Miyakoan language

Miyakoan
宮古口/ミャークフツ Myākufutsu
Pronunciation	[mjaːkufutss̩]
Native to	Okinawa, Japan
Region	Miyako Islands
Ethnicity	68,000 (2000)[1]
Native speakers	(mostly over age 20 cited 1989)[1]
Language family	Japonic Ryukyuan Southern Ryukyuan Miyakoan
Dialects	Miyako Island Ōgami Ikema-Irabu
Writing system	Japanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mvi
Glottolog	miya1259
ELP	Miyako

The Miyakoan language (宮古口/ミャークフツ Myākufutsu/Myākufutsї [mjaːkufutss̩] or 島口/スマフツ Sumafutsu/Sїmafutsї, Japanese: 宮古語, romanized: Miyako-go) is a diverse dialect cluster spoken in the Miyako Islands, located southwest of Okinawa. The combined population of the islands is about 52,000 (as of 2011). Miyakoan is a Southern Ryukyuan language, most closely related to Yaeyama. The number of competent native speakers is not known; as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the Miyako dialect (宮古方言, Miyako hōgen), reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60^[timeframe?] tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation mostly uses Japanese as their first language. Miyakoan is notable among the Japonic languages in that it allows non-nasal syllable-final consonants, something not found in most Japonic languages.