A study of the history of the Ainu language based on the linguistic analyisis of old documents

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02708
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: SATO TOMOMI 北海道大学, 文学研究院, 教授 (40231344)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: アイヌ語 / 古文書 / 歴史言語学 / 言語変化 / 方言 / 言語地理学 / 文献学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The main results of this project are as follows: first, important notational characteristics of the major oldest Ainu documents have been shown. This study will serve to　estimate the exact age of various valuable old documents of Ainu. Second, old documents of the Ainu dialects in Japan Sea coastal regions which were lost very early have been investigated. Contrary to our expectations this study shows us for the first time that these almost unknown Ainu dialects most probably have a number of features common to East Hokkaido Ainu dialects. This result is very interesting because such an "ABA" type distribution suggests that East Hokkaido Ainu dialects may keep more archaic features in light of linguistic geography than Central Ainu dialects. Third, the reports of the study of four rare valuable old documents of Ainu have been published, which include their transliterations, various indeces, and philological descriptions, which will be useful for the study of the history of Ainu.

Free Research Field

言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

アイヌ語は文字で表記する習慣がなかった言語であるため、古い時代の正確な記録がない。そのため、ほとんど未解明であったアイヌ語の歴史的変遷を、これまで研究に利用されていなかった日本各地に散在する断片的な古文書資料を収集、分析することによって明らかにした。これにより、日本語や近隣諸言語との歴史的関係を正しく推測する足がかりが得られた。また、このことは、直接的な文献資料がほとんどないため、不明な点が多かった日本列島北部における過去の言語状況を実証的に明らかにすることに役立ち、日本列島に展開した言語、文化の多様性が浮き彫りにされ、日本とは何かをより深く知ることができる。