The Ainu language - short history, plus a note about last speakers and pandemics

[@Pickleton]

I lived in Hokkaido for 4 years, and my tiny town had an Ainu cultural resurrection group. It's really neat.

[@epg96]

Are they planning to revive Ainu language?

[@Pickleton]

@@epg96 Hmmm, I'm not very sure about any kind of particular goal other than to preserve the language/culture. But if you look around online, you can find videos of things like Ainu lullabies and demonstrations. I don't think there's much chance to really revive it to the point where people speak it natively. More of a "our family has Ainu blood, so we preserve the language/culture to honor our ancestors" kind of thing.

[@skellagyook]

@@epg96 There are groups in Hokkaido that are reviving in (and that teach it).

[@rahuldhargalkar]

That's so nice (:

[@taz0il]

I wanna learn Ainu deeply I feel like critically endangered languages should be priority languages somewhat because of the need to still have some cultures have originality since the world is already so acceptant of cultural diffusion.

[@thescousecleaner]

This hits hard as a gaelic speaker. My parents are both gaelic speakers and I lost almost all my grandparents to this Corona thing. That means 80% of the gaelic speakers I know are gone. Its alot to think of.

[@NativLang]

Ok, now I have a tear in my left eye mid-message. Love to you and your family.

[@thescousecleaner]

@@NativLangTapadh leat. It means alot. You're video on Irish was fun and quite accurate.

[@LouseGrouse]

This is awful news. Recently started trying to learn Gàidhlig, so hopefully I can honour all who've passed in some way by helping to keep the language alive. I'm so sorry for your loss

[@koffron9696]

It should be easier to revive the languages than 100 years ago with the help of the internet. Take care

[@skilldraculaX]

Sincere condoleances man. My grandma also died from the Covid, she was 87 and her native language was Alsatian, she didn't know any French. So sad to see speakers of rare languages disappearing :'(. I know some people on the Internet who know some Gaelic, try to speak with them :). I'm sure you can limit the damage this epidemics has done.

[@orcguy51]

For people interested in Ainu language and culture (but are of a nerdier bend), the anime and manga Golden Kamuy is a good resource. It takes place soon after the Russo-Japanese War, and one of the main characters is Ainu. The creator is incredibly dedicated to accurate portrayal of the language and people, such that large parts of the series are dedicated to small aspects of Ainu language and culture. The manga even has a list of sources and people interviewed in the back!

[@rzeka]

One of my friends gave me the first Golden Kamuy book cause he knows I'm into languages, and it was really good! I don't usually read a lot but I couldn't put that book down.

[@yrobtsvt]

Golden Kamuy was partially written by an Ainu cultural consultant, which shows incredible possibilities for bringing scholarship to the level of pop culture.

[@koffron9696]

Just looked up wikipedia it sats kamuy means god in ainu Sounds like kami in japanese! The story reminds me of the movie Avator

[@ryke_masters]

Yeah, Golden Kamuy is a strange mix of an over-the-top action manga with COMPLETELY silly humor, but set in early 20th century Hokkaido, featuring Ainu characters, and the manga even has notes from a specialist on Ainu culture and language who helped with the manga. It's pretty great. The plot (at least at the beginning, I'm not up to date and I don't know if it takes a different turn later) centers on gold stolen from the Ainu and various groups (including criminals, Ainu, and factions of the Japanese army) trying to discover its whereabouts and gloriously backstabbing each other over it. For people who maybe aren't big anime fans but know a little, it gives me kind of a similar vibe to Fullmetal Alchemist. It's obviously more historical and not openly fantasy, but it doesn't hesitate to take its characters uh, more than a little beyond what is plausible. Also there's more dick jokes than FMA. AND very detailed and respectful portrayals of Ainu customs!

[@koffron9696]

@@ryke_masters the ishibaru people in FMA with brown skin n red eyes should be an equivalent to the ainu. Arakawa sansei should be from hokkaido too

[@HuevoBendito]

It hurts when the last word of a language is spoken. It's like a part of humanity dies. Thanks for doing this video.

[@DrPonner]

The last ever word of a language before being forever silenced. It sounds rather poetic and dramatic.

[@mochardiansah7452]

Reminds me instantly of Tevfik Esenç

[@drungarious]

I remember reading a testament by one of the last speakers of Polabian, an extinct dialect of Wendish, in 1725. "When I and three other people in our village are gone, no one will rightly now what a dog is called in (Polabian) Wendish."

[@rahuldhargalkar]

I can only imagine

[@Triferus]

Well, I mean, this kind of happens all the time considering how frequently languages change with people.

[@siljami]

Another comment: the script. Ainu has been traditionally oral language but Japanese people have tried to put it down using katakana, Russians with Cyrillic alphabet, and people whose native language uses Latin alphabet (Portuguese, later Brits etc.) have applied Latin script. Ainu can be written with all these, lately mostly with katakana, Latin alphabet, or using both of these side by side. However, the first Ainu to create a literary work in Ainu (that is, Yukie Chiri) chose to use Latin script, not katakana. Also researchers and scholars have been and are still using Latin alphabet to write Ainu, because 1) using katakana hides the words' morpheme boundaries, 2) representing Ainu pronunciation with katakana is difficult, and 3) due to the special katakana characters needed, typing Ainu in katakana is difficult (was with older word processors and still is with computers. I know Macs have an Ainu keyboard, but most of the people do not have Macs). Lately, also other people than just scholars have started to shift to use Latin alphabet. The problem is that when a person whose native language is Japanese (as all the Ainu now are) sees an Ainu word written in katakana, they automatically read the word as if it was Japanese (that is, ignoring the small katakana characters that are supposed to represent the coda: "itak" become "itaku") and also apply Japanese accent to the word (Ainu accent is different from Japanese). So, katakana might be easier to read for Ainu who try to learn their heritage language, but it also hinders learning the correct pronunciation. If you attend Ainu association's Ainu language lesson for example here in Sapporo where I live, the script they use there is Latin alphabet *only* for all the aforementioned reasons. This might also be a question of decolonization: abandoning Japanese colonialists' script and opting to use (in Ainu perspective) more neutral Latin alphabet.

[@daishiyokota-ok2ru]

Aino association is red party‼️ Do'nt you know that❓ Every Japanese know that😁

[@carterrobinson5039]

Someone also made a hangul script for ainu

[@violettasauveterre5100]

It's sad to know that languages are disappearing. I'm learning Nahuatl which is the language my people used to speak in before Spanish replaced it. By the way: love your video. Always a good day when you upload one. ♥

[@NativLang]

Tlazohcamati! I hope your studies go really well. Nāhuatl has such amazingly distinct ways of expressing everyday things that seem fresh when we're used to Spanish or English.

[@DrPonner]

I like that Nahuatl has one of my favorite sounds, the lateral fricative.

[@jd42277]

Eso te honra, suerte👍

[@soton4010]

your learninɡ of classical nahuatl

[@lyreparadox]

One of my Anthropology profs spoke fluent Nahuatl and used to edit the Nahua Newsletter "an international publication covering the history, language, and culture of Nahuatl-speaking and related peoples in the Mesoamerica culture area." Not sure if it's still being published but might be a useful resource for you? nahuanewsletter.wordpress.com/

[@NativLang]

Learning about Siberia brings me to Ainu - finally! Fans have asked for a while. I also took a moment for a note about the pandemic and how strong but vulnerable communities with last speakers are. (No, not charity-sponsored; I felt it's important.)

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

NativLang Turkic languages pls

[@bdrummmm]

NativLang Your channel is the best!! As a Mongolian language learner I really enjoy that your channel has done videos on it, and other languages that aren’t as known!

