Ainu Study Group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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brilliantyears
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Ainu Study Group

Postby brilliantyears » Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:04 pm

I’ve decided to create a thread here for Ainu in an attempt to a) create a study group and b) get more people interested in this language. I know there are a few forum members who dabbled in and/or seriously study Ainu, so let’s see what happens.

The purpose of this group is to support one another in learning Ainu, and to share resources and news regarding the Ainu language and Ainu culture.

[More information to be added when necessary]
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Last edited by brilliantyears on Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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brilliantyears
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby brilliantyears » Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:04 pm

Resources



STV Radio
The most commonly used Ainu source seems to be the Sapporo TV radio course from 2006, translated to English by Yongdeok Cho at UniLang:
https://unilang.org/course.php?res=58 (Samani dialect)

The STV Radio course runs from April – March every year with one lesson a week. Each year is taught by a different teacher. The STV Radio page (in Japanese) can be found here:
https://www.stv.jp/radio/ainugo/index.html
Audio:
http://www.stv.jp/radio/podcast/ainugo/index.html
Worksheets:
https://www.stv.jp/radio/ainugo/text/

Dialects:
2022: 北海道東部方言 Eastern Hokkaido
2021: 静内方言 Shizunai
2020: 静内方言 Shizunai
2019: 十勝方言 Tokachishi
2018: 沙流方言 Saru
2017: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2016: 十勝方言 Tokachishi
2015: 石狩方言 Ishikari
2014: 沙流郡平取町方言 Biratori village (Saru district)
2013: 浦河方言 Urakawa
2012: 鵡川方言 Mukawa
2011: 旭川方言 Asahikawa
2010: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2009: 静内方言 Shizunai
2008: 石狩方言 Ishikari
2007: 二風谷方言 Nibutani
2006: 様似方言 Samani
2005: 静内方言 Shizunai
2004: 旭川方言 Asahikawa
2003: 二風谷方言 Nibutani
2002: 白糠地方の方言 Shiranuka area (among others)
2001: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2000:白糠地方の方言 Shiranuka area (among others)
1999: 白老方言 Shiraoi
1998: ?



vonPeterhof wrote:Another good resource that's available in English (in addition to Japanese) is the Topical Dictionary of Conversational Ainu, a dictionary consisting of topic-based modules of words and sentences, complete with audio recordings by a native speaker of the Saru dialect.

vonPeterhof wrote:Speaking of the dialects, the Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture has several multi-level courses for various Ainu dialects (in Japanese only).
[...]
The link to the Saru dialect beginner level textbook PDF on the website erroneously leads to the Tokachi dialect one instead, but the file does exist under the correct URL.



guyome wrote:Online corpora
All of these provide the original recordings, transcriptions (katakana/romaji), and Japanese translations. A search function and autoscroll while audio is playing are available.


Audio + text



guyome wrote:A few series of articles containing transcriptions (it doesn't seem the recordings are online):

Last edited by brilliantyears on Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:50 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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brilliantyears
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19020
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby brilliantyears » Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:05 pm

So, to start this thread: who here is learning Ainu, why, and how?

For me it’s still ‘dabbling’ at best. I’ve heard a lot about Ainu during my studies (Japanese @ university) but never really took the opportunity to delve into the language, culture or history. That’s something I want to correct.

I got inspired to start Ainu during the previous Polyglot Gathering, although I don’t remember what sparked it (probably all the conversations about dead/dying languages :? ). As a bonus, I’m happy my Japanese is useful for learning Ainu, so it’s a win-win situation.

I’m currently using the STV Radio 2006 course. I read through the Unilang translation once before switching to the Japanese podcast while keeping the worksheet ready. I’ve made my own Memrise course based on these lessons, because I’m not quite happy with the one that was available on Memrise already. I don’t agree with the primary use of katakana for writing Ainu – it’s just not logical and I believe the only reason it’s happening is because most of the source material to learn Ainu is Japanese, and also: Japan in general. So I’m focusing on writing Ainu in latin script.

