Ainu language

E372740

Ainu language is an indigenous, critically endangered language isolate of northern Japan, traditionally spoken by the Ainu people of Hokkaido and nearby regions.

All labels observed (5)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf critically endangered language
indigenous language
language
language isolate
closelyAssociatedWith Ainu
surface form: Ainu culture
ethnicGroup Ainu
surface form: Ainu people
Glottocode ainu1240
hasAlternativeName Ainu language
surface form: Ainu itak language

Ainu language
surface form: Hokkaido Ainu language
hasBasicWordOrder SOV
hasDialect Ainu
surface form: Hokkaido Ainu

Ainu
surface form: Kuril Ainu

Ainu
surface form: Sakhalin Ainu
hasLinguisticFeature distinction between animate and inanimate
extensive verbal morphology
incorporation of nouns into verbs
lack of grammatical gender
polysynthetic tendencies
postpositions instead of prepositions
use of applicative suffixes
use of person markers on verbs
use of possessive prefixes
hasMorphologicalType agglutinative
hasPhonologicalFeature rich consonant inventory
simple vowel system
hasRevitalizationEffort broadcasts in Ainu
community language programs
language classes in Hokkaido
publication of Ainu textbooks
ISO639-2 ain
languageFamily language isolate
nativeName Ainu itak
アイヌ・イタㇰ
recognizedAs indigenous language of Japan
recognizedBy Government of Japan
region Hokkaido
Russia Far East
surface form: Russian Far East

northern Japan
spokenIn Hokkaido
Japan
Kuril Islands
Sakhalin Island
surface form: Sakhalin
status critically endangered
usedIn folklore
oral tradition
rituals
traditional songs
writingSystem Cyrillic script
Katakana
Latin alphabet
surface form: Latin script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ainu language Ainu language
Orok language hasNeighboringLanguage Ainu language
this entity surface form: Sakhalin Ainu language
Kamuiwakka Hot Falls hasNameMeaning Ainu language
this entity surface form: “Kamuiwakka” derives from Ainu language meaning “water of the gods” or “divine water”
Ainu language hasAlternativeName Ainu language
this entity surface form: Hokkaido Ainu language
Ainu language hasAlternativeName Ainu language
this entity surface form: Ainu itak language
Akan Ainu Kotan languageContext Ainu language