Knowledge base · Part XX — Diachrony, Reconstruction, and Dialectology · this topic as a network
156. Proto-Ainu Reconstruction: Segments and Accent Classes
What segments and accent classes are reconstructed for Proto-Ainu, and what are the correspondence sets to modern reflexes?
Periodization: Pre-Proto-Ainu, Proto-Ainu, Common Ainu
What are the three stages in the periodization of Proto-Ainu, and what innovations define each stage?
Proto-Ainu is reconstructed as having diversified into all documented lects over a time depth of approximately one thousand years. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.1) The modern word for 'fish' (Saru cep, Horobetsu ciʔep, Raiciska ceh) reconstructs to Pre-Proto-Ainu *ti=(ʔ)e pe, literally 'the thing eaten (by everyone)'. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.4) Proto-Ainu can be reconstructed on the basis of Hokkaido Ainu, Sakhalin Ainu, and Northern Kuril Ainu, and has a relatively shallow time depth corresponding to the northward expansion of the language. (Janhunen 2022: 2.3) The term sísam 'Japanese' dates back to Pre-Proto-Ainu and was originally a compound *sii+sam/o, as evidenced by the Yakumo dialect variant samó. (Janhunen 2022: 2.3)
*d- reanalysed as *l-
Why is Vovin's word-initial *d- reanalyzed as *l- in Proto-Ainu?
In Common Ainu, the hypothetical lateral *l merged with the flap *ɾ. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.4)
The palatalized series: a Pre-Proto-Ainu hypothesis
What palatalized consonants are hypothesized for Pre-Proto-Ainu, and what evidence supports them?
In Common Ainu, the palatalized consonant series collapsed, with *sʸ and *s merging after *i. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.4)
Dialect correspondence sets
What dialect correspondence sets illustrate the principal Proto-Ainu reconstructions?
In Nairo Sakhalin Ainu, initial t- reflects Proto-Ainu *l and *ʈ, whereas r- reflects *ɾ. (Alonso de la Fuente 2022: 5.4) The forms for 'mouth' differ across dialects as par and car, but they are considered cognate words. (Nakagawa 2024: 105) The oldest reconstructed Ainu form for 'father' is inferred by Nakagawa to be aca. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 223) The ca- : pa- correspondence is not found with the vowels e, i, o, or u, and thus cannot be considered a regular phonological correspondence. (Nakagawa & Fukazawa 2022: 8.5) Ainu pétpa ~ pétca 'bank, shore' is reconstructed to Proto-Ainu *petpya, compounded from pét 'river' and pa 'bank, shore, edge'. (Vovin 2022: 6.3) In Horobetsu Ainu, toci-ni denotes 'horse-chestnut tree' and toci denotes 'fruit of a horse chestnut tree', reconstructible to Proto-Ainu *toti. (reported in Vovin 2022: 6.5) Ainu pun-i 'to lift, to raise (SG)' derives from Proto-Ainu *pum-i. (Vovin 2022: 6.5)
Proto-Ainu suprasegmentals: the length–pitch dispute
How is the suprasegmental system of Proto-Ainu reconstructed, given the length-pitch dispute between Sakhalin and Hokkaido?
Proto-Ainu possessed both phonologically distinctive vowel length and phonologically distinctive pitch accent. (reported in Itabashi 2001; proposed in Itabashi 2001) Proto-Ainu possessed phonologically distinctive vowel length but lacked phonologically distinctive pitch accent. (reported in Bugaeva 2022: 3.5, Itabashi 2001) Long vowels in Hokkaido Ainu were never an archaic Proto-Ainu property, but rather a temporary, redundant secondary development that was subsequently lost without becoming phonemically distinctive. (proposed in Bugaeva 2022: 3.5) Satō (2016b) claims that the phonological vowel length opposition in Sakhalin Ainu is a secondary development rather than an archaic retention from Proto-Ainu. (reported in Bugaeva 2022: 3.5) Sakhalin Ainu inherited vowel length as phonologically distinctive and inherited pitch accent as a phonetic feature. (reported in Itabashi 2001) Two-mora words with long vowels in Sakhalin Ainu are considered to have possessed long vowels in Proto-Ainu as well. (proposed in Itabashi 2001) In Hokkaido dialects (excluding Tasuke Yamamoto's dialect), the distinction between long and short vowels in Proto-Ainu monosyllabic open words was lost and pitch accent foregrounded instead, with all vowels in monosyllabic words becoming short. (proposed in Itabashi 2001) In Sakhalin Ainu, the Proto-Ainu vowel length distinction in open monosyllabic words largely disappeared and mostly shifted to long vowels. (proposed in Itabashi 2001) The vowel-length distinction found in Sakhalin Ainu is considered to be older than the accentual distinction in Hokkaido Ainu. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 27) There is a regular phonological correspondence between pitch accent in Hokkaido Ainu and vowel length in Sakhalin Ainu, which is reconstructible to Proto-Ainu. (Nakagawa 2024: 76)
Open questions and honest gaps
What open questions and honest gaps remain in the reconstruction of Proto-Ainu segments?
To explain the exceptional first-syllable accent in CVCV stems such as réra 'wind', an unidentified consonant *H can be reconstructed in the proto-form, as in *reHra. (proposed in Bugaeva 2022: 3.5) To explain the kana spelling piruka for pirka 'good' as opposed to shiri- for sir, it is proposed that pirka historically contained an intervening consonant *H (*piHrka) that prevented the palatalization of /r/ by /i/. (proposed in Bugaeva 2022: 3.5) Patrie suggests on comparative evidence that ar may be an older morpheme meaning 'one'. (reported in Refsing 1986)