#ainu language

[polyglot-thought]

Critically Endangered Language Introduction:

Ainu Language

アイヌ・イタㇰ

Photos provided by AMNH

Some information about the Ainu language:

It’s critically endangered, meaning there are very few native speakers left, who are also elderly, and young people are not picking up the language. Ainu doesn’t have its own original writing system, so Latin script and a modified version of Katakana are used. For this post I will be using both Latin and Katakana script. You can read more about the Ainu language and people on Wikipedia, here and here.

Example Words & Phrases ↓

Provided by Wikitravel at this link

Irankarapte

イランカラㇷ゚テ

Hello/Nice to meet you

E=iwanke ya?

エイワンケ　ヤ？

How are you?

Ku=iwanke, iyairaykere

クイワンケ、イライライケレ

Fine, thank you

E=re hemanta ya?

エレ　ヘマンテ　ヤ？

What is your name?

K=ani anakne ______ ku=ne

カニ　アナㇰネ　_____　クネ

My name is ______ .

E

エ

Yes

Somo

ソモ

No

Amerika-itak

アメリカイタㇰ

English Language (literally: “America Language”)

Kunne

クンネ

Black

Retar

レタㇻ

White

Katuwa

カツ゚ワ

Grey

toy-haru

トィハル

(fresh) vegetables

nikaop

ニカオㇷ゚

(fresh) fruit

Please correct me if I made a mistake

#endangered languages #endangered language #critically endangered #critically endangered language #critically endangered languages #ainu #ainu language #dying language #endangered culture #Critically Endangered Language Introduction #Language Introduction #language preservation #historic preservation #ainu culture #ainu people #language learning #beginner language #beginner ainu

[typhoom]

Ainu-English Dictionary (Plus grammar section)

via Archive.org https://archive.org/details/ainuenglishjapan00batcuoft (Book published 1905. Digital uploaded 2007)

#ainu #ainu language #indigenous languages #indigenous #important

[earlsocksiii]

anyone out there know good free resources for learning hokkaido ainu? I’ve been interested but can’t shell out the money for classes or an expensive learning app, sadly, and it’s not on duolingo...

#ainu #ainu language

[hanaflorbloom]

every time i see someone say that we should erase all other languages and make english the 'universal language' I'm reminded how ignorant and culturally insensitive some people are. to not be aware of the historical and cultural significance of a language in most cultures is bizarre. in erasing a language you would thus be erasing years of important history of a culture. i hope these people educate themselves before speaking on something they know nothing about simply because it would 'make their lives easier'. not to mention its so tone-deaf to the people who are fighting for language revitalization due to the historical language suppression of their ancestors.

#language #rant #linguistics #culture #history #langblr #native american languages #gaelic #ainu #language revitalization #endangered languages #indigenous #indigenous languages

[stonerginko]

seeing posts like this is making me regret comparing golden kamuy to dungeon meshi bc people will really take indigenous cultures and extract it as fantasy content to consume instead of recognizing that it’s referencing a real culture that has experienced active oppression and eradication

#like im sorry but ryoko kui creating a fantasy world is not the same as satoru noda consulting w ainu associations and language supervisors #its a different genre #there are similar teehee quirky crazy character energy #but trying to compare ‘lore’ is…………….. an interesting take #its dismissive to the reality behind the culture AND to any appropriative insensitivies that an author from a different culture will make

[ladyimaginarium]

from mikjikj-mnikuk/turtle island to inuit nunangat to kanata to kalaallit nunaat to anahuac to abya yala to alkebulan to the levant to moananuiākea to sápmi to éire to bhārata to zhōngguó to nihon to aynu mosir to siberia to niugini to nusantara to bandaiyan to aotearoa, from coast to coast to coast to coast, from sea to sea to sea to sea, none of us are free until all of us — men, women, enben, children, queer people, disabled & neurodivergent people, elders, animals and the land and the sea and the sky — are free!!!!

