2018 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. In FY 2018, we focused on (2) by investigating Nivkh. In particular, we undertook fieldwork on the Amur dialect of Nivkh in the Khabarovsk region, Nikolayevsky District in the Far East of Russia close to the Sakhalin Island.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
My collaborator Ekaterina Gruzdeva (Helsinki U) and I undertook fieldwork on the Amur dialect of Nivkh in the Khabarovsk region, Nikolayevsky District in the Far East of Russia (close to the Sakhalin Island). The Amur river area used to be an important trade route, which reinforced extensive cultural and linguistic contacts between the speakers of Tungusic languages, Nivkh and Ainu. The research on the Kuril Ainu has been advanced too, see “The Study of Old Documents of Hokkaido and Kuril Ainu: Promise and Challenges” presented at the special session “The dispersal of Ainu and its contact with neighbouring languages” (Coordinator: A. Bugaeva) of the international symposium “Approaches to Endangered Languages in Japan and Northeast Asia: Description, Documentation and Revitalization”.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In FY 2018, my Co-Investigator T. Sato and I will continue deciphering Kuril Ainu manuscripts and preparing a detailed commentary (prospective outcome: research report/book). We’ll particularly focus on preparing for publication the KA database (online) with a commentary. Together with E. Gruzdeva , M. Temina, and J. Janhunen I plan to organize and prepare for publication Nivkh fieldwork materials.
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| Causes of Carryover |
We requested to advance a payment in order to pay gratitude money to the native speakers of Nivkh (we could interview more speakers than originally planned) and since it is a fixed sum of money (more than we actually needed) some money was left to carry forward.
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