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

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  • Опубліковано 4 чер 2024
  • A brief animated history of a language native to northern Japan and the edge of Siberia.
    Subscribe for more: ua-cam.com/users/subscription_...
    Become my patron: / nativlang
    Earnings from this and other NativLang videos this month will be donated. The highlighted message at 5:49 is from Cultural Survival, though I may add others:
    mailchi.mp/culturalsurvival.o...
    ~ Briefly ~
    I've spent the first part of this pandemic researching the languages of Siberia. Along the way I noticed how many languages were spoken by just a very, very small community. Today let's take some minutes to think about one such language traditional to the edge of southeastern Siberia.
    Start in Japan, then journey through a brief history of Ainu. It's missing many details, but you'll end up with a sense of who the speakers are, where they have lived, down to where the language holds on at present in Japan. Even learn some features that make it similar to and very different from Japanese and from nearby Siberian languages.
    We'll end with a note about languages with few speakers left (often few elders - sometimes just one!) The month of this video's release, YT ad revenue from across NativLang videos will go to groups who are aware of this issue and support indigenous communities.
    ~ Credits ~
    Art, narration, animation and much of the music by Josh from NativLang
    Sources for claims made, and credits for most of the music, fonts, sfx:
    docs.google.com/document/d/1w...
    Music:
    Please see my doc above for sources. There I give full credit to Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) for the track at the start and a couple in the middle.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 1 тис.

  • @thescousesocialist1794
    @thescousesocialist1794 4 роки тому +3245

    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
      @NativLang  4 роки тому +894

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

    • @thescousesocialist1794
      @thescousesocialist1794 4 роки тому +371

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

    • @LouseGrouse
      @LouseGrouse 4 роки тому +191

      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
      @koffron9696 4 роки тому +90

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

    • @skilldraculaX
      @skilldraculaX 4 роки тому +167

      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.

  • @Pickleton
    @Pickleton 4 роки тому +1534

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

    • @epg96
      @epg96 4 роки тому +18

      Are they planning to revive Ainu language?

    • @Pickleton
      @Pickleton 4 роки тому +94

      @@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
      @skellagyook 4 роки тому +36

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

    • @rahuldhargalkar
      @rahuldhargalkar 4 роки тому +2

      That's so nice (:

    • @taz0il
      @taz0il 3 роки тому +18

      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.

  • @HuevoBendito
    @HuevoBendito 4 роки тому +915

    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
      @DrPonner 4 роки тому +60

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

    • @mochardiansah7452
      @mochardiansah7452 4 роки тому +10

      Reminds me instantly of Tevfik Esenç

    • @drungarious
      @drungarious 4 роки тому +37

      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
      @rahuldhargalkar 4 роки тому +2

      I can only imagine

    • @Triferus
      @Triferus 4 роки тому +5

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

  • @orcguy51
    @orcguy51 4 роки тому +1974

    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
      @rzeka 4 роки тому +99

      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
      @yrobtsvt 4 роки тому +186

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

    • @koffron9696
      @koffron9696 4 роки тому +38

      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
      @ryke_masters 4 роки тому +86

      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
      @koffron9696 4 роки тому +6

      @@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

  • @Cookie-mv2hg
    @Cookie-mv2hg 4 роки тому +701

    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
      @skilldraculaX 4 роки тому +84

      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
      @rzeka 4 роки тому +44

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

    • @ooaaveehoo
      @ooaaveehoo 4 роки тому +22

      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
      @mrniceguy7168 4 роки тому +7

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

    • @teemun3979
      @teemun3979 4 роки тому +36

      @@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.

  • @violettasauveterre5100
    @violettasauveterre5100 4 роки тому +742

    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
      @NativLang  4 роки тому +193

      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
      @DrPonner 4 роки тому +29

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

    • @jd42277
      @jd42277 4 роки тому +8

      Eso te honra, suerte👍

    • @soton4010
      @soton4010 4 роки тому +3

      your learninɡ of classical nahuatl

    • @lyreparadox
      @lyreparadox 4 роки тому +29

      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/

  • @siljami
    @siljami 3 роки тому +141

    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
      @daishiyokota-ok2ru 8 місяців тому +1

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

  • @NativLang
    @NativLang  4 роки тому +404

    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
      @papazataklaattiranimam 4 роки тому +3

      NativLang
      Turkic languages pls

    • @Violin199
      @Violin199 4 роки тому +2

      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
      @el.k9776 4 роки тому

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

    • @frenchbreadstupidity7054
      @frenchbreadstupidity7054 4 роки тому +3

      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.
      @J.o.s.h.u.a. 4 роки тому

      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.