#arcana.txt #turtle island = north america aka canada america & mexico (& the carribean & central america & greenland depending on who you ask) #inuit nunangat = the arctic aka inuit territory #anahuac = the traditional name for mexico #abya yala = south america (& the carribean & central america depending on who you ask) #alkebulan = the indigenous name for africa #levant = the place where israel & palestine are but also includes cyprus jordan lebanon & syria #moananuiākea = the hawaiian word for the pacific ocean & all the pacific islands #sápmi = the traditional land of the sámi in the northern parts of scandinavia & sweden norway finland & russia #bandaiyan = the indigenous word for australia / aotearoa = the māori word for new zealand #& the reason why i& included animals & the land sea & sky was bc that's central to indigenous activism just as much as it relates to humans #ya can't just free the humans ya gotta free the lands seas & skies too!! #btw mikjikj-mnikuk means turtle island in mi'kmawi'simk i& found it fitting to use the oldest language that yt europeans heard when arrivin #as the mi'kmaq were literally the first indigenous peoples that yt settlers spoke to & saw in 'canada' aka kanata which is the actual word+ #which it originated from which came from a huron-iroquois word!! #+ zhōngguó is the chinese word for china ! i& included it bc the uighurs & tibetans & other idigenous peoples are still struggling there!! #+ nihon is the word for japan & i& added it bc we can't forget the ainu & okinawans !! #kalaallit nunaat = greenland & éire = ireland in gaeilge #niugini = new guinea in tok pisin / nusantara = indonesia & the archipelago from old javanese bc they have a lot of indigenous peoples #bhārata = india — i& added it bc there's a LOT of indigenous peoples there & the caste system often has them at the bottom #aynu mosir = ainu homelands !! #siberia also has MANY indigenous peoples living in literally the coldest parts of the world & they're going thru a lot rn #nobody's free until all of us are free!!!! #protect indigenous peoples everywhere!!!! protect each other!!!! #protect the lands seas & skies & also keep them centered in your activism while making sure human rights are valued!! #land back #activism. #psa. #** post; okay to reblog.

[running-with-the-feels]

Adding onto the "Hanzo is Ainu" headcanon that an anon sent me earlier

We know that Hanzo had a nickname for Harumi, he called her Kana, which as far as I can find (as always pls correct me if I am wrong) is a name that can mean anything either: perfume, beautiful, summer, flower, vegetable, or increase (vegetable seems to come from the "na" part whereas everything else is from the "ka" part)

but in the Ainu language, as far as I can find (again, correct me if I am wrong, I am in no way an expert) Kanna (two n's) is it's own word meaning: Often, again, or thunder (as a verb) (I also saw it used to mean repeat but that was from a dubiously trustworthy source)

Which, I don't know if this is anything or how nicknames work outside of the US/Canada/UK english speaking community, but it would be really sweet if his nickname for the wife he nearly eded the world to avenge was "Thunder"

Sources:

Kana name meaning: https://www.behindthename.com/name/kana/submitted

Kanna meaning: http://northeuralex.org/languages/ain

#hanzo hasashi #ainu #pls lemme know what mistakes I have made or if you know any sources for me to learn more about Ainu language and culture #mortal kombat #mortal kombat x #mortal kombat 11 #scorpion

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

My studies this month

This month I've been focusing on other things and I even took a week off for a holiday! So I haven't logged my words or anything, but I can still tell what I've been studying.

Korean: I've been watching the news every day! I haven't been learning many new words this month.

Japanese: A lot of improvement! I can speak a lot more now and understand many new words! My favorite is コヲロコヲロ！

Mandarin: A lot of accidental immersion! I went for a holiday in the city and there were a BUNCH of Chinese people for some reason? I heard an unusual amount of the language this month.

Cantonese: Not much this month either! Watched a few documentaries in the language!

Italian: new language! My friend speaks it and I wanted to have a go! So far so good, seems simple!

Okinawan: I can speak simple sentences now! I need to work on my listening skills...

Ainu: also a new language! I want to focus on this a lot more this month!

French: I read a few news articles, not my main focus!

I've been focusing on conlanging all this time. I need to move my focus back to languages this month!