[@el.k9776]

Wow, this is just.. amazing Miyakoan is the most exotic Ryukyuan language btw

[@frenchbreadstupidity7054]

Thanks for bringing it up. I never really thought about how endangered languages are at risk when the elderly population is at risk. I hope to see languages with small populations, immortalized by language apps soon, so anyone who cares enough can learn it. Do you think that the recently dead dialects of Ainu could be revived? Would there be enough writing and recordings for people to get an idea of what they used to sound like, and reconstruct them?

[@J.o.s.h.u.a.]

So happy you're talking about Siberia. It's my favourite place when it comes to languages, there's just so many fascinating things to learn from that area of the world.

[@Cookie-mv2hg]

Here in Taiwan, we have some really interesting "aboriginal languages" as well (10 or more) I wish someday it'll show up in this channel :)

[@skilldraculaX]

Indigenous formosan languages are often ignored. Nice to see somebody who mentions them :P. Do you know some bits of any of these languages by any chance ? Are they taught in schools ?

[@rzeka]

The Amis language has interesting phonology - epiglottal consonants, a voiced (lateral) dental fricative, and just /a i u/ for vowels

[@ooaaveehoo]

They are really cool! I'll take this chance to recommend artists Yawai Mawlin and Pgagu who make music in their own native formosan languages, Atayal and Truku.

[@mrniceguy7168]

What percentage of Taiwanese people are aboriginal? I always thought of the aboriginal people of Taiwan to have largely “disappeared” like American Indians

[@teemun3979]

@@mrniceguy7168 Native Americans haven't disappeared, even remotely, especially in Canada. Look at the numbers. Especially when you include mixed numbers, there are millions (not including the genetic ancestry of hispanic and latinos). In the US they might want you to think Natives have disappeared, because then you don't think about how horrible the conditions on reservations are and how little opportunities there are for them. The main reason there were so few natives in the Americas when Europeans came back after exploring to colonize is because the Europeans brought diseases that the Native American population had no immunity to. Natives believed living with one's animals was an unhealthy or dirty practice and they were right, but being right came at a cost. They had no immunity to any of the plagues Europeans encountered.

[@yayo9929]

3 of the languages on the UNESCO's endangered list are from Croatia: Istriot, Arbanasi, amd Isto-Romanian. I'm from Croatia and live in Zadar, it would be amazing id ylu could do a video mentioning some of these! Anyways love your channel.

[@linguate7438]

Yes!! Istriot and Isto-Romanian are Romance languages and Arbanasi is Albanian, correct?

[@kl1541]

Skolt Sami too

[@julianfejzo4829]

@@linguate7438 Yes, Arbanasi (or Arbënesh) is a Gheg dialect spoken by descendants of Albanians living in Dalmatia since centuries

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

How does Zadar look during these days? My family used to live there

[@yayo9929]

@@Munciboss yess, i often imagine what it would be like if history was a bit different.

[@BriefHistoriesTV]

There was a lot of discrimination towards the Ainu people after Hokkaido was annexed into the Japanese empire. This led to suppression (sometimes voluntary) of Ainu culture and language. Although 25,000 Japanese identify as ethnic Ainu, there are only around 10 elders who speak the language fluently.

[@milobem4458]

TEN speakers?

[@user-xm2nb7qj1t]

Elders? Ten? Someone please protect them oh god

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Artoria Pendragon Not true. Only left-wing ideologists are propagating like that. Some Ainu appeal with strong anxiety it's an evil operation to divide Japanese citizens and to cause conflict. Japan is surrounded by evil communist sh*tholes.

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Brief Histories Misleading narrative. Just in modernization effort, the Japanese government prohibited several old-fashioned customs of both Yamato people and Ainu people -- such as tattoo, tooth blackening, samurai top-knots, Ainu's bear ceremony (sacrificing a pet bear) etc. www.pinterest.jp/pin/378161699950585439/ The government also taught "Standard Japanese" at school to all the children all over Japan so that people of every region can communicate each other. Speaking local language at home is up to the person. The people in the 19th century did not have modern concept of nationalism. When the Russians began encroaching toward Hokkaido, majority of Ainu themselves chose to become Japanese rather than to become Russian. (In Manchuria, the Russians actually treated the locals brutally and even massacred.) Both Yamato and Ainu at the times were focusing on how to survive under the threat of western imperialism. Neither of them had emotional leeway to care how to preserve tradition. Now the government is funding for resurrection of their language.

[@Tsiskoko]

This is the same with my native language, Oneida. Only about a dozen native speakers left. The youth are reviving it slowly.

[@TwentyNineJP]

Edit: My subscribers spiked after writing this comment! You want it, I'm doing it. First video is up now! Ainu is a really interesting language. I'm studying it privately right now, and I was selected as a Fulbright alternate (although unfortunately never promoted) for an Ainu language research project I had proposed. As soon as I start working from home here in Japan, I want to really hit the books and start making English-language videos about the language so that it'll be more accessible to non-Japanese speakers.

[@ethanmcdermott8738]

Please do this! That sounds really interesting

[@FakeMaker]

I'll subscribe to your channel so I can learn when you start. I'm really interested in the language and culture, so your videos will be a great contribution, thank you :)

[@machaiarcanum]

Oh cool. I would love to see this.

[@pedrosegundo8109]

I am learning Ainu too and I am a portuguese native speaker. I will try to translate books into Ainu, and I am trying to make an Ainu-Portuguese course to make the language more accessible for Portuguese speakers.

[@desdafinado]

@@pedrosegundo8109 que bom Pedro! estou atento por aqui

[@lyreparadox]

Part of me wishes that the folks who make video games, where they'll develop an entire conlang just for one of their alien races would instead use already existing endangered languages. People get so invested with some of those games they do the work of learning and translating the texts in the game just to get hints or hidden meanings about the world. If only they could do that and discover the language they went to the effort of learning was actually a real language. The closest I've seen is the comic Saga using Esperanto as their "alien" language, and that's still -basically- a conlang.

[@akl2k7]

That reminds of how apparently Blade Trinity used Esperanto on a lot of its signs to disguise what city it was in. Same with the Charlie Chaplin classic, The Great Dictator. That is an interesting idea, though. Of course, then the problem would be how well the writer knew the language in the first place. I'd almost be afraid of completely butchering the language.

[@anonb4632]

@@akl2k7 Irish has already been butchered on Star Trek and Andromeda... I have reservations about it... However, I gather Ewoks use a form of Tibetan. No idea how authentic it is.

[@alejandroojeda1572]

@@anonb4632 i think ewoks spoke gibberish... Sorry. (Ok searched It, gibberish based on kalmyk)

[@Punyulada]

Though I've not made visual video games, I've actually created a text-based adventure game that used folk songs from my native language (Gaddang). If my visual novel project becomes an actual product, I do intend to have some of the dialogue in it, hopefully to inspire more indie game devs to use their native tongues.

[@guilherm502]

That would be great, actually!

