2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Towards understanding dynamics of language change in Ainu
| Project/Area Number |
17K02743
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| Research Institution | Tokyo University of Science |
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Principal Investigator |
A Bugaeva 東京理科大学, 理学部第一部教養学科, 准教授 (40550075)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
佐藤 知己 北海道大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (40231344)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Ainu dialects / old records / Kuril Ainu / Nivkh / language change / language contact |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This project is aimed at investigating (1) natural change in Ainu through available old records of the less described dialects and (2) change induced by contact with Japanese in Hokkaido and Nivkh in Sakhalin through linguistic fieldwork on Nivkh. Our goal is to advance knowledge of the history of Ainu. In FY 2017, we focused on (1) by investigating old records of Kuril Ainu (KA). In particular, we undertook a trip to the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (SPF ARAN) to work on the 18-19th century unpublished KA manuscripts in Cyrillic and started building up a consolidated database of KA consisting of all published KA materials and partially deciphered new materials.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
My Co-Investigator T.Sato and I visited 3 archives in St. Petersburg, i.e. not only the originally planned SPF ARAN but also MAE (Kunstkamera) and IVR (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts). In addition to our planned deciphering of the unpublished Cyrillic manuscript Kuril’skie Slova [Kuril Words] (1843), we were able to work on other newly discovered Kuril Ainu (KA) documents of the early 18th cent. We built up a consolidated database of all existing published KA materials and will soon add there our new KA data. KA is a missing link that is expected to provide clues for a finer classification of Ainu dialects. We also gave 2 invited talks on Ainu (see below) at the Institute for Linguistic Studies and St Petersburg University with a purpose of establishing contacts with Russian linguists.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In FY 2018, I plan to focus on (2) change in Ainu induced by contact with Nivkh through linguistic fieldwork on Nivkh in collaboration with E.Gruzdeva (Helsinki U) who is an expert on Nivkh. Together with my collaborator Collaborator J. Whitman (Cornell U), I plan to work on the phonological reconstruction of Ainu. Some of the results of my collaborative research (with Sato, Gruzdeva, and Whitman) will be presented at the special session “The dispersal of Ainu and its contact with neighbouring languages” (Coordinator:Bugaeva) of the international NINJAL symposium, 6-8 August 2018. From FY 2019 onward, I plan to focus on preparing for publication the KA database (online), deciphered KA manuscripts with a commentary and research articles on natural and contact-induced change in Ainu.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to circumstances, we were able to schedule our research trip to St Petersburg (Russia) and Helsinki (Finland) only on March 23 - April 3 2018, i.e. in-between FY2017 and FY2018. In accordance with university payment procedure regulations, our travel expenses for this trip can be reimbursed only in FY2018 since the trip has extended to April 1-3 of FY2018. Usage plans: to cover the expenses of our research trip to St Petersburg (Russia) and Helsinki (Finland) which took place on March 23 - April 3 2018.
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