Expressing the roles of a nouns in sentences with cases

In this lesson you will learn how to say in Ainu that something happens in a place, that something was done with/using something, or to express where people are coming from and where they are going to, among other things. We will need to learn case particles and some postpositional adverbs to express these things.

Before we start to learn more about these particles and adverbs and look at our example sentences, we need to know one thing: Ainu makes a difference between common nouns that express "things" and locative nouns that express location, that is, relational nouns and "place" nouns. The tricky part is that words that might seem like locations—such as house, mountain, ocean, box or floor—are mostly common nouns in Ainu. If you want to use any of these case particles or postpositional adverbs introduced here that have something to do with location or movement with a common noun, you have to add one of the relational nouns between the common noun and the particle/adverb; those particles and adverbs can only attach to a locative noun.

The problem is that we haven't learnt about the relational nouns yet (spoiler: it will happen in the next lesson). So for now, it's enough to know that, for this reason, we only use (famous) place names and the "place" nouns (a small group of nouns that are not considered as just things but inherently as locations but are not relational nouns either) in this lesson together with the particles. Some of the example sentences are quite awkward because of this. We will learn more about how to express place and location in the lesson 7.

What are case particles and postpositional adverbs?

We have been giving a lot attention this far to the core arguments the verbs govern—subject, indirect object, and direct object—which are necessary to complete the meaning of the verb (predicate) and are not marked in anyway in the sentence in Ainu. Remember, for example, our example sentence from the lesson 3, menoko (the woman) hekaci (to the boy) icen (money) kore (gave), in which the arguments are just stacked one after another (just like in English). However, we haven't yet learned anything about how to express for example location of the action or the means used to perform the action. In Ainu, these are expressed with adjuncts that are optional to complete the meaning of the verb (predicate) and need to be marked with case particles or postpositional adverbs to show what's their role in the sentence. The core arguments (subject, indirect object, and direct object) match with so-called grammatical cases—nominative, dative, and accusative—and the adjuncts express oblique cases. These are typically places, either where the action is happening or where the action is directed to or from.

Case particles are used to mark basic syntactic function of the nouns. To put it very simply, Ainu case particles are small words that are attached to a noun to express the role and function of the noun (other than core argument) and they answer such questions as where at, starting from which place, and going until which place. Case particles are dependent—they can't be used alone as independent words—and the majority of them always follow a place noun.

Postpositional adverbs have a similar role and function to that of case particles, but the way they can be used is not as restricted as the case particles: While most of the case particles must always follow a place noun, most of the postpositional adverbs can follow other common nouns, too, and they can be in some cases be used without any noun at all before them. Some of the postpositional adverbs can also take the object person markers. I will only introduce four postpositional adverbs in this lesson, because the others don't express cases but have various other functions. We will learn the rest of the postpositional adverbs in a later lesson.

Let's then start to learn about these particles and adverbs more concretely through our example sentences.

The locative particle ta 'in; at; to'

The locative particle has two functions: it can express that something happens in some fixed and specific place or time (example sentences 1, 2 & 3 below) or with verbs describing movement, it can express the specific target destination of the movement (example sentences 4 & 5 below).

Examples 1

1. Pirautur ta k-an.

   • I live in Biratori.

2. yuk kim ta an.

   • The deer is in the mountains.

3. okkayo soy ta a.

   • The man sits outside.

4. tanto put ta cep ku-koyki.

   • Today I caught fish at the mouth of the river.

5. nisatta Satporopet ta e-sinewe.

   • Tomorrow you'll go and visit your friend in Sapporo.

6. Namwakkanay ta k-arpa.

   • I go to Wakkanai.

Vocabulary 1

• Pirautur (PN) — Biratori
• ta (CASEPRT) — (1) at; in; (2) (with verbs of movement) to
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my
• an (VI) — (1) to exist; to be (somewhere) (2) to live (somewhere)
• yuk (N) — deer
• kim (N-PLACE) — the mountain(s)
• okkayo (N) — man
• soy (N-PLACE) — outside; outdoors
• a (VI) — to sit
• tanto (N/ADV) — today
• put (N-PLACE) — mouth of the river
• cep (N) — fish
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my
• koyki (VT) — (1) to tease something/someone (2) to catch something
• nisatta (N/ADV) — tomorrow
• Satporopet (PN) — Sapporo
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• sinewe (VI) — to go and visit a friend
• Namwakkanay (PN) — Wakkanay
• arpa (VI) — to go

