The Ainuic language family

This chapter explores the Ainuic language family, including the Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kuril dialects. Native to Japan but unrelated to Japonic, Ainuic is the only surviving lineage from the Jömon period (around 12,000 years BP). The family's diversification is relatively shallow, suggesting survival after a northward migration. Ainuic may have reduced linguistic diversity by assimilating or displacing other Jömon languages during its spread to Hokkaido. Colonization led to the loss of Ainuic, with Kuril and Sakhalin Ainu disappearing in the early and late 20th century, and Hokkaido Ainu barely having survived into the 21st century. Teaching Ainu as a second language is a current focus. The chapter emphasizes Hokkaido Ainu, the best-documented dialect group, while considering other groups. Differences in vocabulary, phonology, and word formation exist between southwestern and northeastern Hokkaido dialects. Sakhalin Ainu is divided into northern and central groups, with separate dialects in the southwest and northeast. Ainuic phonology and grammar are contrasted with other Northeast Asian languages, to highlight distinct characteristics such as head-marking, polysyn¬thesis, and noun incorporation. It is proposed that Ainu represents an ancient language type in Northeast Asia, in contrast to Japanese or Korean.