Dec 16 (economist.com) - Ikema ryuichi stands in the museum his mother built on Yonaguni, a coral-reef-fringed tropical island and south-western outpost of Japan.
Large clay vessels, intricate baskets and lavish flower-print textiles fill the shelves. In one display case is a worn book: a dictionary the woman assembled to preserve her local language, known as Dunan. Mr Ikema is one of a dwindling number of people who can still speak it.
Yonaguni’s is one of half a dozen indigenous languages spoken on the Ryukyu Islands. The island chain, which includes Okinawa, stretches thinly almost from Kyushu to Taiwan, and was once an independent kingdom. That precarious position has long made the Ryukyus a battleground for the chain's bigger neighbours. Its languages are among their victims. ...continue reading