Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Volume | Materials and Methods of Analysis for the Study of the Ainu Language
Chapter | 1 • Introductory Lesson: Generalities of the Ainu Language

1 • Introductory Lesson: Generalities of the Ainu Language

Abstract

Ainu is a language of Far East Asia historically spoken in the territories of today’s Japan and Russia that face the southern and eastern coasts of the Okhotsk Sea. Specifically, Ainu was spoken all through the island of Hokkaidō (also referred to as ‘Ezo/Yezo’ in Japanese, especially before the formal annexation of the island to Japan in 1869), in the southern part of Sakhalin island (called ‘Karafuto’ in Japanese), at the two extremities of the Kuril Islands chain (called ‘Chishima’ in Japanese), and on the southernmost tip of the Kamchatka peninsula.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Published Sept. 4, 2024 | Language: en


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