[@StrunDoNhor]

This video really resonated with me. I'm a member of the _Gitxsan ("The People of the River of Mist"),_ a small group of Canadian First Nations that can be found in central British Columbia, situated along the _Xsan (aka, the Skeena River),_ from which we get our name. I am _Laax See'l ("Frog Clan")._ Today, there are only around 1000 speakers of _Gitxsanimaax,_ the Gitxsan language, most of them elders -- within a few decades, it is likely the language will die out entirely. I never learned (or rather retained) any of the language I learned in school, but these days have made it a mission to relearn and preserve my native tongue.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 33 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

xsan skeena x ks to sk interesting letter shift laa x see l which is frog laax or see'l so totem is frog hense river ,in Siberia and the world many peoples are asked by outsiders what is the name of your group thety reply we are people humans of such and such a river coast a place to stay with water and hunting fishing because that is the natural place of settlement Ainu place names are all based on gather food,danger and unusual land mark some times pretty name Amga river in Siberia amma woman because it is very pretty and slow flow clear but few fish and mountains are named after grandfather mother of fire a otter is the forgetful one and in Sakhalin a rock shape like a Frog only women go who can not have children and the Crow is burnt wood person Paskur There are Ainu who moved to US and now want to return Russians took Ainu to live with Aleut 200 years ago so they can get the whale in Kuriles

[@KikiYushima]

This is so sad and upsetting. I'm studying the Ainu and I've gotten my hands on nearly every major English book about them, stretching all the way back from Reverend John Batchelor's information to the book _Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People._ It really is sad that they've been treated so horribly.

[@kevinrdunnphs]

@Brantius Riximium Are you kidding? Imperial Japan? Of course we shat on them for conquests. But you need to bear in Mind they took land from the Ainu like, 15,000 years ago. Not, like 400 years ago with England's expansion. And less than a century ago for the Palestinians losing their homeland. Recent changes hurt far more. Losing a language after a long cultural struggle is sad though. But doesn't mean we are okay cuz other people suck too.

[@Sovairu]

Apparently, Batchelor had some flawed views about Ainu, including trying to claim that it was supposedly an Indo-European language. But here is some other information about Ainu: conlangery.com/2019/05/conlangery-139-ainu-natlang/

[@quadeevans6484]

@Brantius Riximium i think people mention the west a lot because theyve done it more recently and has arguably affected more people. That being said anybody who tries to blame you personally is an idiot but there is a case to be made about colonialism

[@victorfergn]

@@kevinrdunnphs 15000? They annexed Hokkaido and half of Sakhlin island in the 19th century

[@kevinrdunnphs]

@@victorfergn They were the original inhabitants of all of Japan, what we call the Japanese today came over from Korea over 10k years ago.

[@nakenmil]

This reminds me a lot of the Saami of Scandinavia. Divided between different countries, marginalized and persecuted, and not a whole lot of native first-language speakers left. Thankfully, while things aren't perfect, there has been a lot of progress since the mid-1900s.

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Iyairaykere for this video! I was fortunate enough to find an Ainu native speaker who was willing to teach me the language. Blessed to be able to speak it 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@pedrosegundo8109]

イランカラプテ Irankarapte!

[@gabrielebarra4465]

イランカラㇷテ* 👀 , the little katakana are important! (ㇷ)

[@pedrosegundo8109]

@@gabrielebarra4465 I know, but I can't put the little katakana ones using my phone, or it is because I do not know how.

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Pedro segundo yea okay cool, nobody argued about that, the word is correct, you just wrote it the wrong way)

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Or better, the imprecise way

[@kagavc6278]

Notice: Shigeru Kayano himself is of Ainu ethnicity.

[@Nynke_K]

I was wondering about that!

[@meis]

Ken Hirai Hiroshi Abe

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@@meis They are not.

[@kalinsapotato]

There's an interesting phenomenon I've noticed here in Aotearoa. (NZ) Due to the whole lockdown requirements during the COVID-19 outbreak and people having a lot more spare time, it's actually given more opportunities to people to take up all the free courses offered by the government and community to strengthen their skills in Te Reo Māori. This being said, I have been finding more participation in online learning communities and more people signing up for the online learning courses, as well as more people getting actively involved in the language strengthening movement in general. Ko ngā taonga nui rawa atu ō tātou reo. Our languages are our greatest treasures. Let us all do our part to keep them alive.

[@Tsiskoko]

Yay! My native language is being preserved by a tiny community. There's maybe a dozen native speakers left, our elders. About half of us are diasporic so I haven't learned to speak and hear very well but I'm learning to read it! I would love to see a video on Oneida language, I think it's the most interesting language. There's even different dialects because of refugee migration that isolated different communities. One of the elders calls Mohawk, a similar and better known language in the same family, "language in 3D"!!!

[@imrukiitoaoffire1908]

As an Irish speaker myself, the only one in my entire family, near and abroad, who has actively learned the language and can understand it, as such I understand and feel the strife of these people as in my own family's history as well as the rest of relatively recent history. If I may get personal for a moment, my family was once one of the great learned families of Ireland, we were many things, poets, scribes, carpenters, mercenaries, generals, and many more, as the word báird meant such in Irish, which meant more than just poets; hence the name Mac an Bháird, Son of the Bard, and yes báird; which actually is the genitive singular, which is identical to the plural, the singular being bárd, is related to the English word bard, and in fact was borrowed into English from Irish itself. Following through from 230 AD to modern times is the understood range and depth of time that is recorded of my family, ranging into mythic and semi-mythic times and tales, which unfortunately most of such have been forgotten to us. Something I failed to mention is that all this information was researched and compiled by me, which were written by many others before me, and as such I've read into the specifics, and found not only them to be true, but also that there are actually other unique stories and details that have been overlooked, for an example, of what readily recorded is known; there were notable generals and soldiers; of which one who worked and fought in both pre and post revolutionary France, and of the others; served and fought in the Alamo in the Mexican-American war, both examples either ultimately meeting grizzly ends or were never seen again, but one such story of the overlooked is this; prior to his conversion, my family was in contact and worked as messengers and scribes with the court of Henry VIII, who they, my family, worked to help communicate goings-on between England and Ireland so the Irish people and many others were in the know of the goings-on, as for after Henry's conversion I am more hazy on the details, though given the history I would not be surprised if the Mac an Bháird's messenger work continued well on afterwards. I know absolutely none of this has anything to do with the video, but it inspired me enough to come forward with some my own stories, and I hope it was interesting to read, and coherent.

[@isabellebarrett1318]

A minor correction as a fellow Irish speaker and native, báird in the case of Mac an Bháird isn't the plural, it's the genitive singular (as Mac an Bháird means "son of the bard" and is therefore showing possession) though the plural is spelled the same way :) I'm glad you have access to such detailed family history and lineage, many of us are not so fortunate due to the suppression of Irish language and outlawing of schools for native‐born Irish people at various points in our history. Thank you for sharing your research and story here!

[@imrukiitoaoffire1908]

Isabelle Barrett It's so good to hear from another speaker, I'll correct my slight error above, thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am glad to share my insight on what I know about my familial history.

[@BluePenguin200]

Imrukii Toa of Fire that’s very inspirational! I’m half Irish and I’m the only one in my family, also near and abroad, who is aiming to learn the language! It’s truly beautiful and resonates with me as a language learner, and as one with blood ties. Best wishes!

[@annellhiersche1291]

Do you have any advice for good recorces?

[@imrukiitoaoffire1908]

Annell Hiersche Alas, most of my work has been through both Duolingo and Memrise, I have yet to find a good resource for actively learning how to speak fluently, though I have done thus-far my best to try and get pronunciation down which is a start, and which given this time we live in it would be perfect to find at least someone to talk to in Irish with but alas I have found nobody and nothing to this regard, lest someone here can work out this possibility with me.

[@Artur_M.]

