Japonic languages The Japonic languages are a language family believed to descend from a common language known as Proto-Japonic. There is no universally-accepted concrete proof of the relationship between Japonic languages and other languages, but there are a variety of theories each backed up with different scientific evidences. The most credited theory relates the Japonic languages with the extinct language of ancient Goguryeo. Some go further to include both Japonic and Goguryeo in a larger hypothetical language family called the Fuyu languages that would also include scarcely-attested extinct languages associated with ancient Fuyu and Baekje. Another theory relates the Japonic languages to modern Korean based primarily on near-identical grammar, but there is scarce lexical similarity between the two; supporters of the Fuyu languages theory generally do not include modern Korean as part of that family. Yet another theory is the controversial Altaic languages theory, with the even more controversial proposal that Korean, Fuyu languages, Goguryeo, Japonic languages or any combination of the four are also a part of the Altaic language family. As far as lexical studies have shown, the modern living non-Japonic language with the closest lexical similarity to any of the Japonic languages is Uyghur, a Turkic language. In the wake of these theories, some argue that the similarity between all these languages is merely a Sprachbund, and that the attested similarities between some or all of these languages are simply the result of their cultures being close geographic neighbors on the Asian mainland over the course of millennia. The Japonic languages are: Japanese languages (日本語) Eastern Japanese (now represented only partially by the speech of Aogashima, Tokyo, Hachijojima, Tokyo, Minamidaito, Okinawa, Kitadaito, Okinawa, and a few other small islands) Western Japanese (represented by all Mainland Japanese dialects) Eastern Western Japanese dialects, including most dialects east of the Kansai region Western Western Japanese dialects, including most dialects west of the Kanto region Ryukyuan languages (琉球語) Amami (奄美語) Northern dialect Tanegashima dialect Yakushima dialect Northern Oshima dialect Southern dialect Southern Oshima dialect Yoron dialect Okinawan (沖縄語) Kunigami dialect (aka Northern Okinawan) Ie dialect Southern dialect (aka Central Okinawan or Standard Okinawan) Mainland dialect Shimajiri dialect (the linguistic affiliations of the Shimajiri dialects are uncertain, but are often included in the Southern dialect because the Shimajiri region is often considered to be part of that region) Miyako (宮古語) Miyako dialect Irabu dialect Yaeyama (八重山語) Ishigaki dialect Iriomote dialect Taketomi dialect Yonaguni (与那国語) Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonic_languages