  • @StrunDoNhor
    @StrunDoNhor 3 роки тому +73

    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
      @mansionbookerstudios9629 2 роки тому

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

    • @oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072
      @oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072 6 місяців тому

      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

  • @yayo9929
    @yayo9929 4 роки тому +466

    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
      @linguate7438 4 роки тому +21

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

    • @kl1541
      @kl1541 4 роки тому +4

      Skolt Sami too

    • @julianfejzo4829
      @julianfejzo4829 4 роки тому +12

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

    • @camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303
      @camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303 4 роки тому +6

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

    • @yayo9929
      @yayo9929 4 роки тому +1

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

  • @SuperSangfroid
    @SuperSangfroid 4 роки тому +374

    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
      @milobem4458 4 роки тому +47

      TEN speakers?

    • @user-xm2nb7qj1t
      @user-xm2nb7qj1t 4 роки тому +65

      Elders? Ten? Someone please protect them oh god

    • @yayoikisaragi7968
      @yayoikisaragi7968 4 роки тому +5

      @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
      @yayoikisaragi7968 4 роки тому +21

      @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
      @Tsiskoko 3 роки тому +27

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

  • @lyreparadox
    @lyreparadox 4 роки тому +389

    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
      @akl2k7 4 роки тому +46

      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
      @anonb4632 4 роки тому +25

      @@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
      @alejandroojeda1572 4 роки тому +16

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

    • @Punyulada
      @Punyulada 4 роки тому +31

      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
      @guilherm502 4 роки тому +2

      That would be great, actually!

  • @KikiYushima
    @KikiYushima 4 роки тому +223

    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
      @kevinrdunnphs 4 роки тому +39

      @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
      @Sovairu 4 роки тому +8

      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
      @quadeevans6484 4 роки тому +12

      @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
      @victorfergn 4 роки тому +26

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

    • @kevinrdunnphs
      @kevinrdunnphs 4 роки тому +3

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

  • @TwentyNineJP
    @TwentyNineJP 4 роки тому +289

    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
      @ethanmcdermott8738 4 роки тому +12

      Please do this! That sounds really interesting

    • @FakeMaker
      @FakeMaker 4 роки тому +5

      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
      @machaiarcanum 4 роки тому +3

      Oh cool. I would love to see this.

    • @pedrosegundo8109
      @pedrosegundo8109 4 роки тому +9

      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
      @desdafinado 4 роки тому +5

      @@pedrosegundo8109 que bom Pedro! estou atento por aqui

  • @gabrielebarra4465
    @gabrielebarra4465 4 роки тому +137

    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
      @pedrosegundo8109 4 роки тому +10

      イランカラプテ
      Irankarapte!

    • @gabrielebarra4465
      @gabrielebarra4465 4 роки тому +11

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

    • @pedrosegundo8109
      @pedrosegundo8109 4 роки тому +7

      @@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
      @gabrielebarra4465 4 роки тому

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

    • @gabrielebarra4465
      @gabrielebarra4465 4 роки тому +1

      Or better, the imprecise way

  • @nakenmil
    @nakenmil 4 роки тому +100

    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.

  • @kalinsapotato
    @kalinsapotato 4 роки тому +22

    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.

  • @kagavc6278
    @kagavc6278 4 роки тому +147

    Notice: Shigeru Kayano himself is of Ainu ethnicity.

    • @Nynke_K
      @Nynke_K 4 роки тому +4

      I was wondering about that!

    • @meis
      @meis 3 роки тому

      Ken Hirai
      Hiroshi Abe

    • @yayoikisaragi7968
      @yayoikisaragi7968 3 роки тому

      @@meis They are not.

  • @Tsiskoko
    @Tsiskoko 3 роки тому +16

    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
    @imrukiitoaoffire1908 4 роки тому +82

    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
      @isabellebarrett1318 4 роки тому +11

      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
      @imrukiitoaoffire1908 4 роки тому +1

      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
      @BluePenguin200 4 роки тому +3

      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
      @annellhiersche1291 4 роки тому

      Do you have any advice for good recorces?

