Series |
Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Time in East Asian Endangered Languages
Chapter | Linguistic Landscapes in Sapporo – ‘When’ is Ainu Situated?
Linguistic Landscapes in Sapporo – ‘When’ is Ainu Situated?
Abstract
The Indigenous Ainu language is absent from many contemporary language use domains and public spaces in Japan, but has gained visibility in commercial contexts and tourism. Based on a qualitative linguistic landscape (LL) analysis focusing on temporality, this paper examines when the Ainu language is situated in tourism spaces and its implications for the contemporary use and revitalisation of Ainu. The analysis shows that, while Ainu is present in the LL, its use is mostly ‘traditional’ and decorative, lacking modern instrumental use. However, there are examples of creative language use and neologisms, suggesting adaptation to modern needs.
Submitted: March 4, 2024 | Accepted: July 12, 2024 | Published Feb. 20, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Linguistic landscape • Temporality • Ainu • Linguistic commodification • Language and tourism • Neologisms
Copyright © 2025 Saana Santalahti, Silja Ijas. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-913-9/011
