Kunigami

Uchinaguchi

Critically EndangeredNorthern Okinawa, Japan

Kunigami is a Ryukyuan language spoken in the northern part of Okinawa Island and the surrounding islands of Okinawa Prefecture. It is closely related to Okinawan but distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Like other Ryukyuan languages, Kunigami developed in relative isolation from mainland Japanese and preserves features of Old Japanese that have since disappeared.

At a Glance

Speakers: Approximately 1,000 speakers
Language family: Japonic — Ryukyuan
Writing system: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji
ISO 639-3 code: xug
Countries: Japan

Key Facts

1
Kunigami is part of the Ryukyuan branch of the Japonic language family — a sister branch to Japanese, not a dialect of it.
2
The language has several distinct dialects across the northern villages of Okinawa, some of which are mutually unintelligible.
3
Most remaining speakers are elderly. Transmission to younger generations has largely ceased.
4
The Japanese government recognized Ryukyuan languages as endangered in 2009, prompting some revitalization efforts.

Numbers Quiz: 0–100

Learn to count in Kunigami. You'll be shown a number and asked to identify the correct word — or vice versa.

Start Quiz →