Refsing, Kirsten (1986). The Ainu language: the morphology and
syntax of the Shizunai dialect. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press,
301 pp.
The Ainu Language is organized into two major sections. Part I, "Introduction", is an excellent overview and summary of the previous work on the Ainu language, from the earliest seventeenth-centuryr eferences, to the pioneering works of Kindaichi and Chiri, and to the mode, postwar research by Japanese linguists. Included in Part I are separate sections on the history and demographics of the Ainu people, dialects, and genetic relationship. An issue that emerges as a sub-theme of this text, language death, is also identified in this section. Part II, the bulk of the textbook, is devoted to an analysis of the Shizunai dialect of Ainu ("on the borderline between the dialects of central/south Hokkaido and east Hokkaido". It is a complete analysis of the morphology and syntax of the Shizunai dialect.
The Ainu Language is organized into two major sections. Part I, "Introduction", is an excellent overview and summary of the previous work on the Ainu language, from the earliest seventeenth-centuryr eferences, to the pioneering works of Kindaichi and Chiri, and to the mode, postwar research by Japanese linguists. Included in Part I are separate sections on the history and demographics of the Ainu people, dialects, and genetic relationship. An issue that emerges as a sub-theme of this text, language death, is also identified in this section. Part II, the bulk of the textbook, is devoted to an analysis of the Shizunai dialect of Ainu ("on the borderline between the dialects of central/south Hokkaido and east Hokkaido". It is a complete analysis of the morphology and syntax of the Shizunai dialect.