2019 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, 文学研究院, 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 2019, we focused on (1) by investigating Kuril Ainu, a missing link that is expected to provide clues for a finer classification of Ainu dialects, through deciphering an old document Kuril’skie Slova [Kuril words] (1844?) which we obtained in St. Peteresburg. Our goal is to advance knowledge of the history of Ainu, which is a very promissing area of Ainu research.
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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 Co-Investigator T.Sato and I have deciphered an old document Kuril’skie Slova [Kuril words] (1844?) and started preparing a detailed commentary towards its publication. Together with my collaborator Ekaterina Gruzdeva (Helsinki U), we summarized the results of our FY2018 fieldwork on the Amur dialect of Nivkh and presented on documentation in a post-language period: in search for Ainu roots in the Lower Amur region at the international conference “Documentation of Languages and Dialects of Indigenous Peoples of Russia”. Also, Ekaterina Gruzdeva has presented on reconstructing language contacts in the Amur-Sakhalin area, morphosyntactic transformation of Nivkh in the context of the Amur Linguistic Area and many other project related issues.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In FY 2020, my Co-Investigator T. Sato and I will continue working on the Kuril dialect of Ainu. Gruzdeva , M. Temina, J. Janhunen and I plan to continue working on the reconstruction of language contacts in the Amur-Sakhalin area and organizing our Nivkh fieldwork materials.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The amount of money left is insignificant.
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