Kunigami language

Kunigami
山原言葉/ヤンバルクトゥーバ, Yanbaru Kutūba
Native to	Japan
Region	Northern Okinawa Islands
Native speakers	5,000 (2004)[1]
Language family	Japonic Ryukyuan Northern Ryukyuan Kunigami
Writing system	Japanese
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xug
Glottolog	kuni1268
Kunigami
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The Kunigami or Northern Okinawan language (Yanbaru Kutūba (山原言葉/ヤンバルクトゥーバ)), is a Ryukyuan language of Northern Okinawa Island in Kunigami District and city of Nago, otherwise known as the Yanbaru region, historically the territory of the kingdom of Hokuzan.

The Nakijin dialect is often considered representative of Kunigami, analogous to the Shuri-Naha dialect of Central Okinawan. The number of fluent native speakers of Kunigami is not known. As a result of Japanese language policy, the younger generation mostly speaks Japanese as their first language.