ainu
Ainu
Ainu
Essays
- Info on the relationship of Ainu to other languages, phonology, grammar, script and speakers.
- Info on the language, pronunciation, scripts and links.
- A nice essay considering different hypotheses on the origin of the Ainu language.
ことば by 中川裕, 1993 Available in Japanese and English
- Several essays on Ainu speakers, its relation to Japanese, basic features and its current state. English translation here.
アイヌについて In Japanese only
- Essay about the history of the Ainu, the language and the present situation.
The Contemporary Condition of Ainu Language by A. Akulov (Internet Archive only)
- A long, if rather negative essay about Ainu speakers in Hokkaido and what can be done to revive the language.
The Study of the Ainu Language by T. Sato, 2006
- A linguistic paper on the basic features of Ainu and 'glide insertion'.
The Relationship between Basque & Ainu by E. Nyland
- A controversial theory on the origin's of Ainu.
L'ONU Only available in French
- Article about Ainu culture and the efforts to revive Ainu.
Endangered Languages in Northeast Asia
- Concise report on Ainu and its dialects.
- Some basic info on Ainu speakers, phonology and writing.
Courses
Ainu for Beginners by Kane Kumagi, translated by Yongdeok Cho
- A 52 lesson English translation of the 2006 STV Ainu lessons, with exercises, vocab, pronunciation help, grammar guides etc. Fantastic cource. The audio for the lessons (in Japanese) are indexed on this site here.
STV Ainu Only available in Japanese
- 12 different courses with full audio and 50 lessons each are available. An amazing resource.
アイヌ語教室 & アイヌ語教室２０００ Only available in Japanese
- 2 course with several lessons and exercises teaching common Ainu phrases.
Websites
Tuytah Only available in Japanese
- Recordings of Ainu stories with transcription and translation in Japanese. An explanation of the stories in English is also available.
Literature and Materials of Ainu Language for Learners Available in English and Japanese
- A list of books, audio materials, dictionaries for Ainu learners.
初心者のためにアイヌ語文法解説 Only available in Japanese
- A nice page that explains basic Ainu grammar; verbs, word order, accents, nouns, particles etc. More pages here.
物語アーカイブ Only available in Japanese
- Recordings of stories in Ainu with a Japanese summary.
日本古代史とアイヌ語 Also available in English
- Several essays on the origin of the Ainu people and language.
- A small wordlist taken from the book 'The languages of Japan' by Masayoshi Shibatani.
アイヌ神謡集 Available in Japanese & Esperanto BROKEN LINK
- Some info on Ainu sentences and phrases as well as Ainu stories with parallel translation.
The Ainu, their Land & Culture
- A collection of links about the Ainu people, culture, language, geography & books.
Aynu Mosiri Only available in Russian
- Several short pdf files on Ainu grammar, history, typologyand a possible ancient writing system.
白老のアイヌ語単語集 Only available in Japanese
- A large collection of vocabulary arranged by topic. The same collection is also available alphabetically here.
アイヌ文化のページ Only available in Japanese
- A collection of vocab arranged by topics, and a list of vocab spoken by women only.
Entrance to Ainu World Also available in Japanese
- Lots of sentences with audio on different topics. Also several lists of vocab with some audio. Note: Site only available in Internet Archive.
- Ainu vocabulary lists arranged by topic, with translations in Japanese and English.
デジタル絵本 Only available in Japanese
- Cartoon stories in Ainu with Japanese subtitles.
- A large collection of English and Japanese links for the Ainu language. Also has videos teaching Ainu.
E-books
An Ainu-English Dictionary with Grammar by J. Batchelor, 1905
Ainu Grammar by J. Batchelor, 1905
- A very early grammar and dictionary which may contain errors. Caution advised. A short article on the author's life is here.
アイヌ語研修テキスト by MURASAKI. K., 1998 (no. A725)
- Complimentary copies are sometimes available from the university if you e-mail them.
Blogs
Rebecca's Weblog (Internet Archive only)
- The blog of a linguistics student stationed in Hokkaido, there are a few posts relating to Ainu.
Forums
Unilang Ainu (Archive of previous forum)
- A thread for Ainu learners, the previous forum is only available in archive.
アイヌ語について Only available in Japanese
- A helpful forum for beginning students of Ainu with loads of posts.
Technical
- Searchable Ainu dictionary with more than 4,000 entries.
- An Ainu-Japanese dictionary with 7,700 entries. Use it like a paper dictionary, as searching is difficult. Romanised Ainu only.