Northern Ryukyuan languages in the context of "Miyako Islands"

The small group of Hachijō dialects (八丈方言, Hachijō hōgen), natively called Shima Kotoba (島言葉; [ɕima kotoba], "island speech"), are, depending on classification, either the most divergent form of Japanese, or comprise a branch of Japonic languages (alongside mainland Japanese, Northern Ryukyuan, and Southern Ryukyuan). Hachijō is currently spoken on two of the Izu Islands south of Tokyo (Hachijō-jima and the smaller Aogashima) as well as on the Daitō Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, which were settled from Hachijō-jima in the Meiji period. It was also previously spoken on the island of Hachijō-kojima, which is now abandoned. Based on the criterion of mutual intelligibility, Hachijō may be considered a distinct Japonic language, rather than a dialect of Japanese.

Hachijō is a descendant of Eastern Old Japanese, retaining several unique grammatical and phonetic features recorded in the Azuma-dialect poems of the 8th-century Man'yōshū and the Fudoki of Hitachi Province. Hachijō also has lexical similarities with the dialects of Kyushu and even the Ryukyuan languages; it is not clear if these indicate that the southern Izu islands were settled from that region, if they are loans brought by sailors traveling among the southern islands, or if they might be independent retentions from Old Japanese.

The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 Yaeyama-rettō, also 八重山諸島 Yaeyama-shotō, Yaeyama: Yaima, Yonaguni: Daama, Okinawan: Yeema, Northern Ryukyuan: やへま Yapema) are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and cover 591.46 square kilometres (228.36 sq mi). The islands are located southwest of the Miyako Islands, part of the Ryukyu Islands archipelago. The Yaeyama Islands are the most remote part of Japan from the main islands and contain Japan's southernmost (Hateruma) and westernmost (Yonaguni) inhabited islands. The city of Ishigaki serves as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands. On maps dating to the 1700s, the Yaeyama Group of Islands appears as the "Majico Sima Group", "Nambu-soto Islands", "Nambu Soto", and the "Taipin Islands".

Okinawan Japanese (ウチナーヤマトゥグチ, 沖縄大和口, Uchinaa Yamatu-guchi) is the Japanese language as spoken by the people of Okinawa Islands. The name Uchinaa Yamatu-guchi is composed of Uchinaa meaning "Okinawa", Yamatu referring to mainland Japan, and the suffix -guchi approximately meaning "language". Okinawan Japanese's pronunciation and words are influenced by the Northern Ryukyuan Okinawan and Kunigami languages spoken on the islands. However, the amount of influence Ryukyuan has on the Japanese spoken by Okinawans varies by family and age, as well as by region. Because of the many US military bases found in Okinawa, Okinawan Japanese has incorporated some English loanwords. Okinawan Japanese is a Japanese dialect (方言), unlike the Okinawan and Kunigami languages. Standard Japanese is used in formal settings while Ryukyuan languages and Okinawan Japanese are used in informal settings.

Shuri (首里; Okinawan: スイ Sui or Shui, Northern Ryukyuan: しより Shiyori) is a district of the city of Naha, Okinawa, Japan. Formerly a separate city in and of itself, it was once the royal capital of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, hence the name. A number of famous historical sites are located in Shuri, including Shuri Castle, the Shureimon gate, Sunuhyan-utaki (a sacred space of the native Ryukyuan religion), and royal mausoleum Tamaudun, all of which are designated World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Originally established as a castle town surrounding the royal palace, Shuri ceased to be the capital when the kingdom was annexed and incorporated into Japan as Okinawa prefecture. In 1896, Shuri was made a ward (区, ku) of the new prefectural capital, Naha, though it was made a separate city again in 1921. In 1954, it was merged again into Naha.

Nakijin (今帰仁村, Nakijin-son; Kunigami: Nachizin, Okinawan: Nachijin, Northern Ryukyuan: いまきじり Imakijiri) is a village located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

As of 2003, the village has an estimated population of 9,529 and a population density of 239.00 persons per km. The total area is 39.87 km.

The Yaeyama language (八重山物言, ヤイマムニ, Yaimamuni) is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated in the Southern Ryukyu Islands, southwest of the Miyako Islands and to the east of Taiwan. Yaeyama (Yaimamunii) is most closely related to Miyako. The number of competent native speakers is not known; as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the Yaeyama dialect (八重山方言, Yaeyama hōgen), reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60 tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation exclusively uses Japanese as their first language. As compared to the Japanese kokugo, or Japanese national language, other Ryukyuan languages such as Okinawan and Amami have also been referred to as dialects of Japanese. Yaeyama is noted as having a comparatively lower "language vitality" among neighboring Ryukyuan languages.

Yaeyama is spoken in Ishigaki, Taketomi, Kohama, Kuroshima, Hatoma, Aragusuku, Iriomote and Hateruma, with complications of mutual intelligibility between dialects as a result of the Yaeyama Islands' large geographic span. The speech of Yonaguni Island, while related, is usually considered a separate language. The Taketomi dialect may instead be a Northern Ryukyuan language common to Okinawan dialects that later converged with the other Yaeyama dialects.

Hateruma (波照間島; Yaeyama: Patirooma, Hateruma dialect: Besїma "our island", Okinawan: Hatiruma, Northern Ryukyuan: ぱたら Patara, Japanese:Hateruma-jima) is an island in the Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the southernmost inhabited island in Japan. It is one of the Yaeyama Islands, and is located 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of Iriomote-jima, the largest of the island group.

Hateruma, which is composed of corals, has 12.7 km (4.9 sq mi) of area and approximately 600 inhabitants. The primary products of the island include sugarcane, pineapple, refined sugar, and Awanami, a type of the alcoholic beverage awamori. Its southern location makes it one of the few places in Japan where the Southern Cross can be observed.

Okinoerabujima (Japanese: 沖永良部島; Okinoerabu: いぃらぶ, Yirabu; archaic Northern Ryukyuan: せりよさ, Seriyosa), also known as Okinoerabu, is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa.

The island, 93.63 km in area, has a population of approximately 14,000 persons. Administratively it is divided into the towns of Wadomari and China in Kagoshima Prefecture. Much of the island is within the borders of the Amami Guntō National Park.