Question 46-50 Dunan 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 neighbors. Its languages are among their victims. Though Ryukyuan languages and Japanese belong to the same family, linguists reckon they have about as much in common as English and German. But when Japan annexed the islands in the 1870s, it declared the Ryukyuan languages mere dialects of Japanese. They were banned in schools. Students who persisted in speaking them were forced to wear demeaning placards around their necks. The decades of neglect took a toll. In 2009 UNESCO declared all six Ryukyuan languages severely or critically endangered. Ryukyuan activists have since made some progress in revitalizing their use, especially on Okinawa. Yet the languages are still in peril. And the activists are not helped by Japan’s continuing reluctance to recognize them as distinct tongues.