Lesson 4: Direct objects

Lesson 4 original page (April 23, 2006) (my comments are in blue)

Title How to say "subject ~ verb ~ object" As will become clear in .3 seconds, Ainu uses "subject object verb" word order, as does Japanese. That is, the sentence "the cat ate the ham" would be "the cat the ham ate". Model sentences: 1. Hekaci itanki eyapkir. The boy throws [threw] away his bowl. 2. Unarpe suma oterke. Auntie steps [stepped] on a stone. Vocabulary cep: fish cikap: bird cikir: leg/foot ermun: mouse, rat etor: snot, nasal mucus eyapkir: to throw/cast away hekaci: boy itanki: wooden bowl kar: to make ker: shoes kikir: insect korkoni: clumsiness oterke: to step on pirka: good, fine [in the radio broadcasts, the instructor says "pirka pirka" when the learner says something correctly.] sinep: one (the number) suma: stone terke: to jump unarpe: auntie [The Japanese word here is "obasan," which can mean one's aunt, or generally refer to a middle-aged-to-elderly woman. Whether the Ainu word has both of these meanings or only one, I cannot tell you. See also "acapo."] About The Words We have already learned that Ainu has no subject-marking particle. In this lesson, we see that Ainu does not use a particle to mark the direct object, either.

In Ainu, often a sentence will just be the subject - object - verb words lined up in order. This makes construction of basic sentences fairly simple. We learned in Lesson 3 that there is no real difference between sentences constructed in present and past tense. Thus, in the examples for this lesson, both possible translations are given. Caution re. Pronunciation [How to pronounce a "pk" and a final "p", an "rp" and a final "r". I reccomend repeating "trapcat slap a larp star" to yourself.] With the exception of n, Japanese consonants are always followed by a vowel, so in katakana, Ainu words like "oterke" or "unarpe" are written "o-te-ru-ke" or "u-na-ru-pe." While the first pronunciation section schools us on how to not pronounce these vowels, the second suggests that sometimes they are pronounced in Ainu: Depending on the region and the individual, these may be pronounced [and katakana-ized] in various ways, such as "unarape" and "oterape." (The roman spellings do not change.) e.g.: ermun could be erumun or eremun korkoni could be korukoni or korokoni

Exercises Use the vocabulary provided to translate these sentences into Ainu. 1. Uncle buys sak. ( ______ ) ( ______ ) ( ______ ). tonopo: alcohol, sak hok: to buy acapo: uncle [The Japanese word here is "ojisan," which can mean one's uncle, or generally refer to a middle-aged-to-elderly man. See "unarpe."] 2. The dog ate [eats] a bone. ( ______ ) ( ______ ) ( ______ ). pone: bone sita: dog e: to eat Samani and the Ainu People ~ Parents-and-Child Rocks There are several interestingly-shaped crags in the ocean around Samani, and several interesting legends attached to them. The rocks on the cover of the Ainu Language Radio textbook are called the "Parents-and-Child Rocks" because they are three rocks of different sizes standing in a line in the ocean. Long ago, goes the legend, there was a war in the east, and the losing village chief fled here with his family. When the chief ran into the sea he turned into a stone, but the arrows of his pursuers struck and split him into three pieces. (as told by Mr/s. Kirita Suma in The History of Samani).

Furthermore, the name the Ainu gave these rocks is recorded on Edo-period maps as "Honrefushihe", which is thought to have been pronounced "Ponrehusipe" (pon = small, rehusipe = rock in the sea). On the other hand, in The History of Samani there are other rocks labelled "Unperepunke" (unpe means a river near the sea, and repunke was perhaps originally "repunike" which means a rock in the sea), so this may be another name for them.

Lesson 3 Practice Exercise Answers 1. Niman rera ruy 2. Hoskanuman upas as