"The rate of comprehension and contact sharply declines in younger generations, with those in their 40s understanding only passively or minimally, and other [younger] generations having absolutely no understanding of the language other than a few key phrases and set expressions."

"...strong language policies that were enacted in the late 19th century up until the mid-20th century outright discouraged and banned the use of the language, an ideology which permeated into the regional culture with the language not having been passed down by the older generations and not having been taught in schools."

Hara and Heinrich (2015)'s chapter in the Handbook of the Ryukyuan Languages discusses the Society for the Conservation of Shimayumuta (‘community language’) est. 1994 which has published and distributed a vocabulary of the Amami language and an Amami orthography.

"Younger Okinawan speakers are L1 Japanese speakers, and L2 South-Central Okinawan learners (most people under 40 who learn are involved in traditional Okinawan culture, like the theater, with a growing number of language activists). And basically no children learn it at home from their parents, though there have been efforts to establish a language nest."

"'Language nest' is implemented at the community level, though the government has issued statements that it is certainly not opposed."

"It was originally written in a mix of hiragana and kanji. Nowadays, there are multiple competing orthographies. Basically all of them are hiragana, though lots of people also use the other syllabary, katakana, and there's lots of disagreements over how to represent the sounds Okinawan has that Japanese does not."