Current Situation and Endangerment
Current Endangerment Level
Currently endangeredlanguages.com ranks Ainu as being 'Critically Endangered' with an 80% certain chance of going extinct. The dialect branch still alive is Hokkaido Ainu, while Sakhalin and Kuril have become dormant. Only two known fluent speakers are known with both of them being elderly. Their passing will result in all native speakers of Ainu to be speak.
In the past decades there have be multiple attempts and many ongoing programs to help revitalize the language. With Shigeru Kayano, himself a native speaker, spearheading a campain since 1987 to revitalize the language. Since then radio stations and podcasts have formed, textbooks have been written, language clubs, and entire university courses all working together to save Ainu from extinction. An in February of 2019, the "Japan Times Online," reported that Japan approved a bill to recognize Ainu as an official language.
History of Colonization
Japan
During Japan's Meiji era from 1868 to 1912, Japan attempted to replicate colonial America and Europe's practices as a way to industrialize themselves. This resulted in the Japanese government forcing the islands where the Ainu were living in to be under Japanese rule and made them automatic Japanese citizens (Loos and Osani, "Indigenous Minorities and Education"). This decision effectively erased the Ainu as a unique ethnic group by the Japanese government.
Ontop of these programs the Ainu were already struggling to find a place in the adapting world as the markets began shifting. The islands were forced to assimilate with the rest Japan (Fogarty, "Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu"). Resulting in the Ainu needing to speak Japanese and take on Japanese name to fit in with the empire as their economy shifted and had to conform more to Japanese customs. Newer generations had to speak Japanese in order to find jobs and to not be discriminated against, thus the need to speak Ainu declined in favor of adapting to the new world.
Russia
The Ainu faced decades of discrimination by the Russian government prior to the formation of the USSR. The Ainu of the now Russian government forced them to relocate and in 1992, McCarthy author of, "Ainu People Lay Ancient claim to Kurile Islands," says the Ainu of Russian make claim to the Kurile islands. Stating it was there home far before Japanese and Russian interference.
Systemic Japanese Discrimination
Following the Meiji era, Ainu experienced discrimination from Japanese people that made them terrified to practice their traditions or even to mention their involvement with the ethnic group. The people typically belonging to these communities received far less funding from the Japanese government that in turn hurt the education of those living in the Hokkaido island.
It was not until 2008 when Japanese government recognized Ainu as an ethnic group that existed. The combination of the active discrimination by the Japanese citizens and its government put them in a position of financial struggle. They were not able to receive public funding that could aid in the stimulation of their heritage until more recent years, (Fogarty, "Recognition at Last for Japan's Ainu).
In 2019 Emiko, reported a bill was passed to recognize Ainu as an indigenous group, in the article, "Japan's Ainu Will Finally be Reported as Indigenous People." This important for the Ainu people's progress, because not only will they be a unique ethnic group with their own issues, they will be recognized as a ethnic group that sees the plight other indigenous stuggle with. The Ainu and Japan will now be able to work together with programs se to the aid of other indigenous people who still struggle with colonialism's deeprooted scars.
Systemic Russian Oppression
While Japan in the last decade has made improvement and legislation to see the Ainu people's plight, the Russian government has not made the same progress.
The Sakhalin island and the Kuril archipelago, are locations the Ainu groups suffer under Russian opression. In 2011 the Ainu groups in these Russian isles asked to be recognized as their own ethnic group, ("Moscow Time") and were only met with denial by the russian government. This make the estimated population of Ainu people living in Russia a rough estimate of 205 people, according to Alexei Nakamura, in a a community leader for the Ainu in Russia (Dolgik, "Media Project Guild of Interethnic Journalism"). This lack of recognition gives no weight to their desire to be supported by the government. The Russian government's lack of empathy creates more bariers for further access on a political and economic level. Without economic help they are unable to get funding for education, museums, or other grants that will help their community and language grow.
However, it has not stopped the local Ainu groups of the island to start a movement to ensure their voices are heard. The Ainu of the Kamchatka Peninsula, lead by Nakamura, had announced in an interview with, "The Nikkei," of their plans to develop a replica indigenous village for visitors and starting work on a dialect dictionary for the Kamchatka branch of Ainu. This movement will hopefully start the ball rolling in favor of this unique Ainu sect in Russia.
Typologies of Endangerment
In Grenoble and Whaley's book, "Endangered Languages," the authors talk about typologies. Typologies are the threats of what may cause a language to go extinct. For the Ainu these are the factors at play that can help the language or continue to hurt it:
Macro Typologies
Political - For Ainu to continue to repopulate both the Russian and Japanese government have to recongize the importance of these groups and give them active support. They must be recognized as their own ethnic group and be considered a displaced group in need of their own set of unique support and admit the role their countries played in the Ainu people's marginalization.
Economic - An important part of indigenous reclamation is allowing them a place of independence for their people. The Ainu need the resources in order for them to function properly and dismantle the weight of systemic discrimanation.
Education - Education is necessary because it provides future generations and the current one to understand the place in the world. Educating future Ainu and others of the language provides a base for the language to be able to make a comeback.
Micro Typologies
History - Collecting and saving Ainu history is a micro variable that provides preservation to the language and culture as a whole. Exhibits like museums and villages keep the Ainu in the collective conscious and gives a gate way for those with Ainu heritage to see their own history and learn why preserving their history is so important.
Standardization - The continued application of providing reasons to use Ainu provides a reinforcement for its use. Having billboards and signs printed everywhere gives reason for refresher and to remind visitors and the local community of its importance in the world.