Ainu language

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ainu-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the endangerment status (2008)?Critically endangered, with only two reported first-language speakers
2. What is the current status (2021)?No individuals in Japan reported to have Ainu as their first language
3. Why is the Ainu language considered endangered?The Ainu language is endangered because very few people still speak it. In 2008 only two older people spoke it as their first language, and by 2021 no one in Japan spoke it as a native tongue.
4. How did the Ainu people lose their language?The Ainu people lost their language because Japanese and Russian governments tried to make them speak only Japanese. Schools and families stopped using Ainu, so younger people stopped learning it.

Language Isolate: A natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with any other language.
Cultural Genocide: Actions intended to destroy the cultural identity of a group, often through suppression of language and traditions.
Language Revitalization: The effort to increase the number of speakers of a threatened or endangered language.
Linguistic Diversity: The variety of languages spoken in the world or in a particular region.