I have fairly good access to many books on Ainu. I’m slowly browsing through these for more useful resources and will share them when I come across something interesting. I’m also more than happy to provide translations from Japanese where necessary, in case anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese is interested in learning Ainu (but possibly too intimidated by the sheer amount of Japanese).
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby vonPeterhof » Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:01 pm

I guess I'm an on-again-off-again learner of Ainu. I first started learning it in 2015 while I was preparing to get interviewed for a Russian ALT position at a school in Nemuro, Hokkaido. I wasn't really expecting it to be useful there, but I had always been interested in learning about Ainu, and I thought that living in Hokkaido provided the perfect excuse to do so. In the end I didn't get the job, but I stuck with that year's STV course until the end, after which I gradually let it slip away. I did get the urge to pick it back up again at some points afterwards but, being focused on other languages, I've mostly managed to keep my wanderlust at bay. However, most recently I was inspired to refresh my knowledge of Ainu by this year's anime adaptation of the manga Golden Kamuy, which also inspired me to try my hand at tweetiing in Ainu.

Another good resource that's available in English (in addition to Japanese) is the Topical Dictionary of Conversational Ainu, a dictionary consisting of topic-based modules of words and sentences, complete with audio recordings by a native speaker of the Saru dialect. It doesn't really give a detailed introduction to the grammar though, so if you feel like that would be necessary you might want to use it as a supplement to a full course. The 2006 translated STV course is based on the Shizunai dialect, which is geographically right next to Saru, but I'm not sure to what extent they are actually similar. The Saru dialect appears to be the one studied the most, since for a long time it had the largest number of surviving native speakers, including those in the largest remaining Ainu-majority community. I also remember hearing that the Chitose dialect is about as popular, likely due to its traditional area's proximity to Sapporo (while Hokkaido's largest city is located in the subprefecture called Ishikari, what's known as the Ishikari dialect was actually spoken further up the Ishikari river, around the inland city of Asahikawa).

Speaking of the dialects, the Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture has several multi-level courses for various Ainu dialects (in Japanese only). While the STV course I completed previously was based on the Ishikari dialect, if I ever go back to seriously studying Ainu I was thinking of doing the Saru dialect course and supplementing it with the Topical Dictionary. No idea when I'll actually do it though, as right now I'm trying to focus on Biblical Hebrew and Setswana. But then, trying to get a boost in Ainu in time for the start of the second season of Golden Kamuy in October does sound like an interesting side challenge...

Edit: the link to the Saru dialect beginner level textbook PDF on the website erroneously leads to the Tokachi dialect one instead, but the file does exist under the correct URL.
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brilliantyears
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby brilliantyears » Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:15 am

It's good to consider dialects - I admit I didn't do that when I just started out (like an idiot) and now I'm quite far into the 2006 course :roll: I agree Saru would probably make more sense to learn, with the sources available. Although when it comes to the STV Radio course, the only one based on Saru dialect seems to be the current one, 2018. (And 2014, I suppose)

I went through the STV Radio worksheets and wrote down the dialects per course:

2018: 沙流方言 Saru
2017: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2016: 十勝方言 Tokachishi
2015: 石狩方言 Ishikari
2014: 沙流郡平取町方言 Biratori village (Saru district)
2013: 浦河方言 Urakawa
2012: 鵡川方言 Mukawa
2011: 旭川方言 Asahikawa
2010: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2009: 静内方言 Shizunai
2008: 石狩方言 Ishikari
2007: 二風谷方言 Nibutani
2006: 様似方言 Samani
2005: 静内方言 Shizunai
2004: 旭川方言 Asahikawa
2003: 二風谷方言 Nibutani
2002: 白糠地方の方言 Shiranuka area (among others)
2001: 白老方言 Shiraoi
2000:白糠地方の方言 Shiranuka area (among others)
1999: 白老方言 Shiraoi
1998: ?

