While Japanese is the ninth most spoken language in the world, the Ryukyuan languages are critically endangered, which means there are very few speakers left. This was largely because of the Japanese government's assimilation of Ryukyu into the mainland Japanese culture. During the Meiji Era, the Japanese government called the Ryukyuan languages “dialects of Japanese”. This was used to forbid Ryukyuans from speaking the Ryukyuan languages and to force them to speak Japanese. In fact, Okinawan soldiers and civilians were put to death for speaking Okinawan during World War II. The Japanese military would accuse them of being spies so they could have an excuse to put them to death.