Okinawan, Central
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Fact corner
- Language: Okinawan, Central
- Alternate names: Okinawan, Luchu, 沖縄口, Okinawan: uchinā-guchi, Japanese: okinawa-guchi
- SIL-code: Ethnologue:ryu
- Language family: Japonic
- Number of speakers: 984,285
- Script: Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana
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Introduction
Okinawan is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of Okinawa, as well as the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kume-jima, Tonaki, Aguni, and a number of smaller islands located to the east of the main island of Okinawa.
The verb
Okinawan dialects retain a number of grammatical features of classical Japanese, such as a distinction between the terminal form (終止形) and the attributive form (連体形).
Sample verb: 書く
| Tense | Classical Japanese | Okinawan |
| Terminal | 書く | 書ちゅん |
| Attributive | 書く | 書ちゅる |
Click verbs to conjugate them in the table above!