#langblr #language #learning #studyblr #month in review #korean #japanese #mandarin #cantonese #italian #okinawan #ainu #french

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Ainu (アイヌ・イタㇰ/Ainu-itak)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 5

Spoken in: Japan, Russia

Script: Katakana, 81 letters/Latin, 81 letters

Grammatical cases: 6

Linguistic typology: agglutinative, SOV

Language family: Ainu

Number of dialects: 3

History

1994 - the last speaker of one of the dialects dies

2008 - the Japanese government recognizes Ainu as an indigenous language

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the Katakana script: ア イ ウ エ オ カ キ ク ケ コ ㇰ サ シ ス セ ソ ㇲ タ ツ゚ テ ト ツ チ ャ チ ツ チャ チ ツ セ゚ チョ ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ ㇴ/ン ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ ㇵ ㇶ ㇷ ㇸ ㇹ パ ピ プ ペ ポ ㇷ゚ マ ミ ム メ モ ㇺ ヤ ユ イェ ヨ ラ リ ル レ ロ ㇻ ㇼㇽ ㇾ ㇿ ㇽ ワ ウィ/ヰ ウェ/ヱ ウォ/ヲ.

These are the letters that make up the Latin script: a c e h i k m n o p r s t u y w.

There are few consonant clusters, but when one appears, it is written using the syllable character followed by the character for the single consonant. For example, ikka is イㇰカ (i-k-ka).

Ainu has a pitch accent system used in words containing affixes. The high pitch is placed on the first syllable of the stem if it is long or on the second syllable if the former is short.

Grammar

Nouns have two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and six cases (dative, instrumental, comitative, locative, allative, and ablative). However, these are not marked directly on the noun, but using other words that follow them.

Ainu uses postpositions. Adverbs are formed adding suffixes to adjectives.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, aspect, person, number, case, and valency.

Dialects

There used to be three dialects: Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kuril. The only one that survives is Hokkaido Ainu, with which the latter two were not mutually intelligible. They differed in phonology and lexicon.

#langblr #languages #ainu

[cruelsister-moved2]

omg wrt The Other as well kind of pertinent rn with like increased western consumption of east asian particularly chinese media is the inability to recognise other 'others' as it were lol so people will be reading really blatant othering of minority ethnic groups, usually peoples of northwest china, that uses the same tactics as western othering, but bc the targeted markers might be like having light eyes or being very tall so it doesnt alert you to any of the forms of ethnic prejudice you recognise in which darker skin, eyes, and hair are almost always a feature..... but if you knew how to recognise racial othering as a phenomenon it would be impossible for this to go over your head like its basically just taking ur anglocentricism to the point that u cant recognise any racism but ur own racism......................

#and ppl not noticing when hindu nationalists are specifically trying to other muslims #like in general if theyre being like #these people are frightening and less human and they dont look like us and their language is strange and theyre violent or untrustworthy #you can like.........use your brain cells #apparently the poppy war has racist depictions of taiwanese ppl also #plenty of anime has this with like okinawans and ainu etc as well

[knightofthegarden]

I just learned that this year, one of the few academic texts of the Ainu language was published in English!

Being an academic text, it's not the most accessible (both in content or in price), but with Ainu having less than a dozen native speakers left, it's awesome to see more resources being made!

#ainu #handbook of the ainu language #アイヌ語

[ismise5]

Ainu English resource interest forum

Irankarapte lingblr, I am posting this to ask for fellow lang-nerds interests and needs for languages while I create english language resources for the Ainu language. Any ideas for what ye'ld like to see in any resource?

#lingblr #ainu culture #language resources

[aro-langblr]

What be þy þoughts upon þe Ainu tongue?

put a language in my inbox and I’ll tell you what I like about it

firstly, your use of the thorn is commendable and appreciated

I respect ainu a lot. on a surface level, I like how letters like �� and ㇰ are used in words, often dropping the standard japanese vowel that accompanies it. and, lesser known fact, ainu also uses a latin based alphabet, so here's another language with two writing systems. on a more personal note, I'm really thankful that both japanese people and foreigners have taken an interest in ainu and its revilalization. it's something that makes me happy, and seeing minority languages get the respect they deserve is something I will always promote.

