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A Grammar of Hokkaido Ainu

Knowledge base · Part XIX — Discourse and the Grammar of Oral Literature

154. Honorific, Ritual, and Taboo Registers

How does the language encode honorific, ritual, and taboo registers in its grammar?

言語は敬意、儀礼、タブーの各レジスターを文法上どのように表現するのか？

Referent/addressee honorification, the language of prayer, and hunting/taboo avoidance speech as register-specific grammar.

candidate topic from the first edition topic:register/honorific-ritual-and-taboo-registers read this topic as text

12claims
70statements
20sources
6examples
7sections
58first-edition sentences

Local network

The chapter, its sections, the sources it cites, the chapters it cross-references, the forms it mentions most, and the claims grouped under it with the sources that assert, propose, doubt or reject each.

Related chapters

Forms mentioned

a= 3ape huci 3i-resu huci 3kamuy 3atomte-itak 2=an 2ona 2unu 2hapo 2kamuy nomi 2inonno itak 2onkami 2yayan-itak 1nispa 1eani 1ecioka(y) 1asinuma 1aoka(y) 1-yar 1haca 1onaha 1unuhu 1onautari 1unuutari 1i-resu kamuy 1mosir kor huci 1i- 1e- 1o- 1ko- 1ruwe tapan 1ruwe ne 1ku= 1hinna 1hioy'oy 1raymik 1hunna 1hinna hinna 1iyayiraykere 1irankarapte 1

Claims

A claim is one proposition; under it stand the statements of each source, with the stance that source takes. Claims are grouped by a model from the extracted statements and carry that status until reviewed.

  1. In traditional Ainu belief, a deity rests on each individual's shoulder and determines their personality and destiny.
    伝統的なアイヌの信仰では、各個人の肩に神が憑いており、その人の性格や運命を決定づけるとされている。
    other ainu all
    reports sato2008

Sections

·

Overview: a three-axis register system 7 sentences

What are the axes of the sociolinguistic register system?

The honorific address system: fourth-person forms and the pronoun set 3 claims ·9 sentences

How does the language encode honorific address for second person?

  1. In Sakhalin Ainu, nispa functions as an honorific title attached to the names of distinguished men.
    樺太アイヌ語において、nispaは有力な男性の名につけて呼ぶ敬称として機能する。
    form-function sakhalin all nispa
    asserts murasaki2025
  2. Honorific expressions are reported to be rare in classical yukar and northern and eastern dialects, appearing consistently only in Hidaka and Iburi through prolonged contact with Japanese.
    アイヌ語の敬語表現は古典的ユーカラや北部・東部方言では稀であり、和人との長期的接触があった日高・胆振方言においてのみ一貫して見られるとされる。
    variation ainu some
    reports refsing1986
  3. Nominalized expressions are sometimes employed as honorific expressions even in everyday speech.
    日常語においても、名詞化された表現が尊敬表現として用いられることがある。
    form-function ainu some kur
    asserts sato2008

Elegant kinship terms as register diagnostics 7 sentences· 1 examples

How are kinship terms differentiated between everyday and elegant registers?

a=onaha a=unuhu wakkauskamuy ne wa
4.A=poss.father 4.A=poss.mother water-deity COP CONJ
‘[My] father and mother were water-deities, and …’
ilcaa1976 SAR 川上まつ子口演 uwepeker 民話 9 [aa-irc/009#136]

Prayer language: genre-conditioned lexical substitution 2 claims ·13 sentences· 3 examples

How does the language use different epithets for the fire deity in prayer versus epic?

