Topics Online text of Ainu collected by Suzuko Tamura

This project digitalizes audio materials and transcription text collected by Suzuko Tamura, a leading authority on Ainu language (Professor Emeritus of Waseda University and ILCAA Research Fellow) in order to publish them in series. On the website, you can listen to sound of each part of talking separated by pauses with text of Ainu language (writing style: Katakana and Roman script) and Japanese translation. You are able to execute a full-text search for the texts published on and later 2017 FY.

Now, it is very difficult to newly collect voice data from speakers of Ainu language. Therefore, various institutions started to sort and publish the existing primary sources. Audio materials of Ainu language published by this project are one of these archives. They are largely different from others in some points: our search function is reinforced to enable detailed search, we made as many detailed annotations related to voice records such as Tamura’s articles and description in her research books as possible, we make an important suggestion for looking at units of discourse by establishing a method of indicate “chasms made by pause” as a kind of delimiter, etc.

(Author: Yasuhiro YAMAKOSHI)

Reference:

ILCAA Ainu Language Resource