#ainu #answered #langblr #language #language learning

[foxcassius]

yesterday i was telling kobira sensei about how ireland hates the uk and scotland doesnt want to be in the uk and etc and i mentioned how england forced english on everyone, to the point where there are no more native mannx speakers and gaelic and gaelig are struggling and how they went around the world forcing english onto countries in africa and south asia and pacifica and everywhere and she was like "wow!!! thats awful! to invade another country and take away their language and make them speak your language :(" and i was like yeah very much like. like its kind of like what. what japan. nay, i shan't say

#i didnt mention korea because she gets evasive and slippery about korea but i DID bring up the ainu language and she was like #'yeah we should preserve it!!' okay queen. then maybe you could try learning it. lets learn it together. #AND THEN she was like 'im glad america didnt force japan to speak english when they came and knocked out our government and invalidated #our religion :)' and i was like yeah like. like how. japan did to. nay i shant say... #t

[fablecore]

every time i think i've gotten over "I Carry Your Heart" (and it's VERY justifiable hiatus, this is NOT me pressuring at all), my spotify plays "Go Tonight" and i need to lay down and cry about my favorite sisters and all the literary analysis i could do about their love for one another and the life inside one another and Prometheus and how the Ancient Greeks thought the liver was where the proverbial heart&soul lay so vultures were picking out Promethetus' "heart" for his soft-hearted weakness for humans and Frankenstein: The Modern Promethetus and the tragedy of The Creature and Kizuna and and and and aND I JUST NEED TO LAY DOWN AND CRY AGAIN OKAY

ps. which, btw, i HIGHLY recommend this animatic drawn to the song if you have no idea what song/musical im talking about rn

pps. thanks for inspiring me. maybe one day my school-life/health will let me actually start writing everything ive plotted for my own oc fic/s. thanks for helping kill the cringe that lives in me. alas, the universe had to nerf me out of fear. but one day lol

the analysis of this... i'm so sad now. i've never heard this song or musical before! (granted i'm not a musical person, hadestown aside.) it was a lovely song. and thank you for understanding icyh's hiatus. i've found the fandom rather troubling over the years and i also stopped reading the manga quite a while ago.. if i ever go back to kizuna, i want it to be from a place of genuine love and interest and a desire to tell a fully-realized story. and i shall have to gird myself as i research ainu grammar all over again haha.

your post postscript 💓 let me share with you something ocean vuong once said in an interview. “There’s a legend about a Chinese painter who was asked by the emperor to paint a landscape so pristine that the emperor can enter it. He didn’t do a good job, so the emperor was preparing to assassinate him. But because it was his painting, legend goes, he stepped inside and vanished, saving himself. I always loved that little allegory as an artist. Even when it is not enough for others, if it is enough for you, you can live inside it.”

#letters #icyh #attempting to learn a near-extinct language using an incomplete pdf of the ainu shizunai dialect and a dictionary i found online #is perhaps the most lychee thing i've done for a fic 😌 #should have put 'learn' in quotes. attempting to ''learn''

[vague-humanoid]

As a young boy in school, Masaki Sashima would be dragged out of his classroom and beaten by his fellow students.

Masaki, now 72, was different to the other kids. 

He was Ainu, an Indigenous people from the country's northern regions, most notably the large island of Hokkaido.

"During recess, the hallway door would open, and several guys would yell at me to come out," he said.

"I clung to my desk in the classroom and kept quiet.

"Everyone would surround me and beat me."

Japan has long portrayed itself as culturally and ethnically homogenous, something that some have even argued is a key to its success as a nation.

More than 98 per cent of Japanese people are descendants of the Yamato people. 

But the Ainu are distinct, with their own history, languages, and culture.

But, as the victims of colonialism, assimilation, and discrimination, much of that identity has been lost. 

#Ainu #colonialism #Japan