Great topic as always! I always found the Ainu culture interesting and apparently I'm not the only one, because recently I see it getting much more attention. Maybe there is a chance that the Ainu language will survive after all or have a revival like Cornish. I'm definitely looking forward to the video about the languages of Syberia. BTW fun fact: One of the most important researchers of the Ainu (as well as the Nivkh and Orok people) was Bronisław Piłsudski, older brother of Józef Piłsudski, a Polish national leader. Bronisław was exiled to Sakhalin by the Russian authorities for involvement in an anti-tsarist plot. One of his co-conspirators, Alexander Ulyanov (sentenced to death) also had a younger brother who became much more famous than him, named Vladimir. You probably heard about Vladimir Ulyanov as Lenin.

[@pabloramos1022]

Hey there, what cornish resources do you have? I've been interested in celtic languages, but the lack of material hampered my attempt to learn one. Would be nice to speak something other than romance languages.

[@Artur_M.]

@@pabloramos1022 Sorry, I'm not actually learning Cornish or any other Celtic language. It just was first on my mind as an example of a revived language (besides Hebrew but that's a totally different story, that's not really a good analogy to Ainu). I know that there are Welsh, Irish and (Scottish) Gaelic courses on Duolingo.

[@Khan-oz9dx]

Michał Jankowski also did a lot for science and Russia. pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Jankowski_(przyrodnik)

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@Seltyk]

Ah, the Ainu. A lovely tongue and a lovely people. I hope one day you'll also tackle the Ryukyuan branch of Japonic, that away the whole country will have been discussed on this channel

[@thespiritualwanderer2180]

isn't Ryukyuan a dialect of Japanese?

[@kareepan3382]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 The Japanese government might have you think that, but they're their own seperate languages.

[@littlechemie5425]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 different language(s) in the same language family is more correct I think

[@darryljones3009]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 No more than English is a dialect of German.

[@sephiroth7655]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 it been homogenized by the islands national language being forced to be english much like Ainu. So it's like a dialect nowadaya but was previously a much more distinct language.

[@MA-gn5nl]

Irankarapte, thank you for this great video on Ainu! Iyairaikere! I’m learning the Saru dialect of Ainu itak, so its really nice to see people know about the Ainu. It always shocks me that not many people in Japan know, let alone heard of the Ainu.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

irankarapte! Ainu iItak an+i ne-ws an ro

[@teresabarcelo4750]

Halfway through this video and it's already hitting hard. In the spirit of this episode, maybe one day you can do a video about the Taino language? Most of it is gone and different groups have tried to reconstruct it, but unfortunately what's here today is barely known about and Carribeans (well, Cubans, unsure about the other countries) seem to tend to push the Taino language aside in favor of Spanish as their "cultural language". It would make an interesting, even if very short, video perhaps. Just a suggestion though, of course.

[@NativLang]

This would be a good language to talk about... and not necessarily short from what I read! There's much history here. Thank you for mentioning Taíno.

[@Mili-bedili]

Yes, agree with you on the the whole Caribbeans pushing Native American languages aside in favour of colonial languages (Spanish, English, French, etc). Tired of hearing people say things such as "it's the language of your people" or "your parents cheated you by not using Spanish at home." What about the languages of some of our Native American and/or African ancestors?

[@ellasedits_]

I would love to learn about Taino!

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 34 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@Ida-xe8pg]

Lǣʃt time I ƿas ðis eǣrly eŋlisc ƿas ƿritten like ðis.

[@Masterge77]

I can't help but read the long s as a "sh" because it's the phonetic symbol for the "sh" sound in the IPA.

[@MiguelX413]

You mean ſ not ʃ.

[@makisroumpas5512]

Last time I was this early, English was written like this.

[@aquariuslove5709]

ŋ was never used in written English and the letter s was used at the end of a word whilst the long s "ſ" was used elsewhere.

[@Masterge77]

@@makisroumpas5512 Lǣſt time I ƿas ðis eǣrly Ænglisċ ƿas ƿritten like ðis. (Fixed it)

[@trya314]

Thanks so much for this video! Living in the times when the majority of Japanese (myself included) are drawn to acquiring English, learning more about Ainu language and its speakers should be given more importance.

[@YellowSkarmory]

Ainu's gonna be an interesting topic. Haven't watched yet, but I expect it to be good, as usual. Will edit with thoughts. EDIT: Surprisingly heartfelt episode. Indigenous peoples absolutely deserve more notice. In terms of the actual language, not all that much was here compared to what I expected, but that's fine; things are different in the world right now.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@taintedtaylor2586]

It would be amazing if you could do an episode on Mexico’s native languages (apart from Nahuatl and Mayan of course) Like Tarascó(Purépecha) and Otomí.

[@NativLang]

I keep teasing it, but an overview like that would be really cool.

[@rjfaber1991]

@@NativLang Meanwhile (speaking of native languages of the Americas), I've been hoping for ages you'll do a video on Quechua. I've no relation with the language at all, but the great content on native American languages you have already covered makes me very intrigued about what you'll do for the big one that is still glaringly missing.

[@taintedtaylor2586]

NativLang Thanks a lot of responding! I had actually seen a sneak peak on Purépecha in one of your videos, but recently I have been learning a lot about Mexico’s other native languages due to INALI (National Institute of Indigenous Languages).

[@babelKONI]

There's so much to talk about in oaxaca, oto-manguean is as diverse as indo-european

[@taintedtaylor2586]

J Meeseeks Actually, I have an interest on the North-east of the country, exactly in the Rio Grande valley, it’s suspiciously odd that there’s no native languages spoken there and the native tribes that used to live there where never identified correctly. On a different note, I found an arrowhead on the most north-eastern part of Mexico.

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

The languages of Tierra Del Fuego are interesting and Yamana is another language now down to only one surviving native speaker. It's sad how many languages may soon be forgotten not a single person left able to speak them fluently.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 24 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

@@mansionbookerstudios9629 no go away

[@iavv334]

"I know language may not be the first thing on our minds" ***I look up from the noun declension charts for Hungarian I've been working on for three weeks

[@timflatus]

Yeah actually one of the worst things about a crisis like this is the way it seems to put important stuff on hold. Studying language is one of the things we can continue to do under lockdown, this work is important - languages die with their speakers, it's a human reality, not a metaphor. One of the best ways to honour people is to keep their stories, language and culture alive.

[@discogoth]

Honestly! I started learning Farsi (Persian) because I’m out of work and about to finish up my classes for the semester and summer classes don’t start for over a month.

[@valkeakirahvi]

Just what I thought too xD This is the BEST time to join online classes on all the cool languages from different continents that are super hard to learn otherwise! I'm taking Zapotec and Ojibwe (even though it means the classes are in the middle of the night in the European time) and have Northern Sámi and Skolt Sámi classes from my home university. Oh and continuing Nahuatl too :D

[@janellephoenix4378]

Wow, that’s cool!

[@Deriak27Forever]

4:19 To add an asterisk to your asterisk, the exception is ん (n) which stands out as the only unpaired consonant in the kana writing system.

[@Sovairu]

Japanese also allows palatalized onsets, so the syllable structure can be viewed as (C)(y)V(n) using the Romanized and , but yes, the moraic nasal is the only natively possible coda.

[@lizardirl9488]

It's also a bit more complex than that, but the writing system doesn't really capture that. The best example is the Japanese word for to be, です (desu). Despite the final character being su, it's read like just an s. There are a few more examples, like you'll commonly hear いち (ichi) pronounced like just "ich", and a few more quirks related to し (shi). Japanese is an insanely interesting language, but a big headache. Wouldn't be surprised if I got something wrong lol.

