アイヌ語
Ainu
Language isolate
Ainu (アイヌ・イタㇰ Aynu itak) is the indigenous language of the Ainu people of Hokkaido, formerly also of southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. A language isolate with no proven genetic relationship to any other language, Ainu is critically endangered with perhaps fewer than 10 fluent native speakers. It is polysynthetic with extensive noun incorporation, has an oral epic tradition (yukar) recited at length from memory, and has a 5-vowel system (i e a o u). The 2008 Diet recognition of the Ainu as an indigenous people boosted revitalization efforts.
Where it is spoken
20 core words in Ainu
Water
ワッカ
/wakka/
Fire
アペ
/ape/
Sun
チュプ
/tɕup/
Moon
クンネチュプ
/kunnetɕup/
Mother
ハポ
/hapo/
Father
アチャ
/atɕa/
Eat
イペ
/ipe/
Drink
ク
/ku/
Love
オマプ
/omap/
Heart
サンペ
/sampe/
Tree
ニ
/ni/
House
チセ
/tɕise/
Dog
セタ
/seta/
Cat
チャペ
/tɕape/
Hand
テク
/tek/
Eye
シク
/ɕik/
Hello
イランカラプテ
/iɾankaɾapte/
Thank you
イヤイライケレ
/ijairaikeɾe/
One
シネプ
/ɕinep/
Good
ピリカ
/piɾika/
Sources
Words compared
Compared with related Language isolate languages
| Meaning | Ainu | Dzongkha | Sikkimese | Nyaturu | Middle Japanese | Kikongo | Santali |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | ワッカ /wakka/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ | maazi /maːzi/ | 水 /midu/ | maza /maza/ | ᱫᱟᱜ /daːk/ |
| Fire | アペ /ape/ | མེ /me/ | མེ /me/ | moto /moto/ | 火 /ɸi/ | tiya /tija/ | ᱥᱮᱝᱜᱮᱞ /seŋɡel/ |
| Sun | チュプ /tɕup/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ | nzua /nzua/ | 日 /ɸi/ | ntangu /ntaŋɡu/ | ᱥᱤᱸᱜᱤ /siŋɡi/ |
| Moon | クンネチュプ /kunnetɕup/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ | umweri /umweɾi/ | 月 /tuki/ | ngonda /ŋɡonda/ | ᱪᱟᱸᱫᱳ /tʃãndo/ |
| Mother | ハポ /hapo/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ | mama /mama/ | 母 /ɸaɸa/ | mama /mama/ | ᱟᱭᱳ /ajo/ |
| Father | アチャ /atɕa/ | ཨ་པ /apa/ | ཨ་པ /apa/ | tata /tata/ | 父 /titi/ | tata /tata/ | ᱟᱯᱟᱹ /apə/ |
| Eat | イペ /ipe/ | བཟའ /za/ | ཟ /za/ | kuria /kuɾia/ | 食ふ /kuɸu/ | ku dia /ku dja/ | ᱡᱳᱢ /d͡ʒom/ |
| Drink | ク /ku/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ | kunywa /kuɲwa/ | 飲む /nomu/ | ku nua /ku nua/ | ᱧᱩ /ɲu/ |
| Love | オマプ /omap/ | དགའ་བ /ɡawa/ | དགའ /ɡa/ | butogwa /butoɡwa/ | 愛 /ai/ | zola /zola/ | ᱫᱩᱞᱟᱲᱤ /dulaɽi/ |
| Heart | サンペ /sampe/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ | umutima /umutima/ | 心 /kokoɾo/ | ntima /ntima/ | ᱢᱳᱱ /mon/ |
| Tree | ニ /ni/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ | umuti /umuti/ | 木 /ki/ | nti /nti/ | ᱫᱟᱨᱮ /dare/ |
| House | チセ /tɕise/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕim/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕim/ | nyumba /ɲumba/ | 家 /iɸe/ | nzo /nzo/ | ᱳᱲᱟᱜ /oɽaːk/ |
| Dog | セタ /seta/ | ཁྱི /tɕi/ | ཁྱི /tɕʰi/ | imbwa /imbwa/ | 犬 /inu/ | mbwa /mbwa/ | ᱥᱮᱛᱟ /seta/ |
| Cat | チャペ /tɕape/ | བྱི་ལ /bila/ | ཞི་མི /ʑimi/ | paka /paka/ | 猫 /neko/ | nyau /ɲau/ | ᱯᱩᱥᱤ /pusi/ |
| Hand | テク /tek/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ | ལག /lak/ | ukuboko /ukuboko/ | 手 /te/ | koko /koko/ | ᱛᱤ /tiː/ |
| Eye | シク /ɕik/ | མིག /mik/ | མིག /mik/ | iriiso /iɾiːso/ | 目 /me/ | disu /disu/ | ᱢᱮᱫ /met/ |
| Hello | イランカラプテ /iɾankaɾapte/ | སྐུ་གཟུགས་བཟང་པོ་ལ /kuzu zaŋpo la/ | ཁམས་བཟང /kʰamsaŋ/ | mbukire /mbukiɾe/ | 御機嫌よろしう /ɡokiɡen joroɕiu/ | mboté /mbote/ | ᱡᱳᱦᱟᱨ /d͡ʒohar/ |
| Thank you | イヤイライケレ /ijairaikeɾe/ | བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ /kadrintɕe/ | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ /tʰuktɕetɕe/ | ahsante /ahsante/ | 忝し /katadʑikenaɕi/ | matondo /matondo/ | ᱫᱷᱚᱱᱭᱚᱵᱟᱫ /dʱonjobad/ |
| One | シネプ /ɕinep/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ | umwe /umwe/ | 一つ /ɸitotu/ | mosi /mosi/ | ᱢᱤᱫ /mit/ |
| Good | ピリカ /piɾika/ | ལེགས་ཤོམ /lekɕom/ | ལེགས་པོ /lekpo/ | kihi /kihi/ | 良し /joɕi/ | mbote /mbote/ | ᱵᱮᱥ /bes/ |
Word order compared
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