The Amami language (奄美語; Amami: シマユムタ (島口) Shimayumuta) is spoken in the Amami Islands south of Kyūshū. The number of competent native speakers is not known, but native speakers can be found mostly among old people—as a result of Japanese language policy, the younger generations speaks mostly Japanese as their first language. Amami is a Ryukyuan language, most closely related to Okinawan. It is sometimes considered two languages. The main dialects are as follows:
- Northern Amami
- Northern Ōshima dialect
- Kikai Island dialect
- Southern Amami
- Southern Ōshima dialect
- Yoron dialect
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“Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.”
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