ex_heracles30: (Default)
『 ᴷᴱᴱᴺEYED 』 ᶜᵒˡᵈ & fаir ([personal profile] ex_heracles30) wrote in [community profile] linguaphiles2009-06-09 06:38 pm

relatives of the ainu language?

This is homework help in a sense, but I'm not asking for anyone to answer questions or do my work for me; I just need a few pointers in terms of where to start looking for sources. If this isn't allowed, let me know and I'll take it down.

I'm doing a research paper for my biological anthropology class on the origins of the Ainu people. Normally these are supposed to be group projects but because the idea had no other takers, I went ahead and got permission to do this project on my own. Unfortunately, that means my paper has to be twice as long. So in addition to researching their possible ancestors, I've been thinking of researching the language itself.

I don't know anything about the Ainu language besides the fact that there are only 15 'fluent speakers' left in the world, and that it is considered a language isolate. I probably won't find a language that's related to Ainu, but I can try. Failing that I can just talk about why the language is different from other languages. The trouble is I know next to nothing about linguistics and don't know where I'd start in talking about this language.

Basically, I'm looking for some good sources that discuss the Ainu language itself. My campus library has been surprisingly unhelpful; I've already found some good books and articles with regards to the biological aspect of my paper that I have to request from other campus libraries. I'm not asking for people to help do the research, I'm just hoping someone will know where I can get started doing it myself. Any books, articles, etc. would be extremely helpful.

Again, if this isn't allowed, let me know. Thanks in advance.

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