japonic
Japonic is a proposed language family that encompasses Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages spoken in and around the Japanese archipelago. The family’s core comprises two major groups: Japanese, the language of the main islands, and the Ryukyuan languages, a cluster including Okinawan, Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Kunigami, and related varieties spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyuan languages are generally treated as a distinct subbranch within Japonic, with substantial differences making mutual intelligibility with Japanese and among Ryukyuan varieties limited.
Classification within and beyond Japonic is a subject of ongoing debate among linguists. Some historic proposals
Geographic distribution and status vary by group. Japanese is the dominant language throughout the main islands
Linguistically, Japonic languages are typically described as agglutinative with a subject–object–verb order and extensive use of