Handbook of the Ainu Language

This handbook is aimed at preserving invaluable knowledge about Ainu, the only non-Japonic language of Japan, which is now on the verge of extinction. Ainu was not a written language but it possesses a huge documented stock of oral literature, yet is significantly under-described in terms of grammar. As an isolate with no known relatives, Ainu is of great significance to linguistic typology because of the many rare or unique features that its grammar exhibits. Although Ainu is a language widely cited in the typological literature, most of the published typological work relies on secondary sources. The aim of this volume is to present an updated quality description of Ainu, which will be based only on primary sources.

The interesting features of Ainu include noun incorporation, a wealth of voices, vestiges of vowel harmony, a mixed system of expressing grammatical relations with the elements of tripartite alignment, nominal classification distinguishing common and locative nouns, a four-term evidential system, and verbal number.

This handbook, presenting a case of unprecedented cooperation of the leading experts of Ainu, will definitely help to increase the clarity of our understanding of Ainu, open the field of Ainu studies to the world and attract many new students.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I. Overview of Ainu Studies

1. The Ainu language
Anna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)

2. Early Japanese records of the Ainu language
Tomomi Sato (Hokkaido University)

3. European records of the Ainu language
Alfred F. Majewicz (Adam Mickiewicz University)

4. History and origins of the Ainu language
Osami Okuda (Sapporo Gakuin University)

5. Language contact between Ainu and Northern languages
Itsuji Tangiku (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University) & Hidetoshi Shiraishi (Sapporo Gakuin University)

6. Hokkaido dialects of Ainu
Hiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University) & Mika Fukazawa (Chiba University)

7. Sakhalin dialects of Ainu
Itsuji Tangiku (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University)

8. Sociolinguistic situation of Ainu and revitalization movements
Tetsuhito Oono (Ainu language teacher)

9. Ainu oral literature
Shiho Endo (Chiba University)

Part II: Typologically Interesting Characteristics of the Ainu Language

10. Phonetics and phonology
Hidetoshi Shiraishi (Sapporo Gakuin University)

11. Parts of speech: focusing on nominal classification
Hiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University)

12. Grammatical relations
Anna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)

13. Verbal valency
Anna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics) & Miki Kobayashi (Chiba University & National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)

14. Noun incorporation
Tomomi Sato (Hokkaido University)

15. Aspect and evidentially
Yasushige Takahashi (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University)

16. Verbal plurality
Hiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University)

Appendix: Sample texts

Index