[@osmanceylan]

@@lizardirl9488 what is there to shi? I can't think of any

[@NinjaRodent]

@@osmanceylan The only thing I can think of is when they say しかし shikashi (meaning but or however) they often pronounce it as skashi rather than shikashi. But I'm sure there's more.

[@brucecampbell624]

@Sovairu Sometimes geminates (the sokuon) are analysed as a phoneme /Q/ with the moraic nasal analysed as /N/, so both /Q/ and /N/ are the only possible codas in that case.

[@samrijijkot]

Theres a beautiful anime that follows an ainu girl and a japanese soldier. I enjoyed it a lot, can recommend. Golden Kamuy is the name. Provides glimpses into their culture, dont know how accurate though. Also, language is touched upon a little, differences in japanese dialects as well

[@SuperibyP]

I hoped someone would mention Golden Kamui

[@vklnew9824]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6mvgZ2mhsSKjq8. Ainu vid

[@iamseamonkey6688]

I wish you'd do more on Australian aboriginal languages. I've always found them fascinating and the fact that most of them are extinct and the rest critically endangered saddens me. I'm not aboriginal, but I've always been really interested in them and they're many _pama-nyungan_ languages. And fantastic video on the ainu. It's the first time I've ever gotten to hear much about them. You are one of my favorite channels about language.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 34 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@semaj_5022]

Such a great video. This has made me want to go study up on the Ainu and learn about their history and culture, along with the language of course. I can't wait for the Siberia episode, btw! You're honestly probably my favorite KZbinr, dude. Your videos are the best and you seem like a genuine, decent dude. Thanks for all the work you do!

[@SolarGranulation]

I had to stop part way through because something came up, which I know puts a kink in your stats. So here's a comment to boost engagement!

[@yrodro]

Just discovered your channel and have already subscribed. It occurred to me that adding clips of native speakers would be a wonderful way to help your audience relate more intimately with languages we have never experienced, and hit more forcefully the awareness of their endangered status.

[@ChessedGamon]

Well that explains the time I spent way too long trying to figure out what that string of katakana meant.

[@rahuldhargalkar]

Much love for the Ainu people out there! Keep the language and culture alive ^^ & thanks NativLang

[@CrazyLulus]

I first learnd about the Ainu in eu4(not the best nation to pick for your First game tbh) and I immediately fell in love with them. I really hope they are able to preserve their culture and language and maybe even revive it(who knows)

[@emilandersson4366]

So happy you covered this. The word practice app: Drops has a project with a few hundred Ainu words to spread the basics. Doing that parallel with Korean and Cantonese at the moment. Stay safe and as always, great videos

[@moondust2365]

Wow. Never been this early before... Would've liked to know more about the Ainu language, like how it differs from Japanese but written out or orally spoken rather than as a list of featural differences. Nonetheless, a great video, as always. :D Also, and this may be "selfish" but, is there gonna be a video regarding Tagalog? Not just with linguistic features (which are fascinating on their own, like how there are two ways to order the subject and predicate without having to use commas and stuff like that), but also how, like English, it's basically a mish-mash of different languages like Spanish, English, Malay, Hokkien, Arabic, Hindi, Nahuatl, and Japanese. I'd also like to hear on whether or not you consider Filipino as a standardized dialect of Tagalog. ^^ ~ 🇵🇭 Love from the Philippines

[@NativLang]

I want to! I'm learning bits of phrases in Tagalog and a little Ilocano from an auntie who's near and dear to the family. She chuckles at my attempts, it's fun.

[@moondust2365]

@@NativLang That's nice. ^^ I myself don't know much Ilocano, even though I live in a city where nearly half of the population speak it. My mom speaks it though, but her mother tongue is Ibanag/Ybanag. Also, interesting fact about Ilocano, from what I know, there's two major "[super]dialects" of it. There's the variety spoken in the Ilocos Region (Region I)-where it's originally from-and there's the variety spoken here in Cagayan Valley (Region II). See, at a certain point in time (not sure if it was during the Spanish colonial period or more recently), some of the people of Ilocos migrated to here, specifically in the Province of Isabela, and they absorbed some of the vocabulary from nearby languages (like the afformentioned Ibanag) while those who remained in Ilocos just kept moving on. Also interestingly enough, there may be more English influence in the variety in Region I considering how a lot of place names there are in English and there's been a lot of interaction with American soldiers, although I'm not sure. :)

[@anonb4632]

@Matthew Tenorio_3200654 The islands were occupied by the Japanese for a short period and were probably trading with Japan centuries ago. It's not entirely implausible.

[@moondust2365]

@Matthew Tenorio_3200654 *cough cough* https:/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_loanwords_in_Tagalog Notes: Tagalog borrowed words from Nahuatl via Mexican and European Spanish during the Galleon trade while it also borrowed words from Japanese during the Pre-colonial period as well as during WWII Japanese occupation (as well as more modern interactions with Japanese such as the adoption of Anime-related words).

[@moondust2365]

@@anonb4632 True. Plus there was trading with the Japanese before the Spanish colonized us and before they (the Japanese Empire) "fell asleep". Even before we already borrowed words like Katana and Kimono. More modern ones would be Karaoke, Tansan (bottle cap in Tagalog; Soda in Japanese), and Jack-en-poy (the Japanese derived name of rock-paper-scissors in Tagalog; used sometimes instead of the Tagalog name _Bato, Bato, pick!_ )

[@andycrenshaw2789]

thank you for putting in work to help and recognize indigenous communities. the work you do helps so much to understand different cultures through the lens of language. never stop, please.

[@rzeka]

In the Siberia video, I hope you mention Nivkh and it's really unusual vowel system

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@Grinnar]

Your wholeness around this topic was very heart warming.

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

When you know what he's actually talking about due to playing EUIV too much

[@matthewbeale5098]

Made me want to do a run as them now

[@sephikong8323]

Victoria 2 players : Ahaha yes yes, I protect their culture yes ...... *anxiously looks at the pie chart of Hokkaido every two seconds to see if they have been replaced yet*

[@maestro9765]

Yeah, knowing what Nivkh was...

[@hanselsihotang]

@@sephikong8323 RIP Hokkaido Ainu. But their island's immigrant attraction and RGO buff is very good, you can't say no to its decision event On the plus side, if you manage to colonize some low pop Pacific Islands, you'd sometimes see them emigrate to those island and contribute a huge chunk to its pops percentage. I've seen a tiny micronesian province that has 30% Ainu (on the flip side the native Polynesian there were below 2%🤣). And I don't know how effective Vic2 models multiracial and assimilated pop, since often in late game Vicky the Ainu still contribute a huge percentage in Hokkaido's population (20-30%, which basically they have really big population compared to IRL, numbering almost hundreds of thousands)

[@bonjincowboy]

When you've memorized the name of every province in Japan

[@alexseo9305]

this guys pronunciation for all languages is impressive

[@dirtyyy7668]

0:34 there is Wymysoryś, or Wilanowian, a Germanic language spoken only in one small town in Poland. I had no idea about it until I stumbled on it on the internet few years ago. I was so surprised because it's so close to where I live and no one here ever heard of it.

[@liamthom7127]

Dirtyyy ja, it’s in a small town that a bunch of Dutch and German settlers went to longgggg ago:)

[@k.umquat8604]

Sadly, it's almost extinct

[@chaichapstick]

nativlang i wanna say that discovering your channel was an absolute blessing. Im really really bad at learning things but i love learning things so much that the constant bouts of frustration, distraction, and various other factors do not stop me from learning if i can. ADHD is a curse and working so much leaves me with so little energy i dont have time for long, in-depth videos by college professors. Your videos are not only snacks for my information-starved mind, but rekindle my desire to learn and renew my energy when i have to opportunity to sit down and do the in-depth thing. Its also been difficult for me in the past to know what i even WANTED to study; ive literally never had passion enough in one area to stick with it. Its only within the past YEAR that i realized i wanted to study linguistics. With all this emphasis on staying in school and taking extra classes at a young age, i almost feel like ive missed my chance doing anything in my life being in my mid-twenties. I just wanted to let you know that i only discovered your channel like a week ago but its helped me more than i can convey.

