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"Ryukyu" is an other name from the Chinese side, and "Okinawa" is a Japanese cognate of Okinawa's indigenous name "Uchinā", originating from the residents of the main island referring to the main island against the surrounding islands, Miyako and Yaeyama. [27] Mainland Japanese adapted Okinawa as the way to call these people. [citation needed]
After Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty, Japanese continued to be the dominant language used, and the majority of the youngest generations only speak Okinawan Japanese. There have been attempts to revive Okinawan by notable people such as Byron Fija and Seijin Noborikawa, but few native Okinawans know the language. [13]
Okinawan Japanese (ウチナーヤマトゥグチ, 沖縄大和口, Uchinaa Yamato-guchi) is the Japanese language as spoken by the people of Okinawa Islands. The name Uchinaa Yamato-guchi is composed of Uchinaa meaning "Okinawa", Yamato referring to mainland Japan, and the suffix - guchi approximately meaning "language."
The statistics also do not take into account minority groups who are Japanese citizens such as the Ainu (an aboriginal people primarily living in Hokkaido), the Ryukyuans (from the Ryukyu Islands south of mainland Japan), naturalized citizens from backgrounds including but not limited to Korean and Chinese, and citizen descendants of immigrants ...
The modern inhabitants of Okinawa are mainly ethnic Okinawan, Japanese, half Japanese and mixed. Okinawans are known for their longevity . This particular island is a so-called Blue Zone , an area where the people live longer than most others elsewhere in the world. [ 34 ]
Thousands of Okinawan speakers were killed for "spying", as the Japanese soldiers were unable to understand them and thus were suspicious. [9] The Ryukyuan languages continued to decline even after the Battle of Okinawa and into the American occupation period. Today, Ryukyuan languages mainly persist among elderly inhabitants, with the majority ...
Additionally, Japanese soldiers shot Okinawans who attempted to surrender to Allied Forces. America utilized Nisei Okinawans in psychological warfare, broadcasting in Okinawan, leading to the Japanese belief that Okinawans who did not speak Japanese were spies or disloyal to Japan, or both. These people were often killed as a result.
Circa 2007, in Okinawa, people under the age of 40 have little proficiency in the native Okinawan language. [13] A new mixed language, based on Japanese and Okinawan, has developed, known as "Okinawan Japanese". Although it has been largely ignored by linguists and language activists, this is the language of choice among the younger generation ...