(The 2006 one states in the worksheets it's based on Samani dialect... Now I'm not sure :lol: )

I'll add the sources you mentioned to the resources post, thanks for sharing :D
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby vonPeterhof » Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:17 pm

brilliantyears wrote:(The 2006 one states in the worksheets it's based on Samani dialect... Now I'm not sure :lol: )

My bad, I misread the into to the English translation: it mentions that the translator referenced a book on the Shizunai Dialect for grammatical terminology; I confused that for a reference to the dialect of the course itself.

I'm assuming that the Biratori and Nibutani courses would teach the Saru dialect, or at least something extremely close to it; ditto for Asahikawa vis-a-vis Ishikari and Shiranuka vis-a-vis Tokachi. Having checked out a list of dialects on the Japanese Wikipedia, it seems like the Shizunai dialect isn't quite as close to the Saru dialect as I assumed, with the latter being a western Hokkaido dialect and the former an eastern one (Samani is one too). But then, all Hokkaido Ainu dialects are supposed to be mutually intelligible to some extent; in contrast, I've seen Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu referred to as separate languages within an Ainu language family.
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby AyaypaqasnW » Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:34 am

Mixed ( my quasi)Ainu writing : qw=an{r}y an-aq-ne{e} ( as for me .. qw= a-nw-ye-qar qar wa I want to write Ainu ytah qw=qon rw-sw-y ( only problem is many writing field boxes do not know spell checker resists ( the words jump to other places a bug or iOS problem ! Katakana or Roman Ainu ) A-nw-qar an aq wa { qan-py-qa-ta no a-nw-ye qa-tw w-{ho}-qan-pa ne {e} na wa wen qor-o-qa qw-sw ne {e} a-y-a-e-qa-p wa} na wa chy-my~chy-my=find ( search google a-nw-qar ya-n e-e ‘ Andrew Waddington VK ‘ If you have time scroll my posts ( photos ) you find a lot of information on Ainu in Finnish Swomy , Russian Nwca ytah-{ qyyleq } Japanese bad at Shy-sha-mo Ytah qw= poor poro a-y-qa-p I have very little experience Ainu speaking living in Japan Taboo ! I have no friends and only wish to discuss Ainu { in Ainu } = Aynw ytah an{r} y Aynw ytah qw= w-qo-y-so w-qo-cha-ran-qe=discuss Ytah -qa-tw-mon-twn Grammar form-for-um qw=qon{ w-a-w-en-te } sw-y an-pe ne{e} na wa rw an !
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AyaypaqasnW
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby AyaypaqasnW » Sun Jul 07, 2019 10:53 am

:) Japanese -{ }- means can be used , hyphen between particles of words that are part of other words exsample se-qor, qor-a-chy,qor-o-qa,nan-qor, en-qor-e S{h}y-sha-mo- ytah = Japanese language is a ought to , because 90% of Ainu material is written with Japanese , if you see the verb ending する suru ,a-ru Ainu is ‘ru-su ,ru-su-y ,su, su-y , ru ,ru-we ‘so we often borrowed words and grammar forms Ainu ye and Japanese 言( い) う= say ,s-ay ,Ainu Yu- kar , y-w-qar
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brilliantyears
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby brilliantyears » Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:29 pm

I've seen your posts on the Unilang forum before. I'm fairly certain you've had people say this before: I really don't think you're going to get much response if you stubbornly stick to your own invented writing style if you're the only one using it, and your posts are also quite unreadable. It's unfortunate because I'm curious what you have to say, how you're learning Ainu, etc. There are so few Ainu learners and I'm sure we can exchange valuable information.
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Re: Ainu Study Group

Postby księżycowy » Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:50 am

This study group hasn't had much activity recently. Time to necro!

As I am currently learning Japanese and I have a sweet spot for seeing what other languages are spoken in the areas where languages I'm learning are spoken, Ainu has naturally crossed my radar. I'm hoping to dive into some as my Japanese studies progress.

I'm not looking to be fluent or any such thing, but picking up a smidgen would be cool.
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