[@Casinooos]

Hey, maybe a video on the Baltic languages? One of the smaller families in Europe, couple of extinct languages, Prussians giving their name to Germanic Prussia, Lithuanian being the most archaic language in Europe, Latvian always stressing the first syllable (heard it's super rare for Indo-European languages) etc? Would be cool! 🙌

[@chaichapstick]

I second this! My great grandparents were Lithuanian and i wanted wholeheartedly to learn it until i discovered Lithuanian has 53 freaking phonemes, i cry. But i still do wanna learn

[@yogatonga7529]

Czech is also stressibg the first syllable.

[@FirstLast-lo3eo]

Lithuanian is very close to Sanskrit in terms of Vocabulary.

[@TheQwuilleran]

I learned about Ainu scouring the early internet as a kid, by way of trying to learn about my grandfather's language, Zuni, another endangered language isolate. Since then, I gravitate towards it, mostly in anime.

[@takashiadachi7938]

Hello, I am Takashi (hobby geneticist and interested in Northeast Asian history). It is a common misconception that all Ainu looked "Caucasian" or were very hairy. There were always many Ainu which looked typically Northeast Asian or like Inuit (long before we Japanese arrived in Hokkaido). The Ainu language itself descended from the Okhotsk culture and people which looked like Itelmens or Yakuts. Ainu history is very complex and for the sake of respect, it should be noted that the people speaking proto-Ainu and the Ainu culture largely originated from the Okhotsk, which were related to other Northeast Asians and eastern Siberians. Also, is is a common misconception that all Ainu have haplogroup D. Southern Ainu have it predominantly at 75%, while northern Hokkaido Ainu have more C (the same clade as Athabaskans in northern America).

[@daishiyokota-ok2ru]

🇯🇵はじめまして。 安達たかしさんと仰有るのですか？ 御名前から日本人と、お見受けしますので日本語で 書かせていただきます。 申し遅れました、 私、サハリンの 先住民エンチュー （戦前の旧称は、 樺太アイヌ）の 子孫のアイヌ系 日本人、与古田 大志と申します アイヌのルーツに関する見解に若干 の誤解、誤謬があったため修正させていただきます。 先ずアイヌ語は、 ツングース語族では、御座いません シベリアから多くの文化や語彙を 受け容れてはいるものの、ツングース語族には、属して居りません。 何処にも属さない 孤立言語という説も嘘でこれは、主に日本のジジイ学者達が主張しているのですが、彼らの頭の中は、異常に旧くて21世紀の今時、19世紀の 御用学説である アイヌ縄文人説 を信じ込んでいる バカがゴロゴロ いる有様で、情報が全然アップデートされてない😱 貴方が分子遺伝学者なら彼等の主張が完全なる誤りであることはお解りでしょう。 1980年代、英国 オックスフォード 大学の、分子遺伝学の世界的権威、 ドクターサイクスがアイヌのミトコンドリアD.N.A.の 解析を行い、アイヌに一番近いのは、ネイティブ アメリカンで特に 南米のアンデス高知に棲むケチュア族が最も遺伝的に近いと発表いたしました。 この結果に不満だった日本の遺伝学の牙城「国立遺伝学研究所」は、 アンデスに大調査隊を送り込み、 遺伝学研究所が保っていた、1960年 頃採取された最後の純血アイヌのサンプルと純血の ケチュア人、あと 比較のためにインカ帝国時代のミイラ、三者のミトコンドリアD.N.A.の解析調査を行いました。 結果は、純血アイヌと純血ケチュア人の塩基配列は、 364文字の内362 文字が完全に一致 違いは僅かに2文字だけだった‼️ この結果をもって 国立遺伝学研究所は、サイクス説を、追認、アイヌとネイティブアメリカンは、同じ民族というのが定説と成った。 貴方は遺伝学者だというが、一体何処で博士号をお取りになったのですか？60歳以下なら 分子遺伝学者なら 知ってて然るべきの情報を知らぬとはどういうことなのでしょうか？🤔 あとアイヌ白人説ですがこれは、19世紀の英国の宣教師ジョンバチェラーの、説ですが、 アイヌや殆どのネイティブアメリカンのミトコンドリアD.N.A.typeは、A 日本人は、typeDが多く鹿児島県や 沖縄は、台湾先住民、中国南部、東南アジア、ハワイ などと同じカテゴリーのtypeM7が多いことが知られています。 分子遺伝学を専攻なさった方なら、 お分かりと思うが 世界中の人類の ミトコンドリアD.N.A.のタイプはアフリカ系を除けばＭ系（主にアジア系)とN系（ヨーロッパ、中東系）に、大別され、 アイヌが属する typeAは、中東系の支族であることが判明しており、 広義では、白人の仲間と言っても 差支えない。 それに対して日本の文系の老学者たちが強硬に反対しているがそれは、 明治以来、日本人がずっと持ってきた、白人に対する劣等感とその裏返しとしての日本以外のアジア蔑視💀 戦前まで二等市民として、カニバリの土人（言っておくがこれは、いわれなき差別である アイヌに食人の 風習はない💢） と蔑んでいた、 アイヌが白人様などとは、日本人は決して認めないのである😱 今アイヌに対する 一般シサム（shi- sam=Japanese)の態度は、主に三種1 全く無関心 2アイヌになりたがっている日本人 Wanna be Ainu Fake ainu が増えている。 アイヌになれば 憧れの白人様に、 なれると勘違いしている。また、 ゴールデンカムイ などアニメの影響もある。 3アイヌに対する ヘイト 特に日本政府が白老の湖を埋め立て 200億円かけて建てた（ウポポイ）は、金のかけ過ぎと嘘八百な展示物も相まって、納税者の怒りが爆発💥 捏造史強制施設 ウソポイ！ などと揶揄されている。 今一番、小生が 許し難いのは、 2のエセアイヌや エセアイヌ語の 存在ですな💢 沙流川の二風谷という観光コタンがあるがここは、 左翼プロ市民と、 Fake Ainuの掃き溜めのようなところでRed kotan 赤い村といわれている。 そこに住む日本人 （アイヌではない 兵庫県出身の偽物）Kenji sekineは 自分の娘mayaを アイヌ界のアイドルにしようと、 画策しているステージパパだが、 この偽アイヌ親子のアイヌ語がtoo strangeなんですよ例えば I ram kal-ap_te 逐語訳 elam（iram）は、 I think kal（kar）は do ap -teは sex☠️ Iram kar-ap-te とは、挨拶の言葉などではない‼️その意味は、 I wanna f☠️cking‼️‼️ こういう挨拶をするアイヌは、大体 アイヌ語が喋れなくて、インチキなアイヌ語教室で学んだ後天的学習者ばかり、正しいアイヌ語が喋れる奴は、一人も居ない ネイティブスピーカーの老人たちも 1970年代までに ほぼ死に絶えた。 私の祖父も1978年他界した。😭 今北海道に行っても真のネイティブスピーカーになど会えない。 居るのは、国の 補助金目当ての 嘘つきアイヌや アイヌになりたがってる日本人のwanna be Ainu ばかり💩💩💩 アイヌ語は、絶滅危惧言語ではない もう絶滅してるのに国からの補助金が欲しくて生きていることにされている（ゾンビ語）なのだ👻

