open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/112975

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/94619

Challenges of Dialect Classification in Extracting Maximum Information from the Basic Vocabulary of Ainu in Asai (1974)

日本語

基礎語彙統計学再考

2025-03-20

日本北方言語学会

Northern Language Studies

15

141-163

This study attempts to establish a foundation for dialectal classification that does not depend on “basic vocabulary” and Swadesh’s lists. Dialectal information from the basic Ainu vocabulary of Hattori and Chiri (1960) encompasses not only “lexical forms,” but also phonological, morphological, and syntactic “regularities.” We extracted and quantified both sets of information, using the data of Ainu dialects in Asai (1974). In the context of dialect and historical research of Ainu, the data from Hattori and Chiri (1960), including 19 dialects and 200 items of basic vocabulary, occupy a pivotal position in both the present and the past. The data of Asai (1974) used in this paper are also based on those of Hattori and Chiri (1960). However, it should be noted that both Hattori and Chiri’s (1960) and Asai’s (1974) studies utilized only a portion of the 200 (or Asai’s 202) basic vocabulary items in their analyses. While Asai (1974) did not specify which 110 items out of the 202 he applied for his analysis, Ono and Fukazawa (2023) identified them. Consequently, this study concentrated on the 92 items not applied in the analysis and attempted to quantify the data. The extraction of regularities may suggest the feasibility of obtaining dialect information from independent sources of the basic vocabulary. Specifically, this approach may facilitate the creation of data on grammatical features beyond the phonological and lexical levels, extending to the morphological and syntactic levels. This study focuses on and delineates the methodology of data preparation, including the 92 items excluded from the basic vocabulary data in Asai’s (1974) analysis. The statistical results of this study, which demonstrated that the dialectal classification of Ainu was more strongly elicited, are detailed in Ono and Fukazawa (2025).

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968