Hachijō is a Japonic language spoken mainly in the Izu Islands (伊豆諸島) in Tokyo Prefecture to the south of Honshu, the main island of Japan. In particular, Hachijō is spoken on the islands of Hachijō (八丈島) and on Aogashima (青ヶ島). There are also speakers of Hachijō in the Daitō Islands (大東諸島), which are part of the Shimajiri District of Okinawa Prefecture,
Hachijō was long considered a dialect of Japanese, and is known as 八丈方言 (hachijō hōgen), or Hachijō dialect, in Japanese. Nowadays, it is generally classified as a distinct Japonic language. The people who speak it call it 島言葉 (shima-kotoba) or ‘island speech’. It is not mutually intelligible with standard Japanese, and retains grammatical and phonetic features from Eastern Old Japanese. Each village where Hachijō is spoken has its own local dialect.
There are maybe a few hundred speakers of Hachijō, most of whom are elderly. Few younger people are learning the language at home, although it is taught in schools, and efforts are being made to encourage more people of all ages to speak the language.
Hachijō can be written with the Latin script, or with the Japanese Katakana script.
Download an alphabet chart for Hachijō (Excel)
Information about Hachijō
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachijō_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachijō_grammar
https://www.scribd.com/document/699780334/The-Hachijō-Language-of-Japan-Phonology-and-Historical-Development-2019
https://www.nihon-i.jp/japan-information/danger-of-extinction-language1-hachijo-language/
https://thelanguagecloset.com/2025/02/08/exploring-the-other-languages-of-japan-pt-1/
https://crlao.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/2406/reconsidering_the_classification_of_hachijo_a_glimpse_from_historical_phonology_presentation.pdf
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/569305204
Amami, Hachijō, Japanese, Kikai, Miyakoan, Okinawan, Okinoerabu, Tarama, Tokunoshima, Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Yoron
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 10.12.25. Last modified: 10.12.25
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