of Taiwan. It is most closely related to Yaeyama. Due to the Japanese policy on languages, the language is not recognized by the government, which instead calls it the Yonaguni dialect (与那国方言, Yonaguni hōgen). As classified by UNESCO, the Yonaguni language is one of the most endangered languages in all of Japan, after the Ainu language.
Phonology
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Yonaguni” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.