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. Chapter titles IntroductionPart I. Overview of Ainu Studies1.The Ainu languageAnna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)2.Early Japanese records of the Ainu languageTomomi Sato (Hokkaido University)3.European records of the Ainu languageAlfred F. Majewicz (Adam Mickiewicz University)4.History and origins of the Ainu languageOsami Okuda (Sapporo Gakuin University)5.Language contact between Ainu and Northern languagesItsuji Tangiku (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University) & Hidetoshi Shiraishi (Sapporo Gakuin University)6.Hokkaido dialects of AinuHiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University) & Mika Fukazawa (Chiba University)7.Sakhalin dialects of AinuItsuji Tangiku (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University)8.Sociolinguistic situation of Ainu and revitalization movementsTetsuhito Oono (Ainu language teacher)9.Ainu oral literatureShihoEndo (Chiba University)Part II: Typologically Interesting Characteristics of the Ainu Language10.Phonetics and phonologyHidetoshi Shiraishi (Sapporo Gakuin University)11.Parts of speech: focusing on nominal classificationHiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University)12.Grammatical relationsAnna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)13.Verbal valencyAnna Bugaeva (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics) & Miki Kobayashi (Chiba University & National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics)14.Noun incorporationTomomiSato (Hokkaido University)15.Aspect and evidentiallyYasushige Takahashi (Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University)16.Verbal pluralityHiroshi Nakagawa (Chiba University)Appendix:Sample textsIndex