    • @imrukiitoaoffire1908
      @imrukiitoaoffire1908 4 роки тому

      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.
    @Artur_M. 4 роки тому +54

    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
      @pabloramos1022 4 роки тому +1

      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.
      @Artur_M. 4 роки тому

      @@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
      @Khan-oz9dx 4 роки тому +1

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

    • @mansionbookerstudios9629
      @mansionbookerstudios9629 2 роки тому

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

  • @Seltyk
    @Seltyk 4 роки тому +68

    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
      @thespiritualwanderer2180 4 роки тому +1

      isn't Ryukyuan a dialect of Japanese?

    • @kareepan3382
      @kareepan3382 4 роки тому +24

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

    • @littlechemie5425
      @littlechemie5425 4 роки тому +6

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

    • @darryljones3009
      @darryljones3009 3 роки тому +3

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

    • @sephiroth7655
      @sephiroth7655 3 роки тому +4

      @@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.

  • @Ida-xe8pg
    @Ida-xe8pg 4 роки тому +283

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

    • @Masterge77
      @Masterge77 4 роки тому +65

      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
      @MiguelX413 4 роки тому +66

      You mean ſ not ʃ.

    • @makisroumpas5512
      @makisroumpas5512 4 роки тому +16

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

    • @aquariuslove5709
      @aquariuslove5709 4 роки тому +35

      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
      @Masterge77 4 роки тому +48

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

  • @Deriak27Forever
    @Deriak27Forever 4 роки тому +51

    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
      @Sovairu 4 роки тому +10

      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
      @lizardirl9488 4 роки тому +14

      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
      @osmanceylan 4 роки тому

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

    • @NinjaRodent
      @NinjaRodent 4 роки тому +1

      @@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
      @brucecampbell624 4 роки тому +1

      @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.

  • @taintedtaylor2586
    @taintedtaylor2586 4 роки тому +75

    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
      @NativLang  4 роки тому +17

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

    • @rjfaber1991
      @rjfaber1991 4 роки тому +13

      @@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
      @taintedtaylor2586 4 роки тому

      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
      @babelKONI 4 роки тому +1

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

    • @taintedtaylor2586
      @taintedtaylor2586 4 роки тому +1

      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.

  • @teresabarcelo4750
    @teresabarcelo4750 4 роки тому +68

    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
      @NativLang  4 роки тому +28

      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
      @Mili-bedili 4 роки тому +6

      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_
      @ellasedits_ 3 роки тому +2

      I would love to learn about Taino!

    • @mansionbookerstudios9629
      @mansionbookerstudios9629 2 роки тому

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

    • @mansionbookerstudios9629
      @mansionbookerstudios9629 2 роки тому

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

  • @iavv334
    @iavv334 4 роки тому +37

    "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
      @timflatus 4 роки тому +5

      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
      @discogoth 4 роки тому +4

      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
      @valkeakirahvi 4 роки тому

      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
      @janellephoenix4378 3 роки тому

      Wow, that’s cool!

  • @samrijijkot
    @samrijijkot 4 роки тому +31

    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
      @SuperibyP 4 роки тому +5

      I hoped someone would mention Golden Kamui

    • @vklnew9824
      @vklnew9824 3 роки тому +1

      ua-cam.com/video/MxLPjpQ_WXM/v-deo.html. Ainu vid

  • @MA-gn5nl
    @MA-gn5nl 3 роки тому +7

    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.

  • @YellowSkarmory
    @YellowSkarmory 4 роки тому +105

    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.

  • @yrodro
    @yrodro 4 роки тому +2

    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.

  • @HistoryDose
    @HistoryDose 4 роки тому

    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!

  • @trya314
    @trya314 4 роки тому +7

    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.

  • @ChessedGamon
    @ChessedGamon 4 роки тому +21

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

  • @semaj_5022
    @semaj_5022 4 роки тому +2

    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 UA-camr, dude. Your videos are the best and you seem like a genuine, decent dude. Thanks for all the work you do!

  • @MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot
    @MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot 4 роки тому +17

    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.

  • @emilandersson4366
    @emilandersson4366 4 роки тому +3

    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

  • @iamseamonkey6688
    @iamseamonkey6688 4 роки тому +12

    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.

  • @andycrenshaw2789
    @andycrenshaw2789 4 роки тому

    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.

  • @Grinnar
    @Grinnar 3 роки тому

    Your wholeness around this topic was very heart warming.

