A Kuril Ainu Glossary by Captain V. M. Golovnin (1811)

Anna Bugaeva,Tomomi Satō

doi:10.1163/25898833-00320002

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a newly discovered glossary (230 items) of Northern and Southern Kuril Ainu recorded by the captain Vasily Mikhaylovich Golovnin in 1811 and stored at the Russian National Archive of the Navy in St. Petersburg. Based on this new document we argue that Southern Kuril has a much closer lexical resemblance to Northeastern Hokkaido Ainu than Northern Kuril. On the other hand, we reaffirm that both Southern and Northern Kuril Ainu constitute a really separate Kuril group because they show a number of lexical, phonological and grammatical features, which are different from Hokkaido Ainu.

Highlights

Ainu is a nearly extinct Northeast Asian isolate formerly spoken in Hokkaido,1 Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands
Many interpretations require an explanation, which is consistently provided in footnotes. It is not indicated whether the forms in the narrative are from Northern or Southern Kuril Ainu but we suggest that they are from Northern (Rasshua) Ainu, which is the native dialect of the speaker Alexey
We have clearly shown that Southern Kuril has a much closer lexical resemblance to Northeastern Hokkaido Ainu than Northern Kuril, see Table (3)

Summary

Introduction

Ainu is a nearly extinct Northeast Asian isolate formerly spoken in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The glossary contains 201 Russian glosses including those for which there are no Kuril Ainu words, see Table 1 below. We have added to the glossary three extra columns, i.e. column 2 with an English translation of the Russian gloss and columns 4 and 6 for our interpretation of Northern and Southern Kuril Ainu forms respectively. Both interpretation columns, they are in italics, contain the morphemic divisions of words and morphemic glossing in {}. APPL-net-take.SG star}b b вечерняя звѣзда – скояучекета [skojautʃeketa]: In a Japanese-Ainu dictionary compiled in 1848 in Otaru (Hokkaido), there is a form chikoyaukinochiu (Satō 1995: 92). Алексей и жители островов Итуруп и Кунасири совершенно разумели друг друга, но с мацмайскими курильцами он объяснялся с большим трудом, а иногда и понимать их не мог; но в том, что все они некогда составляли один и тот же народ, нет ни малейшего сомнения: наружный вид, обычаи и множество сходных слов в их языках слишком достаточно о том свидетельствуют.” (Golovnin 1816: 258)

Lexical Features

Concluding Remarks