If I remember correctly, it was Shigeru Kayano (an Ainu man who was an Ainu rights activist, politician, scholar and Ainu language teacher) who has noted that about 80% of the place names (topynyms) of Hokkaido originate in the Ainu language. However, the syllable structure of Ainu and Japanese are different, so the Japanese settlers had problems pronouncing the original Ainu names. That's why they adopted the pronunciation to that of Japanese and as a result, many of the names have become unrecognizable. For example, the town that is today known as Biratori (JPN: 平取・びらとり) is called Pirautur in Ainu and means 'between the cliffs'. The Japanese name is written with kanji characters 平 'flat' and 取 'take' that have nothing to do with the original meaning of the name but they are just applied for their phonetic values/readings (Kanji characters have each (sometimes several) meaning(s) coupled with (sometimes several) reading(s). This kind of use of kanji characters by just their reading and ignoring the meaning is called ateji/当て字 in Japanese). You can read here more about Ainu place names in Hokkaido. By the way, I write the place names exceptionally with capital initials to make it easier to understand that the word refers to a place name and it's not just a common noun.

The allative particle un 'to (a place)'

Also the allative particle expresses target of the movement. If the location particle ta expresses a specific target, un is more like 'toward(s); somewhere around', so it's often more ambiguous. So, ta puts emphasis on the fact that the movement happens/has happened and the person/thing that moved is in the location ta marks. Un in turn emphasizes that someone/something moves/moved towards the place un marks.

Un can also mean 'X from (around) Y; X of <ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ>', when used between nouns. Literally, the meaning is '<ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴ> to <ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ>', which might seem strange, but this is just how languages work; they don't match one-on-one in means of expressions. In English, you say 'from' or 'of' in these kinds of expressions and in Ainu, you say un 'to'.

Notice that un can't be used when something is directed to a person, because a person is not a place. You can use the post positional adverb eun for that purpose.

Examples 2

7. numan Kusur un k-arpa. nisatta Sirawoi un ku-hosipi.

   • I went to Kushiro yesterday. Tomorrow I'll return to Shiraoi.

8. cikap rep un tunasno hopuni.

   • The bird flies fast towards the open sea.

9. amuspe pis un cikoykip ne.

   • Crab is an animal of the beach. (an animal living/that can be found on the beach)

10. toankur Sar un kur ka somo ne. Operperkep un kur ne.

    • That person is not from Saru. He from Obihiro.

11. toan Amerika un kur rehe John Smith ne.

    • The name of that American (person) is John Smith.

Vocabulary 2

• numan (N/ADV) — yesterday
• Kusur (PN) — Kushiro
• un (CASEPRT) — to (a place); towards (a place)
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• arpa (VI) — to go
• nisatta (N/ADV) — tomorrow
• Sirawoi (PN) — Shiraoi
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my
• hosipi (VI) — to return
• cikap (N) — bird
• rep (N-PLACE) — (towards) the open sea
• tunasno (ADV) — (1) fast (2) early
• hopuni (VI) — (1) to get up; to rise (2) to fly 
• amuspe (N) — crab
• pis (N-PLACE) — (towards) the beach
• cikoykip (N) — animal
• ne (COP) — to be
• toankur (N) — that person
• Sar (PN) — Saru (region around the Saru river valley)
• kur (N-BOUND) — (1) person (2) (a person from a certain place) -an; -iote; -er
• ka (PRT) — also; even; at all
• somo (ADV) — not
• Operperkep (PN) — Obihiro
• toan (DET) — that
• Amerika (PN) — America
• rehe (N-AFF) — (someone's) name

The word kur 'person' is one of the few words that has a plural form. The plural of kur is utar 'people'. Kur is also a so-called bound noun, which means it can't be used alone without a determiner (for example, toankur 'that person', Sar un kur 'a person from Saru; Saruan', etc.)

The ablative particle wa(no) 'from'

The ablative particle expresses the starting point, either spatial or time. There are two forms for this particle: wa and wano 'from; starting from on', which can be used interchangeably. The no attached to the longer form is the same no we used earlier to make adverbs out of verbs in lesson 3. As a note, I have a tendency to use the longer form of this particle to avoid confusion with other wa's (we will learn about these words later).

Examples 3

12. cupka wa kamuy ran.

    • The kamuy comes down from east.

