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Are locals on the Yaeyama islands also using Okinawan words/phrases or is it a
completely different language? For example can I use はいさい (hello) or くわっちーさびら
(thanks for the food) on the Yaeyama islands as well or do they have
completely seperate expressions?

In Before: I am aware that Japanese is the language primarily spoken and that
those dialects are probably more used by the older generations if at all.
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2018-09-11T17:22:32.543
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2018-09-11T20:38:18.070
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question
ryukyuan-languages
Difference between Okinawan and Yaeyama language
They are entirely different languages.

The number of languages in the Ryuukyuu Islands is not entirely clear, mostly
due to different definitions of what counts as a 'separate language', and the
general lack of good, comprehensive documentation. Nonetheless, there are
traditionally five counted as separate:

  * North Ryuukyuuan: Amami, Okinawan
  * South Ryuukyuuan: Yaeyama, Miyako, Yonaguni

These five are clearly separate languages by basically any scientific
definition, and there are almost certainly more, depending on the criteria you
use. For example, the language of Nakijin on Okinawa seems different enough
from that of Naha (the 'main' one) to be a separate language, and some of the
variety between islands in the Yaeyama archipelago suggests there might be
five or six languages within 'Yaeyama' alone. I'd hazard a conservative guess
that there are really more like eight or nine Ryuukyuuan languages at a
minimum, and maybe closer to twelve or thirteen depending on what counts as
'different enough'.

In the popular conception, Naha Okinawan is sort of seen as the one
representative Ryuukyuuan language (not that anyone would use that term), and
you might find on Yaeyama that locals appreciate you attempting to use
anything Ryuukyuuan. That said, Naha Okinawan is very different from
everything used in the Yaeyama archipelago, and if you want to learn about the
Yaeyama language(s), you should look it up separately.

([Scholarly source](https://lingdy.aa-ken.jp/wp-
content/uploads/2011/07/2015-papers-and-presentations-
An_introduction_to_Ryukyuan_languages.pdf), for those interested. Compare the
descriptions of the different languages/dialects from Amami and from Miyako
for a sense of how the five-language classification is probably insufficient.)
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answer