[@SwordsmanOrion]

I'm just a simple monolingual American, but I have had a fairly strong interest in the Ainu for almost exactly 30 years now for what is probably a strange reason. Back in 1993 I fell in love with an arcade video game called Samurai Shodown (Samurai Spirits). One of my favorite characters from this fighting is an Ainu girl named Nakoruru. Like any kid in the 90s I was mostly attracted to her distinct character design, however, what made her really stick out was her companion. She fought with a red tailed hawk named Mamahaha. Her backstory and history was just interesting enough for me to look deeper and discover that the Ainu were a real people that were distinct and different from the Japanese people. I've never forgotten about this character and I've learned a great deal about the Ainu culture because of her.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

='Mama' habo step mother, Na,ko ,ru,-ru have several meanings each tu-itak-re-itakMonshutu an wa = ko=ru-ru to hit

[@EkaitzIturbeltz]

Very interesting video! First time I heard about the Ainu it was in Shaman King It would be cool to hear you talk about basque language and its dialects :)

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 34 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@leynalee9084]

I was doing some research on the Ainu and their language lately and this video couldnt have come more convenient! Thank you for bringing more light onto their situation and culture, its the least what we can do for them

[@Kiu_8]

Ainu yet another awesome video was coming!

[@Mertek71S]

For anyone interested in Ainu (that can understand or is at least learning Japanese) look up しとちゃんねる on youtube. It's one of the few Ainu channels on youtube and it deals with everything from language lessons to Ainu culture. Hopefully if the channel gets more traction somebody will add English translations. It's a really small channel and but they put out quality videos fairly regularly.

[@atamija]

this reminds me that i should finally make up my mind in terms of which endangered language to take on

[@csstuff421]

You coming back (via recommended) proves to me that everything I've engaged in (language, biology, astronomy, logos etc.) comes back to me during quarantine

[@caseygreyson4178]

It makes me sad that so many languages are dying out...I really want someone to be able to log this stuff

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

Yeah, who cares about the people when it's western science that needs to record everything, place the people in zoos, and place their cultural items on display in western museums. As long as white people benefit, whether financially or scientifically, nothing else matters. Meanwhile western science and technology pollute the environment and capitalism and imperialism force people into slavery and tokenise, commoditise, and destroy their culture. Nothing wrong with curiosity but we should recognise the debt it incurs.

[@caseygreyson4178]

Suvi-Tuuli Allan I genuinely don’t understand how you gathered this from my comment. I’m saying I want someone who can log the languages, so that they are not lost after they unfortunately go extinct. Take it from me, I’m from Wales and although Welsh isn’t an endangered language, many of the other Gaelic languages are, and the resources to learn them are extremely hard to find. I want someone to be able to log the languages so that they can still be learned and can continue living. I never said anything about “destroying culture”. In fact, videos like this are actively preserving it and keeping it alive. And trust me, I know plenty of what cultural loss is like. It’s happened to both sides of my family. My dad is Welsh (who lost a lot of culture to the Brits) as well as Saami (which had a pretty big loss of culture) and my mom is Japanese who were forced to open their ports and have their culture interfered by Westerners. I actively care about all my people and my family celebrates Japanese, Welsh, and Saami traditions. I find it quite rude of you to imply that I don’t care about the people who’s languages and cultures are dying. Have a good day.

[@wewladstbh]

I've colonised them before and I'll do it again!!

[@gotioify]

I take hope from the fact that even as many are lost, new ones are birthed in many places from the tongues of those who once lorded over them. Creoles are just as interesting as little known native tongues

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

@@caseygreyson4178 Tbh I'm not sure myself. Probably coulda used a Snickers. Sorry! (Well, did I at least make it to Reddit?)

[@susangunn3581]

Your dedication to educating everyday people on these endangered cultures & languages is awesome. Great videos.💚 I look forward to watching more of your videos. Thank you for posting this 💚👍

[@justagerman140]

Duolingo should add it to their courses, they helped languages like Hawaiian and Irish gain speakers

[@colorado13]

They're too busy doing Game of Thrones and Star Trek languages 😑

[@andydyer6591]

The language app Drops has a course on Ainu, which I’m doing right now. It only teaches words and some short phrases, but it’s a good way to get familiar with the sound of the language and some basic terms. I’d really love to see a full-fledged Duolingo course, though.

[@no_george]

@@colorado13yeah silly conlangs haha. I definitely don’t have 5 of my own haha

[@Ricca_Day]

This most Human and precious of our gifts.. so eloquently delivered with genuine affection. Your generous perspective on understanding the power and personality of Language, never ceases to endear me to this amazing species that we are! Thank you, angel! You are an outstanding teacher! So many thanks 🙏 for sharing 🤗!💛

[@fueyo2229]

I'm native speaker of an endangered language, though I don't usually speak it , because it's shameful. I hope Ainu can recover, to all Ainu speakers or just residents of Hokkaido. Fight for your tongue! Don't let your ancestral heritage die!

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

what language Mak-an-ak ne itak-i-p I have never heard of shameful ishikipipka ne-i itak shomo an wa

[@jaredlarter6018]

This hits very close to work I've recently been doing on helping to support the online learning site for Indigenous languages of British Columbia and trying our best to help the elders keep recording their languages while staying safe from COVID-19. I know just how frighteningly few speakers many languages have and I hope that all these languages can make it through.

[@user-sm5fj6dl3n]

"Hi" in ainu = "irankarapte" Now you know one ainu word

[@Cybernaut551]

Thank you, it's truly an honor to learn Ainu and Japanese.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

'Y-ran-kar-a-p-te' na wa pirka no an

[@mirandaa1464]

This video is so cool! I started researching Ainu language and culture last year so to find a video from a reliable source on it is amazing! (Besides all the videos on youtube from native Ainu speakers, those are my go-to).

[@cometmoon4485]

Another great video. It's really important to spread knowledge of languages and cultures that other civilisations have tried desperately to eradicate. Keep up the great work!

[@masaakunokouchi]

I have only recently found your channel, but the word binge watch now comes to mind

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

There are also many Native American languages with very few speakers.

[@yuminsama1301]

basically, all indigenous languages have few native speakers

[@dontmintme]

I'm going to start studying linguistics in october and everytime I question my plan I watch your videos and get reassured that I made the right choice 🎉

[@pibi-tudu-kaga6991]

Mint If you want a bunch of channel recommendations hmu

[@dontmintme]

@@pibi-tudu-kaga6991 please! I'm dying to find more channels on anything linguistics!

[@kri_sti_ne_h]

Could you do a video on Sámi languages?

[@janeleess]

Reminds me of the fact my ancestry is Hokchew (I'm a Malaysian Chinese) but I can't speak a lick of Hokchew and won't even recognise it if it's spoken to me (never met my grandparents, nor did my dad ever learn it from his parents). There was a time I tried to find resources online to learn it, only to realise it's been so squished in China when they were promoting standard Mandarin that they are still working on reviving Hokchew there, and that Hokchew survives better outside of China where it's still spoken colloquially by grandparents to grandkids. I'm glad to see more resources out there now, but it's still not easy to learn a language/dialect that's more spoken than written via the internet!

[@Neberheim]

I'm glad to see Ainu! I've always had a fascination with it. The persecution of ethnic minorities and languages in Japan is common even today, and not widely known in the western world. The Ainu only received legal recognition in the last decade, and the prime minister during that time had once declared Japan was "one race, one civilization, one language and one culture." Japonic languages should definitely get some airtime here!