  • @rzeka
    @rzeka 4 роки тому +17

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

  • @Kiu_8
    @Kiu_8 4 роки тому +4

    Ainu yet another awesome video was coming!

  • @rahuldhargalkar
    @rahuldhargalkar 4 роки тому +2

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

  • @susangunn3581
    @susangunn3581 3 роки тому

    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 💚👍

  • @takashiadachi7938
    @takashiadachi7938 3 роки тому +7

    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
      @daishiyokota-ok2ru 8 місяців тому

      🇯🇵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👻

  • @Casinooos
    @Casinooos 4 роки тому +19

    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
      @chaichapstick 4 роки тому +3

      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
      @yogatonga7529 4 роки тому +1

      Czech is also stressibg the first syllable.

    • @FirstLast-lo3eo
      @FirstLast-lo3eo 2 роки тому

      Lithuanian is very close to Sanskrit in terms of Vocabulary.

  • @yashb164
    @yashb164 3 роки тому

    Awesome video. I always learn so much from these. Thank you for your effort!

  • @csstuff421
    @csstuff421 4 роки тому

    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

  • @jbdbibbaerman8071
    @jbdbibbaerman8071 4 роки тому +76

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

    • @matthewbeale5098
      @matthewbeale5098 4 роки тому +1

      Made me want to do a run as them now

    • @sephikong8323
      @sephikong8323 4 роки тому +16

      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
      @maestro9765 4 роки тому +1

      Yeah, knowing what Nivkh was...

    • @hanselsihotang
      @hanselsihotang 4 роки тому

      @@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
      @bonjincowboy 4 роки тому +2

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

  • @moondust2365
    @moondust2365 4 роки тому +32

    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
      @NativLang  4 роки тому +18

      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
      @moondust2365 4 роки тому +4

      @@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
      @anonb4632 4 роки тому +1

      @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
      @moondust2365 4 роки тому +1

      @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
      @moondust2365 4 роки тому +1

      @@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!_ )

  • @mirandaa1464
    @mirandaa1464 2 роки тому

    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).

  • @leynalee9084
    @leynalee9084 4 роки тому

    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

  • @SolarGranulation
    @SolarGranulation 4 роки тому +5

    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!

  • @CrazyLulus
    @CrazyLulus 4 роки тому +6

    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)

  • @cjthibeau4843
    @cjthibeau4843 4 роки тому

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

  • @masaakunokouchi
    @masaakunokouchi 4 роки тому

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

  • @user-sm5fj6dl3n
    @user-sm5fj6dl3n 3 роки тому +8

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

  • @EkaitzIturbeltz
    @EkaitzIturbeltz 4 роки тому +8

    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 :)

  • @mintman325
    @mintman325 4 роки тому

    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.

  • @chaichapstick
    @chaichapstick 4 роки тому

    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.

  • @justagerman140
    @justagerman140 4 роки тому +37

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

    • @colorado13
      @colorado13 4 роки тому +17

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

    • @andydyer6591
      @andydyer6591 3 роки тому +14

      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
      @no_george 11 місяців тому +1

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

  • @atamija
    @atamija 4 роки тому +3

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

  • @ab-th1yc
    @ab-th1yc 4 роки тому

    thanks for making this video, i was looking forward to it

  • @gyannunez
    @gyannunez 4 роки тому

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

  • @kri_sti_ne_h
    @kri_sti_ne_h 4 роки тому +4

    Could you do a video on Sámi languages?

  • @fueyo2229
    @fueyo2229 Рік тому +4

    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
      @oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072 8 місяців тому

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

  • @Polyglotjem
    @Polyglotjem 4 роки тому

    I never want your videos to end ♡

  • @j.i.kuwajima3444
    @j.i.kuwajima3444 4 роки тому

    My family comes from Hokkaido... I always heard stories about the Ainu with great fascination! Great job!

  • @caseygreyson4178
    @caseygreyson4178 4 роки тому +12

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

    • @SuviTuuliAllan
      @SuviTuuliAllan 4 роки тому

      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
      @caseygreyson4178 4 роки тому +16

      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
      @wewladstbh 4 роки тому

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

    • @gotioify
      @gotioify 4 роки тому +3

      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
      @SuviTuuliAllan 4 роки тому

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

  • @AvrahamYairStern
    @AvrahamYairStern 4 роки тому +3

    Do more videos on Nahuatl please!

  • @jaycorwin1625
    @jaycorwin1625 4 роки тому

    Thank you. I love your videos.