13. Sumunkot wano k-ek. Sumunkot un kur ku-ne.

    • I come from Shiunkotsu. I'm a Shiunkotsuan (person originated in Shiunkotsu).

14. onuman wano e-mokor.

    • You'll sleep starting from on the evening.

15. te wano arikikino ku-nepki.

    • I'll start working doing my best from now on.

Vocabulary 3

• cupka (N-PLACE) — east
• wa (CASEPRT) — from
• kamuy (N) — spiritual being; deity
• ran (VI) — to descend; to come down; to go down
• Sumunkot (PN) — Shiunkotsu
• wano (CASEPRT) — from
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• ek (VI) — to come
• un (CASEPRT) — to (a place); towards (a place) 
• kur (N-BOUND) — (1) person (2) (a person from a certain place) -an; -iote; -er
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• ne (COP) — to be 
• onuman (N/ADV) — evening
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• mokor (VI) — to sleep
• te wano (ADV) — from this on; from now on; after this
• arikikino (ADV) — doing one's best; dilligently; working hard
• nepki (VI) — to work

The example sentence 12 is the first verse of a famous upopo 'circular canon' (a type of song). The kamuy or the spiritual being or deity in questions is an owl (maybe Blakiston's fish owl) that comes flying down from east. The owl deity is also called kamuycikap (literally 'kamuy bird'). When referring to the Blakiston's fish owl specifically, Ainu call it often kotan kor kamuy, 'the kamuy that governs the village', because the owl watches over the village during the night when people are sleeping.

Actually, the example sentence 13 might be a bit questionable. In the beginning of this lesson, I wrote that we'll be using famous place names, because they are counted as "places" in Ainu. The ones we have been using this far—Satporopet 'Sapporo,' Kusur 'Kushiro,' Operperkep 'Obihiro,' and so on—are quite famous, large cities, at least they are known here in Hokkaido. Sumunkot 'Shiunkotsu,' on the other hand, is not known or famous at all; it's just a small village in Biratori town. I just wanted to use this place name because I happen to live in Shiunkotsu. :) So, let's take this example sentence as a part of dialogue between people who live in Biratori town, so everyone involved in the conversation knows Shiunkotsu.

Notice that the word kunneywa or kunneywano 'morning' already includes the particle wa(no). The literal meaning of kunneywa(no) is kunne hi wa(no) 'from on the time it is dark/night.' This means that in this variety of Ainu you can't say kunneywa(no) wa(no)* when you want to say '(starting) from morning.' You can say just say kunneywano to express that the starting point is the morning. It's a bit ambiguous expression, but sometimes languages just are like that. But, for example, in Chitose Ainu this seems to be a possible expression, cf. Sato (2008: 37): kuneywa wano tonoski pak nepki-an 'We worked from morning until noon' (kuneywa is not a spelling mistake, there is a difference in pronunciation and thus also in spelling of this word in the Saru variety and Chitose variety).

The traversal particle peka(no) 'here and there in; all around'

The traversal particle expresses the range/sphere of the movement or the area, on which something is spread our or extended. So, unlike ta, there is no one specific spot but a wider area where the action is happening. Again, there are two forms, peka and pekano 'here and there in; all around; extending to the area of', that can be used interchangeably.

Examples 4

16. okkayo kim peka omanan.

    • The man walks all over in the mountains.

17. numan soy pekano ku-nepki. tane ku-kamkasi sonno hure!

    • I worked yesterday outside. Now my skin is very red!

18. hekattar kotan pekano sinot.

    • The children play in the village.

19. pis peka moyreno e-apkas.

    • You walk slowly all around the beach.

Vocabulary 4

• okkayo (N) — man
• kim (N-PLACE) — the mountain(s)
• peka (CASEPRT) — here and there in; all around; all over; extending to the area of
• omanan (VI) — to travel; to walk around; to go here and there
• numan (N/ADV) — yesterday 
• soy (N-PLACE) — outside; outdoors
• pekano (CASEPRT) — here and there in; all around; extending to the area of
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• nepki (VI) — to work
• tane (ADV) — now
• kamkasi (N-AFF) — (someone's) skin
• sonno (ADV) — really; very
• hure (VI STATT) — to be red
• hekattar (N PL) — children
• kotan (N-PLACE) — village
• sinot (VI) — to play; to have fun
• pis (N-PLACE) — (towards) the beach
• moyreno (ADV) — (1) slowly (2) late
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• apkas (VI) — to walk

The mutative particle ne 'in (the role of); as'

The mutative particle expresses that something is used as something (else) or in the role of something (else). It originally comes from the copula ne 'to be'. Ne doesn't need to be preceded by a place noun, so it might be better to categorize it as a postpositional noun instead. I've just followed here what the literature says.

