Kikai is a Ryukuan language spoken on Kikaijima (喜界島 / キャー), or Kikai Island, one of the Amami Islands in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Japan. In 2013 there were about 13,000 speakers of Kikai, most of whom were over 20 years old. Most younger people on Kikai Island speak only Japanese.
There are two groups of Kikai dialects: Northern Kikai and Southern Kikai. The northern dialects tend to be more phonologically conservative. Some linguists classify Kikai as a cluster of Amami dialects. In Japanese Kikai is known as 喜界島方言 (Kikaijima Hōgen) or Kikai Island Dialect. In Kikai it is known as シマユミタ (shimayumita), or "island language", and Kikai Island is known as キャー (Kyā).
Kikai can be written with a version of the Japanese Katakana script.
Download an alphabet chart for Kikai (Excel)
Information about written Kikai supplied by Wolfram Siegel (PDF)
Information about Kikai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikai_language
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/喜界島方言
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kzg
https://lingdy.aa-ken.jp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2015-papers-and-presentations-An_introduction_to_Ryukyuan_languages.pdf
Amami, Japanese, Kikai, Miyakoan, Okinawan, Okinoerabu, Tarama, Tokunoshima, Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Yoron
Ainu, Amami, Japanese, Kikai, Miyakoan, Okinawan, Okinoerabu, Tarama, Tokunoshima, Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Yoron
Page created: 21.05.21. Last modified: 21.05.21
[top]
You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, and if you like what you see on this page, you can use the buttons below to share it with people you know.
If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.
Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com
[top]
