Abstract:
This study examines whether subject exists as an identifiable grammatical category within the Ainu language, and proposes how best to characterise it. The contextual foundation for this thesis was formed by drawing from studies such as Keenan (1976), Givón (1976), Li & hompson (1974), as well as studies of subject and topic specific to Japanese such as Mikami (1960), Shibatani (1978), and Kuno (1973). Key concepts applied for the analysis include the differentiation of topic and subject as different methods of achieving related strategies, the function of gentless passives, and the relation of anaphoric pronouns to verb agreement. This was then used to analyze a series of glossed and translated Ainu texts comprised of several examples of classical poetic Ainu and several examples of modern vernacular Ainu. This analysis found that, while on the surface Ainu does appear to feature grammatical phenomena usually associated with the marking of subject such as verb agreement and rules relating to word order, the language features no single typological or syntactical method to reliably identify the subject of a sentence. It was found that word order is flexible when context allows, and that due to diachronic reasons relating to the development of a passive construction, verb agreement is centered around the thematic roles of sentence NPs rather than the grammatical categories of subject and object etc. Thus, Ainu in its current state cannot be said to feature any grammatical structures which interact with subject in a fully reliable way.