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 :::I never stated that hougen precisely meant ""brogue"", I stated that it ""also carries a pejorative nuance akin to the term brogue"". Note further that the 大辞泉 dictionary defines the term using the words 俚言, 隠語 and 俗語 (see definitions 2 and 3 on Goo.ne.jp). Suddenly, we're not just talking about a term that means ""regional tongue"", we're talking about a term that encompasses the English definitions of dialect, slang, patois, jargon, and, as you noted yourself, language. Regardless, the argument over the term is useless, since it's a Japanese word, not an English term. 
 :::Furthermore, I strongly suggest you read the sources you link. If you filter your Google Scholar results to ""ryukyuan dialect of japanese"", then there are only 4 results that appear written by Westerners, only two of which deal with linguistics. If you filter by ""ryukyuan language"", you end up with 12 pages full of results, most of which deal directly with Ryukyuan linguistics. If you filter by ""Okinawan language"", you get 17. The reason you can't simply search for ""Ryukyuan dialect(s)"" is because the term is commonly used to refer to specific regional variants of a certain Ryukyuan grouping. And this is proven by the fact that all or most of your initial results talk about city or areal dialects (Ryukyuan dialect of Hateruma; Miyako-Hirara dialect). The sources and contexts also contradict your point, with most of them referring to the higher grouping (Miyako, Okinawa, Yaeyama, etc.) as languages. Another issue is that the terms dialect and language go in opposition: the Okinawan language refers to the original native tongue, while Okinawan dialect refers to the modern Tokyo-based Japanese dialect spoken in Okinawa (though it may ambiguously refer to the first from a traditional Japanese perspective). 
 :::Henceforth, I can reverse your statement and say ""any edit which assert[s] that Ryukyuan is a [dialect] and not a [language] does not reflect the academic consensus of [Western] linguists who specialise in [Japanese and Ryukyuan linguistics and dialectology]"". And in fact, it's not only linguists in Japan that have a firm grasp of Ryukyuan linguistics, there are tons of peer-reviewed and well-sourced academic works in English that deal with the subject. Your statements thereon are simply based on sentimentalism. To repeat, dialect in English is not equivalent to the term 方言 in Japanese. The two languages don't express reality in the same way. The term ""language"" is the most common label used in English. If you wish to publish academic works referring to them merely as dialects, that's your choice, but Wikipedia cannot weigh in on lesser-used non-native terminology. —   "