  1. In southwestern Hokkaido prayer register, the fire deity is addressed with the genre-specific honorific title mosir kor huci.
    北海道南西部方言の祈り詞において、火の神は祈り詞というジャンルに特有の尊称 mosir kor huci で呼びかけられる。
    distribution hokkaido/southwest all mosir kor huci
    asserts endo2022
  2. In the Sakhalin Ainu ceremonial prayer register, a distinct lexical stratum is preserved, such as using ape for 'fire' rather than the everyday unci.
    樺太アイヌ語の儀礼祈祷レジスターでは特殊な語彙層が保たれており、日常語の unci に代えて ape「火」が用いられる。
    variation sakhalin all apeunci
    asserts tangiku2022
iresu kamuy, páse kamuy, k=onkami na
raise deity reverent deity 1SG.A=worship FIN
‘O raising-deity, O reverent-deity, I pray.’
ainukoraci1991 SAR 神崎雅好, Ainu Times no. 30 [ainu-times/030/1#11]
k=e-ko-onkami
1SG.A=APPL-APPL-worship
‘I reverently worship.’
endo2022 HK 鍋沢モトゾウ (Motoanrek), Monbetsu; prayer text ex. 13 in Endō (2022) §2.3
néno a=numke kuni arikiki utar opitta ramossi wano k=éyayrayke ruwe tapan na.
so 4.A=choose COMP work.hard people all heart ABL 1SG.A=be.grateful track DEM.PROX FIN
‘So I am grateful from the heart to everyone who worked hard so that [the landscape] would be chosen — this is a recognized fact.’
ainukoraci1991 SAR 浜田隆史, アイヌタイムズ 42号「平取町重要文化的景観 nea=numke」[ainu-times/042/1#6]

The indirection principle: taboo on direct deity–human speech 5 sentences

What principle explains the use of non-everyday person marking to avoid direct deity-human speech?

Gendered ritual speech-acts 6 sentences· 2 examples

How are ritual speech-acts differentiated by the performer's gender?

hinna
INTERJ
‘(Thank you — said by a woman while performing raymik.)’
constructed SAR
hinna ki kane too hosippa
hinna do CONJ away return.PL
‘Expressing thanks (saying hinna), they went home all the way.’
biratori1969 SHI 織田ステノ, アイヌ語アーカイブ「村長の息子と貧乏人の娘」(1988) [nam-archive/oda-minwa/28#1383]

Taboo vocabulary: attested existence and the source gap 6 claims ·11 sentences

What special vocabulary is used in taboo contexts such as hunting and bear ceremonies?

  1. Sakhalin Ainu possessed a vocabulary of about one hundred conventional taboo words used during hunting, sea voyages, and for conversational secrecy.
    樺太アイヌ語には、狩猟や航海中、あるいは第三者からの秘匿のために用いられる約100語の忌み言葉・隠語が存在した。
    existence sakhalin some
    reports majewicz2022
  2. Taboo words requiring lexical substitution when entering the mountains or going out to sea exist in Ainu.
    アイヌ語には、山に入った時や海に出た時に語彙置換を行わなければならない忌詞が存在する。
    existence ainu some
    asserts nakagawa2024
  3. In the Tokachi dialect, mountain taboo words replace ordinary village words with words of different meaning to avoid alerting mountain deities to marine things.
    十勝方言の山言葉では、山の神に海のものを悟らせないよう、日常の里言葉を別の意味の語で置き換える。
    form-function hokkaido/central/tokachi some sippohunasassitukapatuyto
    asserts nakagawa2024
  4. In the Shari dialect, offshore taboo words substitute special terms for ordinary village words during sea mammal hunting.
    斜里方言の沖言葉では、海獣猟などの際に通常の里言葉に対して特殊な語彙置換が行われる。
    membership hokkaido/northeast/kitami some tukarciramantepkonrusotkicipnimam
    reports nakagawa2024
  5. In the Shiraoi dialect, offshore taboo language replaces ordinary village words with specific avoidance terms.
    白老方言の沖言葉では、通常の里言葉が特定の忌避語に置き換えられる。
    variation hokkaido/southwest/horobetsu some isepotukisarussameherasnucepikemapenup
    asserts nakagawa2024
  6. In eastern Hidaka offshore hunting taboo speech, 'rabbit' was referred to as kaykuma rather than isepo to avoid association with rough sea whitecaps.
    日高東部の沖狩忌詞において、白波（isepo tereke）を連想させる isepo を避けるため、ウサギは kaykuma と言い換えられた。
    variation hokkaido/southwest some isepokaykumaisepo tereke
    reports nakagawa2024