Knowledge base · Part XXI — Language Contact and the Lexicon · this topic as a network

163. Japanese Loanwords and Their Phonological Adaptation

How does Hokkaido Ainu phonologically adapt Japanese loanwords and what are the borrowing strata?

25 sentences from 23 sources · every sentence names the pages it rests on

The word ora is a Japanese word meaning 'I'. (Shibatani 1990)

The Japanese contact layer

What characterizes the Japanese contact layer in Hokkaido Ainu?

Ainu vocabulary contains several unrelated strata, including layers borrowed from Japanese and Nivkh. (reported in Bugaeva 2012: 462–463) Most loanwords in Southern Hokkaido Ainu originate from Japanese. (Bugaeva 2012) The Ainu word sorekusu is a loanword from Japanese sorekoso 'exactly, especially'. (Bugaeva 2015: 53) The noun sísam is an exonym used by the Ainu for the Japanese. (Janhunen 2022: 2.2) The noun 'atay 'price' is a loanword from Japanese atai. (Murasaki 2025: 26) The Ainu word umma 'horse' was adopted from Japanese uma. (Ōno 2022: 12.8) Japanese contact has exerted linguistic influence on Ainu not only in loanwords, but also in phonology, and to some extent in grammar and syntax. (Refsing 1986: 56) The word pisakku 'ladle / dipper' is considered a loanword from Japanese (hishaku). (Satō 2008: 296) The word gakko is a Japanese loanword meaning 'school'. (Shibatani 1990) The word takenoko is a Japanese loanword meaning 'bamboo shoot'. (Shibatani 1990) The word beko is a Japanese loanword meaning 'cow'. (Shibatani 1990) Sakhalin Ainu konkaani 'metal, gold' is a loanword from Japanese. (Shiraishi & Tangiku 2022: 7.3) Ainu hasami 'scissors' in both Sakhalin and Hokkaido dialects is a loanword from Japanese. (Shiraishi & Tangiku 2022: 7.3) Hokkaido Ainu panco 'axe' is borrowed from Japanese banshō 'carpenter'. (reported in Shiraishi & Tangiku 2022: 7.3) Hokkaido Ainu ontaro and Sakhalin Ainu ontoro 'barrel, cask' are borrowings from Japanese taru. (Shiraishi & Tangiku 2022: 7.3)

Phonological adaptation

How does Hokkaido Ainu phonologically adapt Japanese loanwords?

Japanese words with voiced consonants are typically borrowed into Ainu with an inserted nasal preceding the consonant. (Satō 2008: 296) The Ainu word konkane 'gold' is a Japanese loanword whose nasal n reflects an older Japanese voiced stop /g/. (proposed in Satō 2008: 301) Loanwords from Tōhoku Japanese into Saru Ainu preserve prenasalized voiced consonants as nasal-stop clusters. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.1) The Sakhalin Ainu word tuuki 'sake cup' is a loanword from Japanese (Old Japanese tuki HL) whose long vowel /uu/ developed secondarily from an accented open initial syllable. (Bugaeva 2022: 3.5) Japanese /tu/ (tsu) is frequently adapted as ci in loanwords, e.g. CIITE for Japanese tsuite. (Nakagawa 2024: 45) Since Ainu lacks palatalized glide onsets like kya, kyu, and kyo, Japanese contracted sounds (yōon) are often expanded into two syllables such as kiya or kiyu (e.g. TOOKIYO 'Tokyo'), though cha, chu, and cho are sometimes rendered as ca, cu, and co (e.g. KAPOCA 'squash/pumpkin'). (Nakagawa 2024: 45)

Early contact and Edo-period loans

What characterizes early Japanese loanwords in Hokkaido Ainu?

Ainu contains very early Japonic loanwords such as sippo 'salt' and pasuy 'chopstick' that preserve Old Japanese or Pre-Old-Japanese phonological features such as the stop realization of *p and the diphthongoid sequence *uy. (Janhunen 2022: 2.3)

tampaku ku=ku rusuy

tobacco 1SG.A=smoke want

‘I want to smoke (tobacco).’

Chiba University (eds.) 2015 · HK

kes to an kor sihainin orowa peko umma koraci a=nepkire

every day exist while manager from cattle horse like 4.A=work-CAUS

‘Every day I was made to work like cattle and horses by the manager.’

Ainu Koraci 1991 · SAR

kampi an=euytek pe moyuk tono

document 4.A=dispatch NMLZ tanuki lord

‘the raccoon-dog lord, dispatched with a written order’

ILCAA Ainu materials 1976 · SHI

Modern borrowings and the untranslated stratum

How are modern Japanese loanwords treated in Hokkaido Ainu?

terebi sinbun or ta zeikin uk wa umma hok kur oruspe a=nu ruwe ne

television newspaper place LOC tax take CONJ horse buy person news 4.A=hear track-POSS COP

‘On television and in the newspapers, one hears the story of a person who took tax money and quietly bought a horse.’

Ainu Koraci 1991 · SAR

Semantic distribution

What semantic domains do Japanese loanwords cover in Hokkaido Ainu?

In Hokkaido Ainu, the Japanese loan sato is used for 'sugar', whereas in Sakhalin dialects only otoopenpe 'something sweet' is found. (Shiraishi & Tangiku 2022: 7.3)

Degree of integration

How integrated are Japanese loanwords into Hokkaido Ainu phonology?

The verb tondaro is formed by attaching -taro to the sound-euphonic form of the Japanese verb tobu ('to fly'). (Nakagawa 2024: 572)