Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
Date (from‐to) : 1990 -1992
Author : ASAKURA Toshimitsu, OTAINA Galina A., RAMSEY Robert, REFSING Kirsten, DE GRAAF Tjeerd, AUSTERLITZ Robert, SATO Tomomi, INOUE Koichi, NAKAGAWA Hiroshi, IKEGAMI Jiro, MURASAKI kyoko
Most of the people the Sakhalin Ainu. Uilta and Nivkh ethnic monority groups which had been thriving in Sakhalin until the Second World War pulled out after the war and relocated to Hokkaido, but now such native speakers of these languages are fading away. But at the same time, we heard that in Sakhalin in Russia there are still some examples of these ethic minorities. The objective of this project has been to organise a Japanese research team including some of the very small number of linguists the world who specialize in languages and, in concert with Russian researchers, to visit some of the native speakers of the Ainu, uilta and Nivkh language in order to collect audio materials of these three language and to calrify their respective liguistic situations.
In the summer of the first year, 1990, the linguistic situation of the ethnic minorities in question, namely the Ainu, Nivkh and Uilta language was clarified by means of field surveys carried out in Sakhalin. Namely that there are no longer any existing of Ainu, but that there are approximately 2,000 speakers of the Nivkh language, albeit that there are less than ten living exponents of their oral tradition, and also that there are about 200 speakers of the Uilta language. We thereby ascertained there is sufficient scope for linguistic surveys.
In 1992 the following research activities were carried out : August 14 to September 7, 1991. Mr. Austerlitz came to Japan from New York to carry out research on the Nivkh language. After collating and analyzing the material scollected during the previous year he checked a Nivkh textbook together with Ms. Otaina. September 1 to September 17, 1991. Ms. Otaina came to Japan from Vladivostok to carry out research on the Nivkh language. She checked a Nivkh textbook together with Mr. Austerlitz and also collated and analyzed materials. August 10 to September 15, 1991. Researchers Ikegami, Inoue, Nakagawa and Sato carried linguistic survey on the monority groups in Sakhalin such as the languages of the Uilta and Nivkh peoples. October 28 to November 9, 1991. Researchers Murasaki, Asakura and Inoue went to Yujino Sakhalinsk to attend and give presentations at the symposium commemorating the birth of Pilsudski and also to carry out surveys of the remains of Ainu kotan (villages.) October 13 to November 13, 1991. Mr. de Graaf from Groningen in Holland visited Leningrad and Novosibirsk to carry out surveys on audio materials of ethnic minorities. After that he traveled to Sakhalin and gave a presentation at the symposium. As a result, "Sakhalin and B. Pilsudski, " (March 1992 by the Organizing Committee for Pilsudski related Travel in the Northern Regions) edited by Kyoko Murasaki was published.
In the final year, 1992, the following surveys and research were carried out : July to August, 1992. A two person group led by Ikegami and Inoue carried out specific surveys on the Uilta language in Sakhalin. From September 1992 to March 1993 the materials collected were collated, analyzed and preparation was done for publication as a final research report entitled "Ethnic Minorities in Sakhalin" (284 pg.) will be published. Most of the papers included in this final research report are original works written by the researchers involved in this project and there is no doubt that these papers represent extremely valuable research achievements in this previously virtually untouched area of "linguistic research of Sakhalin. "