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A Grammar of Hokkaido Ainu

Knowledge base · Part I — The Language and Its Setting

2. A Typological Profile of Hokkaido Ainu

What is the typological profile of Hokkaido Ainu?

北海道アイヌ語の類型論的特徴は何か？

A condensed bird's-eye sketch of the language's structural type, serving as a roadmap to the granular chapters that follow.

candidate topic from the first edition topic:sources/typological-profile read this topic as text

33claims
62statements
28sources
3examples
11sections
74first-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

e- 1ko- 1o- 1somo 1ku= 1en= 1e= 1eci= 1=as 1=an 1ci= 1a= 1un= 1i= 1or 1ka 1sam 1tum 1pet or ta 1ek 1arki 1arpa 1paye 1-pa 1ruwe 1siri 1hawe 1humi 1ne 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. The self-designation ainu means 'person'.
    自称 ainu は「人」を意味する。
    form-function ainu ainu
    asserts bugaeva2012
  2. The three primary dialect divisions of Ainu are Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands.
    アイヌ語の三つの大区分は地理的なものであり、北海道、樺太、千島の方言に分かれる。
    variation ainuhokkaidosakhalinkuril all
    asserts bugaeva2012
  3. In complex sentences, Ainu exhibits predominantly dependent-marking patterns, as in relative clauses and most subordinate clauses.
    複文においてアイヌ語は、関係節や大部分の従属節に見られるように、主に主従構造における従属部標示のパターンを示す。
    analysis ainu usually
    asserts bugaeva2022
  4. Ainu has a relatively small phonemic inventory compared to the world's languages, and its syllable structure is not complex.
    アイヌ語は世界の言語の中でも比較的音素の数が少なく、音節構造も複雑ではない。
    other ainu all
    asserts nakagawa2024
  5. The syntactic process of head movement is not essential in describing the grammatical structure of Ainu.
    アイヌ語の文法構造を記述するにあたって、主要部移動のプロセスは本質的ではない。
    analysis ainu generic
    asserts sato2025a

Sections

·

The genetic isolate and its typological placement 8 claims ·10 sentences

How is Hokkaido Ainu classified genetically and typologically?

  1. Ainu is a polysynthetic, agglutinating, predominantly head-marking language with only limited dependent-marking features.
    アイヌ語は複統合的、膠着型で、従属部標示の要素をごくわずかしか持たない主部標示優勢の言語である。
    analysis ainu all
    asserts bugaeva2006
  2. Ainu is an agglutinating, polysynthetic, and incorporating language with SOV constituent order.
    アイヌ語は膠着語的・複総合的・抱合的であり、SOVの語順をもつ。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2012
  3. Ainu exhibits SV/AOV constituent order, and is agglutinative, head-marking, and polysynthetic.
    アイヌ語は膠着的、主要部標示型、複統合的な、SV/AOV語順の言語である。
    analysis hokkaido/southwest
    asserts bugaeva2014
  4. Unlike the Tungusic languages of Sakhalin, Hokkaido Ainu lacks subordinating non-finite verbal forms.
    樺太のツングース系諸言語とは異なり、北海道アイヌ語には従属的な非定形動詞形式が存在しない。
    absence hokkaido all
    asserts bugaeva2016
  5. The Ainu language differs strikingly from the languages of Northeast Asia, including the Altaic languages, Korean, Japanese, Nivkh, Yukaghir, and Chukchi-Kamchatkan.
    アイヌ語は、いわゆるアルタイ諸語、朝鮮語、日本語、ニヴフ語、ユカギール語、チュクチ・カムチャツカ諸語を含む北東アジアの諸言語と著しく異なっている。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2022
  6. Ainu is an agglutinating language.
    アイヌ語は膠着語である。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2022
  7. Grammatically, Ainu can be described as entirely dissimilar to Japanese, in contrast to many neighboring languages in Northeast Asia that share grammatical similarities with Japanese.
    周辺の諸言語が日本語と類似した文法構造を持つ中において、アイヌ語は文法的には日本語とまったく似ていない言語といえる。
    analysis ainu
    asserts nakagawa2024
  8. Ainu is characterized by SOV basic word order, predominance of postpositions, person marking on verbs and nouns, a rich valency-changing system, and polysynthesis manifested by productive noun incorporation.
    アイヌ語は、SOV基本語順、後置詞優勢、動詞および名詞における人称標示、豊かな結合価変化体系、そして生産的な抱合に示される複統合性を特徴とする。
    analysis ainu generic
    asserts nam2021

Head-marking, indexing, and the absence of case 10 claims ·11 sentences· 1 examples

Does Hokkaido Ainu use head-marking or dependent-marking for syntactic relations?