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Very interesting and worthwhile video.

[@dreamlandish]

Everyone!!! It's our duty to learn our mother tongues and traditions! Don't let them die!

[@HistoryDose]

Hey I really love the style and flow of this video. It's great to see channels like yours--definitely an inspiration for our channel as well!

[@AvrahamYairStern]

Do more videos on Nahuatl please!

[@My_Navigator]

I like that mini languages can be lerned by many so it dont die out

[@shashwatsinha2704]

This is partially correct: they also lived on most of northern honshu.

[@victorfergn]

Isn't the word samurai related to that?

[@Uyarasuk]

@@victorfergn 侍 Samurai comes from a verb meaning to serve or wait upon, as in servant or retainer of the nobility.

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Sashwat Sinha Vice versa. Some Japanese (Emishi people) were inhabiting in Hokkaido. They were coexisting.

[@victorfergn]

@@Uyarasuk It was Shogun, my bad. 征夷大将軍 those evil Emishi.

[@mariksen]

Using miniscules to differentiate CONSONANTS from CV syllables is SO ORIGINAL and GENIUS!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@the_linguist_ll]

The Róng script used by the Lepcha language is an abuguida, but unlike every other abuguida where the base character is a consonant and vowels are diacritics, Róng also uses diacritics to mark coda consonants

[@NetherTaker]

Me, who is studying Japanese, seeing words written in katakana end with consonants that aren't "N": Matte, that's illegal.

[@jasonrowe344]

You do a service to humanity. And what a great ear you have.

[@Barakon]

What did Siberian Ainu sound like?

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

South Kamčatka Ainu married kamchadals are mix races of even Ainu married Yupiq and Aluet when Russia owned Alaska lurovetlaan not use Northwe have no material they were converted to orthodox and spoke Russian many kuriles Ainu died when meeting whalers or fighting Ainu in Amur married into many tribes during the Ming silkroad trading 12th century to 17th sakhalin ? we have sakhalin recorded by piłzudski on wax but it was 110 years ago.There is no material because for centuries the small numbered peoples had to marry into other tribes Ghengiz kubliai khan used Amur tribes and Manchus to fightAinu in Sakhalin he wanted to invade Japan some Tonchi kirin keren Manchu Misehase invaded Sakata island with Ainu but were beaten Kamchat ka ohotsk region was always fragile volcanos and ice was always a facter destroying small mumbers untib cosaks came and then whalers wiped out by sickness plague bio war the people before they could thrive

[@mintman325]

The way people communicate has always been of interest to me. I found you through the what Aztec sounded like. I’ve been subed ever since.

[@colinjones5379]

I wonder if Tolkien deliberately named the members of his pantheon the Ainur (singular Ainu) as some kind of reference or tribute. Could easily be a coincidence but hey, he *was* a linguist.

[@Sovairu]

It was most definitely coincidental.

[@dwhansen28]

Ainur is also a super common name in Central Asian Turkic languages, meaning Moonlight

[@ishikari1111]

While it is correct to use the smaller size of kana characters to indicate the unreleased syllable-final consonants in Ainu, the character "ト" is not normally used in Ainu writing. For this reason, the small "ト" is not used to represent the final stops of "-t". Instead, the "ッ" is usually used.

[@TheMacedonianBackBreaker]

A video about indigenous Japanese languages? Well I guess *AINU* this was coming

[@guillaumedep1]

I just got this in my feed even though it's been out a year. Great video! Going to subscribe and catch up on your other stuff.

[@Hannah_Em]

Last time I was this early, I'd never heard of social distancing!

[@genesis_ink]

I'm indigenous American, and I was raised bilingual for English and Oneida. I never really thought it was all that unusual until heard one day that apparently Oneida was really rare, so looked it up and apparently there are like 200 people in the world who speak it at all, and less than 10 speak it monolingually. Many of which are old and very vulnerable to Covid. Crazy to think that I'm probably one of the youngest people who speak it natively, so one day not to long from now I could end up being the last (or one of the last) people on earth who learned it as a child. It might become a purely academic language, or dead language in your lifetime.. 👀

[@nosequeponeraqui6502]

You could teach someone to talk it or publish something of that language

[@rjfaber1991]

What do you mean? A pandemic that causes everybody to sit at home and have loads of extra free time is the ideal time to study languages, or at least learn to speak one. I guess I'll judge how effective it's been by how good my Korean will have become by the end of all this, but I certainly couldn't have put the hours in to the extent I currently do if there wasn't a pandemic going on.

[@frenchbreadstupidity7054]

The average native Ainu speaker is old. The pandemic kills old people at a higher rate. The Ainu are relatively rural and isolated. Isolated populations catching the virus, might not be able to access life-saving treatments.

[@rjfaber1991]

@Natalie Mayo ​I was actually quite specifically referring to how he introduced the video, not the bit at the end. You're absolutely right about that of course, but that's not what I referred to, and if I'm to be brutally honest, I hadn't reached that part of the video yet when I wrote the comment, so if it appears ever-so-slightly tone-deaf, that'd be why.

[@keetrandling4530]

Have you ever thought of doing voice-over or commercial work? Your voice is quite pleasant and at the same time authoritive.

[@alex_gaimar]

I've seen Japanese statistics here. But here's the Russian stats. In 2010 census, 109 people identified as Ainu, including 94 in Kamchatka Krai to the north of the Kurils. 35 people claimed to speak Ainu, all of them on Kamchatka, which should mean the Kuril dialect. 1 of them claimed to speak a single language.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

Iran kar apte e. ! also Ainu mixed with Kamchadals and village names Para tunka, Para Mosir. Alexander Akulov Kamchatka siknu komite word press, gengo chan , Ainu phrase book on kindle

[@cjthibeau4843]

Such a great video and for a good cause too! Hope you're staying safe and can't wait for the next video!

[@fyviane]

Actually it was one of the first things that came to my mind - how many language deaths will COVID be responsible for. :(

[@gyannunez]

I was looking into the Ainu language just three days ago, and then you happened to post this.

[@silence6605]

Surprised you didn’t mention that the Jōmon look physically different from other Asians. They share a lot of features with Europeans.

[@koffron9696]

Even within jomon Ainu looks very different from those from SE asia. Looks like 3 races to me.

[@silence6605]

Slashplite Yeah, What I was trying to say is that they look physically similar to Europeans. Not that they’re closely related to them or anything.

[@rzeka]

Stuff like that gets dicey real fast, and linguists generally don't like to go there. In fact, linguists don't really talk about race (outside of fringe linguistics) because language and race aren't tied together. Sure, they go together often, but just as often they don't.

[@koffron9696]

@@silence6605 maybe some convergent evolution thing. Should hv heard they share some similar genes with tibetans

[@benni_thien]

Silence Without being on the jugdemental side, I think or rather guess the reason to their different physical looks may be that their ancestors were part of an older wave of humans migrating to the (north) east of Asia?

[@d.robertdigman1293]

I love this. First Nations languages are very important. I know there are around 250 languages and over 800 dialects, but I'd love to see something about some of Australia's indigenous languages, many of which are seriously under threat of loss.

[@L3GioG57A]

People who speak Ainu in Kuril during 1960 & Sakhalin during 1990 : *_*player has disconnected_**

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

What do you mean

[@L3GioG57A]

@@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072 it has been 3 years so I have absolutely no idea

[@EC-rd9ys]

Wow, I was just reading about the Ainu two days ago and now this shows up!