  • @guillaumedep1
    @guillaumedep1 2 роки тому

    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.

  • @cometmoon4485
    @cometmoon4485 4 роки тому +3

    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!

  • @alex_gaimar
    @alex_gaimar 4 роки тому +9

    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
      @oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072 6 місяців тому

      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

  • @Ricca_Day
    @Ricca_Day 4 роки тому

    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 🤗!💛

  • @user-iq9pe4ls2j
    @user-iq9pe4ls2j 4 роки тому

    v happy that you’re making more videos on northeast asia! :D

  • @Neberheim
    @Neberheim 4 роки тому +7

    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!

  • @rjfaber1991
    @rjfaber1991 4 роки тому +12

    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
      @frenchbreadstupidity7054 4 роки тому +1

      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
      @rjfaber1991 4 роки тому

      @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.

  • @robertschlesinger1342
    @robertschlesinger1342 3 роки тому +1

    Very interesting and worthwhile video.

  • @user-yr1gm8to3r
    @user-yr1gm8to3r 4 роки тому

    I have waited so much for this...

  • @dreamland7078
    @dreamland7078 3 роки тому +3

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

  • @TheMacedonianBackBreaker
    @TheMacedonianBackBreaker 2 роки тому +4

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

  • @jasonrowe344
    @jasonrowe344 4 роки тому

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

  • @Rhiwwers
    @Rhiwwers 4 роки тому

    Thank you for this incredibly informative video! I am currently interested in Khanty (another Siberian, but Uralic, minority language) and study it from an old manual I own. I have also found a lot of very important literature on their history, that really sets the situation in perspective, so I’m also happy that you included the Ainu history here.

  • @shashwatsinha2704
    @shashwatsinha2704 4 роки тому +4

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

    • @victorfergn
      @victorfergn 4 роки тому

      Isn't the word samurai related to that?

    • @Uyarasuk
      @Uyarasuk 4 роки тому +2

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

    • @yayoikisaragi7968
      @yayoikisaragi7968 4 роки тому

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

    • @victorfergn
      @victorfergn 4 роки тому

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

  • @NetherTaker
    @NetherTaker 3 роки тому +3

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

  • @kobalos73
    @kobalos73 4 роки тому

    What a great channel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! 😁😁

  • @alexanderadamas
    @alexanderadamas 4 роки тому +1

    Loved the video as always, would've loved maybe a short reflection on some of the characteristics of the language (with examples) like in the old times :)

  • @colinjones5379
    @colinjones5379 4 роки тому +18

    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
      @Sovairu 4 роки тому +15

      It was most definitely coincidental.

    • @dwhansen28
      @dwhansen28 4 роки тому +5

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

  • @blaircolquhoun7780
    @blaircolquhoun7780 2 роки тому +3

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

    • @yuminsama1301
      @yuminsama1301 Рік тому

      basically, all indigenous languages have few native speakers

  • @hankwilliams150
    @hankwilliams150 3 роки тому

    Thanks for giving me a little bit more information on a subject I already know little about!

  • @kimberlygaray7860
    @kimberlygaray7860 Рік тому

    Great thank you for doing a video on the ainu language

  • @fyviane
    @fyviane 4 роки тому +4

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

  • @Hannah_Em
    @Hannah_Em 4 роки тому +9

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

  • @justbovel
    @justbovel 4 роки тому

    Oh, I didn't really know I wanted to learn more about Ainu, but I do. Please do some more in depth videos about their tongue!

  • @michaireneuszjakubowski5289
    @michaireneuszjakubowski5289 4 роки тому

    I'd LOVE if you did a video on Wymysorys, now that I've spotted it on your list. Truly a remarkable case!

  • @JanPospisilArt
    @JanPospisilArt 4 роки тому +3

    Ey o, for more on the origins of the Ainu, watch Trey the Explainer's video!

  • @silence6605
    @silence6605 4 роки тому +35

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

    • @koffron9696
      @koffron9696 4 роки тому +1

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

    • @silence6605
      @silence6605 4 роки тому +1

      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
      @rzeka 4 роки тому +18

      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
      @koffron9696 4 роки тому +1

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

    • @benni_thien
      @benni_thien 4 роки тому +3

      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?

  • @EC-rd9ys
    @EC-rd9ys 4 роки тому +1

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

  • @RabbitDamnIt
    @RabbitDamnIt 4 роки тому

    As always, a good video ! Thanks !