  1. Ainu belongs typologically to the predominantly head-marking language type.
    アイヌ語は類型論的に主として主要部標示型の言語に分類される。
    analysis ainu all
    asserts bugaeva2016, sato2025a
  2. Ainu is polysynthetic, agglutinating, and predominantly head-marking, with nouns and personal pronouns lacking case inflection.
    アイヌ語は抱合的・膠着語的であり、主に主要部標示言語であって、名詞や人称代名詞は格変化しない。
    other ainu all
    asserts bugaeva2008
  3. Ainu is predominantly head-marking and prefixing.
    アイヌ語は主に主要部標示であり、接頭辞を用いる。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2012
  4. Ainu is head-marking both at the clause level and at the phrase level.
    アイヌ語は節レベルと句レベルの双方において主要部標示言語である。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2022
  5. Most key grammatical features in Ainu are either directly or indirectly related to head-marking.
    アイヌ語における主要な特徴の多くは、直接的または間接的に主要部標示と関連している。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2022
  6. Some adverbial clauses are head-marked, in that a conjunctive element can follow sentence-final intonation and be uttered with the following sentence or verb phrase.
    一部の副詞節は主要部標示であり、接続要素が文末イントネーションの後に現れて後続の文または動詞句とともに発話されることがある。
    distribution ainu exists
    reports bugaeva2022
  7. In evidential noun complement clauses, the complementizer markers belong to the main clause while leaving the subordinate clause intact, exhibiting a head-marking pattern.
    証拠性の名詞補文節において、補文標識は主節に属し、従属節は無傷のまま残されており、これは主要部標示型言語の特徴を示している。
    analysis ainu all
    proposes bugaeva2022
  8. Ainu is predominantly head-marking at the clause and noun phrase levels and partially at the sentence level, distinguishing it from predominantly dependent-marking languages of Northeast Asia.
    アイヌ語は節レベルおよび名詞句レベルで主に主要部標示であり、文レベルでも部分的に主要部標示であって、主に従属部標示である北東アジアの諸言語とは異なっている。
    analysis ainu generic
    asserts bugaeva2022
  9. In Ainu, the possible arguments (subject and object) of a verb are marked with personal affixes on the verb, which obligatorily marks arguments on the predicate as the clausal head.
    アイヌ語では動詞の可能な項（主語と目的語）が動詞の人称接辞によって標示され、節の主要部である述語上に義務的に項が標示される。
    analysis ainu generic
    asserts sato2025a
  10. Ainu has no verbal inflections.
    アイヌ語には動詞の屈折が存在しない。
    absence ainu all
    asserts shibatani1990
topenpe hekattar ku=kore
sweets children 1SG.A=give
‘I gave the children sweets.’
nakagawa2024:127 SAR Nakagawa ex. 11a

Possession indexed on the head noun 5 sentences· 1 examples

How does Hokkaido Ainu mark possession in the noun phrase?

ku=yup-ihi
1SG.POSS=elder.brother-POSS
‘my elder brother’
constructed

Polysynthesis and noun incorporation 5 claims ·11 sentences· 1 examples

Is Hokkaido Ainu a polysynthetic language, and does it allow noun incorporation?

  1. Polysynthetic characteristics are more prominent in Classical Ainu than in the colloquial dialects.
    複統合的な性質は口語方言よりも古典アイヌ語においてより顕著に見られる。
    variation ainu all
    asserts shibatani1990reports majewicz2022
  2. Ainu is an agglutinating, polysynthetic, and incorporating language.
    アイヌ語は膠着型、複総合的、かつ抱合型の言語である。
    other ainu generic
    asserts bugaeva2016
  3. Ainu is a polysynthetic and incorporating language.
    アイヌ語は多総合的（ポリシンセティック）かつ抱合的な言語である。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2022
  4. Ainu exhibits polysynthesis, wherein directional/applicative, reciprocal, and reflexive voice markers, as well as adverbs and nouns when semantically required, attach to the verb stem.
    アイヌ語には、人稱接辭のほか指相・互相・再歸相、時としては副詞・名詞の類までも、意義上必要のあるときは動詞の語體に結び附いて来る所謂輯合性（poly-synthesis）が存在する。
    existence ainu generic
    asserts kindaichi1936
  5. Because Ainu is polysynthetic, many Ainu loanwords in Eastern Old Japanese are compounds or complex morphological derivations.
    アイヌ語は複総合的言語であるため、東国上代日本語における多くのアイヌ語借用語は、アイヌ語内部での複合語や複雑な形態論的派生語である。
    analysis ainu generic
    asserts vovin2022
e-yay-ko-tuyma-si-ram-suy-pa
APPL-REFL-APPL-far-REFL.POSS-heart-turn.repeatedly-PL
‘to ponder deeply’
shibatani1990 HK

SOV order and the head-final clause 2 claims ·9 sentences

What is the basic constituent order of Hokkaido Ainu clauses?

  1. Ainu exhibits a prevalent occurrence of prefixes, which is an exceptional characteristic for an otherwise head-final SOV language.
    アイヌ語には接頭辞の頻繁な生起が見られ、これは典型的なSOV言語としては異例の特徴である。
    distribution ainu generic
    asserts shibatani1990
  2. Ainu is an SOV language.
    アイヌ語はSOV型の言語である。
    analysis ainu all
    asserts shibatani1990

The alignment profile: mixed morphological type 1 claims ·12 sentences

What type of alignment does Hokkaido Ainu exhibit in its person marking?

  1. Ainu displays a mixed, but basically tripartite, alignment system.
    アイヌ語は混合的であるが基本的には三分子配列のアライメントをもつ。
    analysis ainu
    asserts bugaeva2012

Typologically unusual features in the regional context 2 claims ·0 sentences

What typologically unusual features does Hokkaido Ainu have in its regional context?

  1. Ainu extensively uses prefixation, a typological feature uncommon in the languages of the North Pacific Rim.
    アイヌ語は接頭辞を広汎に用いるが、これは北太平洋沿岸地域の言語では極めて珍しい類型論的特徴である。
    distribution ainu
    asserts bugaeva2012
  2. Ainu employs more prefixation than suffixation.
    アイヌ語は接尾辞化よりも接頭辞化を多く用いる。
    other ainu generic
    asserts bugaeva2016

Locative noun class and possessive alienability 5 sentences

How does Hokkaido Ainu classify nouns for spatial phrases and possession?

Vigesimal numerals 3 sentences

What base does the numeral system of Hokkaido Ainu use?

The four-term evidential system 4 sentences

How does Hokkaido Ainu encode evidentiality?

The WALS-style feature bundle 4 sentences

What are the major typological parameters of Hokkaido Ainu?