Ainu language use and display in the National Ainu Museum

Bibliographic Data

ID4178553
AuthorsSaana Santalahti (0000-0002-1322-085X, Asian Languages , 3835 University of Helsinki , Finland, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume2025
Issue291
Pages177-202
Publication date2025-01-29
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ijsl-2023-0104
OpenAlexW4406860358
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

Based on a critical analysis of the museum's linguistic landscape and a discourse analysis of the museum texts, this paper explores how the Indigenous Ainu language is both used and displayed in the National Ainu Museum and discusses how these observations relate to the museum's overt language policy and potential role as a site for Ainu language revitalisation. Though Ainu has been announced as the official first language of the museum, this study suggests that there is incongruity between overt policy and practice. While Ainu is clearly the symbolic first language, in practice Japanese and English are the museum's two main languages, echoing the different functions and values associated with these languages. Although the museum is participating in concrete language maintenance initiatives, the exhibition texts discuss language revitalisation as a purely linguistic campaign, detaching it from broader contemporary society and Indigenous rights issues. These findings show how language use and display in museums are connected to the surrounding ideologies and policies, but do not necessarily need to be confined by them

Linguistics · Media studies · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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