Examples 5

20. tan suma kanetuci ne k-eywanke.

    • I use this stone as a hammer.

21. sinen ne k-an.

    • I'm alone. (Lit. I am as one person.)

22. e-tokuye ne toan hekaci e-kar.

    • You made that boy (as/into) your friend.

23. tan cep tup ne e-tuye.

    • You cut this fish in two.

Vocabulary 5

• tan (DET) — this
• suma (N) — stone
• kanetuci (N) — hammer
• ne (CASEPRT) — in (the role of); as
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• eywanke (VT) — to use something
• sinen (N) — one person
• sinen ne (ADV) — alone; all by oneself
• an (VI) — (1) to exist; to be (somewhere) (2) to live (somewhere)
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• tokuye (N-AFF) — (someone's) friend
• toan (DET) — that
• hekaci (N) — boy
• kar (VT) — to make something; to create something; to do something
• cep (N) — fish
• tup (N) — two pieces
• tuye (VT) — to cut something

The terminative postpositional adverb pak(no) 'until; to; up to'

The terminative postpositional adverb expresses the ending point, either spatial or time and has two forms: pak and pakno 'until; to; up to'. Pak(no) is often used in pair with wa(no) 'from (on)'. Just like with wano 'from (on)', I have a tendency to use the longer form pakno 'until; to; up to,' even though there is no fear of mixing up the shorter form pak with other words.

Examples 6

24. rik wano uni pakno menoko san.

    • The woman goes down from the high place until her home.

25. tokap noski wano numan pakno apto as.

    • It rained from noon until evening.

26. Niptay kotan pakno k-ek.

    • I went up to Nibutani village.

27. tanto te pak ku-nepki.

    • Today I finish my work here. (Lit. 'today I work up to here')

Vocabulary 6

• rik (N-PLACE) — high place
• wano (CASEPRT) — from; starting from on
• uni (N-AFF) — (someone's) home
• pakno (POSTADV) — until; to; up to
• menoko (N) — woman
• san (VI) — to go down the river; to go from the mountains to the village; go down along the river
• tokap noski (N/ADV) — noon
• numan (N/ADV) — yesterday 
• apto (N) — rain
• as (VI) — (1) to stand up; to stand still (2) (used to discribe that meteorological phenomena happen) to rain; to blow
• apto as (EXP) — it rains
• Niptay (PN) — Nibutani
• kotan (N-PLACE) — village
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• ek (VI) — to come
• tanto (N/ADV) — today
• pak (POSTADV) — until; to; up to
• te pak (ADV) — up to now; this far
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• nepki (VI) — to work

The instrumental postpositional adverb ani 'by means of; using'

The instrumental postpositional adverb ani 'by; with; by means of; using' is used when you want to say things like 'I went there by train' or 'I cut it with scissors' but also to show what caused a certain thing to happen. The origins of this adverb are in the transitive verb ani 'to carry something in one's hands/arms; to hold something', so literally when you say 'I cut it with scissors,' you are saying 'I cut it holding scissors.' 

Examples 7

28. ku-kor makiri ani tan kam ku-tuye.

    • I cut this meat with my knife.

29. e-kor kem ani e-ikarkar.

    • You embroider with your needle.

30. Morueran un ekasi cip ani arpa.

    • The old man goes to Muroran by boat.

Vocabulary 7

• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• kor (VT) — to have something; to own something; to possess something
• makiri (N) — knife
• ani (POSTADV) — by; with; by means of; using
• tan (DET) — this 
• kam (N) — meat
• tuye (VT) — to cut (once)
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• kem (N) — needle
• ikarkar (VI) — to embroider
• Morueran (PN) — Muroran
• un (CASEPRT) — to (a place); towards (a place)
• ekasi (N) — (1) grandpa; grandfather (2) old mister (a polite way to address elderly men)
• cip (N) — boat; canoe; dugout
• arpa (VI) — to go

The comitative postpositional adverb tura(no) 'together with'

The comitative postpositional adverb tells with who the action is done. The adverb comes from transitive verb tura 'go/come together with somebody; take somebody with; accompany someone'.

