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Ainu status | ||
Tags: Japan | Endangered Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3460 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Japanese*, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin | Message 1 of 7 17 December 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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A friend of mine is interested in learning Ainu.
Is there anyone here who has studied Ainu? What do you guys suggest her as first resource? I don't want to create another thread regarding the same subject, so I will type here other questions regarding this language. Is Ainu a dead language? Some linguists claim that is already a dead language, but according to other folks, there are still people who can speak it. However, they don’t mention what they mean as “being able to speak”. Aren’t there any Ainu speakers in Russia (near Sakhalin or Kuril islands?) I have seen some attempt to “revive” the Ainu language. What do you guys think about it considering the intentionally revived languages in other countries? Edited by Nieng Zhonghan on 17 December 2014 at 12:09pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4421 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 2 of 7 17 December 2014 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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First of all, it's good to hear that someone's interested in Ainu! I think it's the first time I see that here since I
registered (and even during the few years before that). I have been studying Ainu for about 2 years but really just tiny bits here and there. I have a solid basis but that's pretty much all I have now. Before getting into the ressources, know that Ainu is not a dead language. It is still very well spoken in Hokkaido and a few other areas but still mostly in Japan. There are about 10 000 people speaking the language daily and 100 000people able to speak it worlwide (I checked the numbers a few years ago so I might have changed a bit since then..) I guess in the Kuril Islands there should be some Ainu speakers but I guess not in Sakhalin (seems very far from Japan). Now regarding the language itself, there has been many attempts. to revive it; mostly in Japan itself. There's even a course online which starts anew every year as a podcast+pdf. One lesson a week for a full year, starting every april with a different nuance of Ainu every year. If your friend speaks Japanese, It'll surely be the best ressource she'll come accross: Ainu Japanese There's a few others sites as well but surely less good. Still, here are a few: Unilang is said to be the "best" in English. H2g2 seems to be a long text but we never know, your friend could like it. And a list of a bunch of Ainu related websites 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5749 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 3 of 7 17 December 2014 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have no idea where yuhakko got his numbers. Here's the relevant passage from
Wikipedia, which is supported by sources. 現在アイヌ語を継承しているアイヌ民族の数 が極めて少ないため、アイヌ語は近いうちに 消滅してしまう消滅危機 言語の一つとなっている。2007年の推定では 約1万5000人のアイヌの中で、アイヌ語を流暢 に話せる母語話 者は10人しかいなかった[6] 。さらに別の推定ではアイヌ語を母語とする 人は千島列島では既に消滅し、樺太で もおそらく消滅していて、残る北海道の母語 話者も平均年齢が既に80歳を越え、数も10人 下となっている [7] 。アイヌ語の消滅危惧のレベルは「おそらく 消滅した言語」と「消滅の危機に厳しくさら される言語」の間の 「消滅に近い言語」となっている。2009年、 ネスコにより「危機に瀕する言語」として 最高ランクの「極め て深刻」の区分に分類される[8]。 .85.E5.8D.B1.E6.A9.9F.E8.A8.80.E8.AA.9E">link 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3460 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Japanese*, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin | Message 4 of 7 17 December 2014 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yuhakko, thanks for the resources.
I have already sent her the links.
I am curious about your numbers. Please, do share with us. As lichtrausch stated, I think your numbers are somehow misleading. It won't make sense to "revive" or not let die a language that are spoken by 10000 people. At least, not in the way Japanese linguists and educators seems to be concerned. I mean, considering that 琉球語 is in fact a language (I have been debating about the status of language and dialect with Japanese people since 2007..., but anyway), some of the dialects are dying. It is a matter of time. It won't make sense to try to not let die only Ainy and ignore some of 琉球語 dialects. I have been asking Japanese people from Hokkaido since 2007 whether they have met someone who can speak Ainu at basic fluency; however they all said they Ainu is dead or nearly to extinction. I remember that when I was young I heard about one Ainu person who passed away in 1997. He (or she?) was believed to be the last native speaker of Ainu at native fluency. Other native speakers I have heard about have reached the basic fluency, but they have no longer used after 10 years old, so, they either forgot almost everything or they refused to be interviewed by Japanese linguists. I think there is a difference between Ainu people and Ainu native or advanced level speakers. Perhaps there are about 100000 Ainu origin people or even more, but I haven't seen any data in Japanese or English saying that there are more than 15 speakers. If I find the link again I will post here. In some Ainu courses in Northern Japan they kind of "study about" Ainu language and culture using Japanese all the time. This guy supposedly an Anthropologist (or linguist) went to Japan in order to seek for the same answer: "how many Ainu speakers are still alive?". He wrote that those people who "speak" Ainu cannot maintain a real conversation. They actually don't "speak" the language, but can utter few random expressions or words that they have learned through music, dances, and what was told by their grandparents (who already lost the basic fluency in Ainu). According to his research, if I am not wrong, there were about 7 to 15 people who could give him some random expressions, but they would not be able to speak with any Ainu speaker in Ainu (if he or she really exists). How come Japanese people cannot define the current situation of Ainu language in Japan?! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4561 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 5 of 7 17 December 2014 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | ||
As for Ainu people in modern day Russian territories, I'm afraid there are hardly any left (and it's probably safe to say that none of them are proficient speakers of Ainu). The 2010 Russian census found there were 104 people self-identifying as Ainu in Russia, of whom 94 resided in the Kamchatka region, which is outside their traditional areas. I remember having read that unlike the other indigenous ethnic groups of Sakhalin, the Nivkhs and the Oroks, the Ainu were subjected to a very deliberate assimilation policy by Imperial Japan. After the USSR gained control of southern Sakhalin and the Kurils nearly all the Japanese subjects residing there were either evacuated or evicted, and the Ainu were included in that category. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4636 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 6 of 7 18 December 2014 at 2:56am | IP Logged | ||
I don't know much about the Ainu language itself, and I'm no expert on its status within Japan, but, having lived here for 11 years, it doesn't surprise me that most Japanese people cannot define the current situation of Ainu. In all my years here I've seen perhaps one news story on the Ainu people. That's not to say that there hasn't been more news stories during that time, but it seems that, for most Japanese people, the status of the Ainu situation is something they just don't think about. This is not unique. I'm from the southeastern United States, and there not many people could define the situation of the Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw languages, which are native to that area. Although I can't imagine any of my fellow Americans saying that those languages are dead or extinct, just that they have no idea about them. I can't say for certain if it is related, but it seems that people here are quick to say that Japan is a country of only one ethnic group and one language - which is not true, even among Japanese citizens. I went to Hokkaido many times, and once I went to a village where there were a local group of Ainu in the town center promoting their people and their (I presume former) way of life to tourists from other parts of Japan. Not many people seemed interested. It's a shame. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4421 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 7 of 7 07 January 2015 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry for my very late reply. To tell the truth, I cannot remember clearly where I got my
numbers. Those are memories from a presentation I did whilst living in Japan. Some of those numbers were from Wikipedia I thought but it appears I was wrong. Anyway, thanks lichtrausch, Nieng and Von for correcting me! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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