About Ainu

Regions and Dialects

Ainu is located in the islands in Northern Japan and the isles of Eastern Russia. The different dialects were primarily located in Hokkaido island, Sakhalin peninsula, and  the Kuril archipelago. The seperation of the location created three distinct dialects: the Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kurile dialects.

The only last surviving dialect of Ainu is Hokkaido Ainu and it is currently moribund. The most recent publishing shows there are only two native speakers of Hokkaido Ainu left (Dr. Vovin, "Personal Communication"). 

Family Tree

The Ainu language is a language isolate, meaning there is no direct evidence that its lineage comes from any other language families. Thus, making Ainu a small fraction of the world's languages that fall under this category.

Being one of the few language isolates, Ainu's preservation can be important in understaning formation. By studying its formation Ainu gives linguistics a window into the way isolates and language families form as a whole. 

The Ainu Ethnicity

Ainu is often entwined with being an ethnicity and a language. The ethnic Ainu group's number around 25,000 people that identify under the title from the Japanese census, (McCarthy, "Ainu People Lay Ancient Claim to Kurile Island").

This number is not counting the groups identifying as Ainu in the Russian controlled islands. The Russian government does not recognize Ainu as an official ethnic group nor is there any unique suppot provided to them as an indigenous group.

Now the Ainu seek to reclaim their heritage by reintroducing their language to the newer generations. The revitalization of indigenous languages like Ainu, is seen as a way of decolonizing their past and reclaiming their history. Now the indigenous Ainu seek to save their past through their language.