If you want to say 'with me' or 'with you', you need to attach the suitable person marker to the verb tura. So, 'You go together with me' or 'she/he goes together with me' becomes en-tura, 'I go together with you' becomes eci-tura, 'I go together with him/her' becomes ku-tura, and 'You go together with him/her' or 'She/he goes together with you' e-tura. So, if some of the postpositional adverbs can take person markers, how do we then know that for example en-tura is not a postpositional adverb and person marker combo? Well, we should be able to place an adverb right before a verb, but in the case of en-tura, you can't find such examples; there is a conjunction between en-tura and the verb. We'll take a deeper look into conjunctions in a later lesson.

Examples 8

31. ku-kor huci turano kotan un k-arpa.

    • I went to the village together with my grandma.

32. matkaci turano iruka e-sinot.

    • You played with the girl for a while.

33. matpoho, poho tura hapo sinotcaki.

    • Mother sings together with her daughter and son.

Vocabulary 8

• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• kor (VT) — to have something; to own something; to possess something
• huci (N) — (1) grandma; grandmother (2) old lady (a polite way to address elderly women)
• turano (POSTADV) — together with
• kotan (N-PLACE) — village
• un (CASEPRT) — to (a place); towards (a place) 
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• arpa (VI) — to go
• matkaci (N) — girl
• iruka (ADV) — for a short time; for a while
• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• sinot (VI) — to play; to have fun 
• matpoho (N-AFF) — (someone's) daughter
• poho (N-AFF) — (someone's) son
• tura (POSTADV) — together with
• hapo (N) — mom; mother
• sinotcaki (VI) — to sing

Notice in the example sentence 32 how enumerating things works in Ainu: you just stack the nouns in a row without any specific word for 'and'. There are some expressions that correspond to 'and' but well will look at them later. However, this is the most common way to say 'this and that'. I added a comma between the two things enumerated, but you might write just matpoho poho 'her daughter and son' as well.

The dative postpositional adverb eun 'to (a person)'

The dative postpositional adverb can be used together with any kind of nouns but it usually marks the recipient or animated goal of an action. So, unlike un 'to (a place)', it is mostly used with people and other animated things. However, there are cases when eun used to refer to places and even without a noun in front of it with the meaning 'there.'

The word kotan 'village' is a place noun, but it is often used with eun. In these cases the word kotan is often used as metonymy to refer to the people of the village, not the actual place where it's located in.

On top of that, eun not used very often because if there is a verb that already covers the indirect object, the use of that verb is preferred to this structure. For example, the verb epakasnu 'to teach something to someone' is used rather than the expression xxx eun pakasnu*. It's mostly used with verbs like ye 'to say something' that doesn't have a verb form that can take an indirect object: xxx eun ye 'to say something to someone'. It's also used when the movement is directed in the place where a person is: 'come to you'; 'go to the grandpa's place'.

Examples 9

34. e-mici eun ku-ye!

    • I will tell your dad (about this/what you did etc.)!

35. kesto kesto unarpe eun k-ek. (adapted from Satō 2008: 33)

    • Every day, every day, I come to aunt's place (talking to one's own aunt)

Vocabulary 9

• e- (PM) — (1) 2SG subject marker; 'You do' (2) your (3) 3SG subject marker + 2SG object marker, 'she/he/it/they to you', 'she/he/it/they xxx you'
• mici (N) — dad; father
• eun (POSTADV) — to
• ku- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with a consonant or /i/ sound] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• ye (VT) — (1) to say something (2) to speak (a language)
• kesto (N/ADV) — everyday
• unarpe (N) — aunt
• k- (PM) — [Used in front of words starting with vowels /a/, /e/, /o/ or /u/] (1) the first person singular subject marker; 'I do' (2) my 
• ek (VI) — to come

Summary

• Case particles

  • are dependent (can't be used without a noun in front of them)

  • only attach to place nouns

  • can't take person markers

• Postpositional particles

  • are usually found after a noun, but can be also used independently

  • can attach to any noun

  • some of them can take object person markers (none of the ones introduced here, though!)

Here we are at the end of this really vocabulary heavy lesson (I reduced the number of example sentences for each particle towards the end of the lesson, when I realized that there will be a lot of new words appearing). Next we will learn more words that can be used together with the particles related to location and movement. You can find the lesson here: Lesson 7: Place and location.

Created on 2023/2/10, Latest update on 2023/9/5