掲示板 Forums - (?) Ainu Language

Just because Ainu is written in Katakana doesnt mean itd be a dialect of Japanese. Afterall, Japanese loanwords are written in Katakana!

i would compare it to many Native American languages in North America being written using Latin letters. The languages have no relation to English (and in some cases, latin letters are pronounced completely differently to how English speakers would use them) it was just the main writing system speakers were exposed to and in many cases likely a result of...aggressive assimilation. The case is likely the same for Ainu, I would imagine it may be a sensitive subject...

You could even argue Japanese did the same. Took their language and fit it to Chinese characters, a large, comprehensive and influential writing system that the speakers were exposed to and therefore found it most efficient to copy.
That being said, what you said in your post about Japanese speakers understanding Chinese... I think the mutual intelligibility between Japanese and Chinese is extremely minimal, I've seen videos of Japanese speakers trying to read Chinese sentences using familiar kanji, and some Kanji readings are even based on the Chinese...but the best I saw them manage was guesses and nothing close to really understanding. I'm going off of only a few examples, but the grammar being different would likely make it a lot more difficult than understanding a few kanji.
Adding to that...that doesn't make Japanese a dialect of Chinese!

Rounding back, Ainu culture is severely endangered due to less than kind treatment. Im not an expert myself and I would appreciate being corrected on anything I said, but I would approach questions like this with sensitivity, remembering that it is a distinct culture. definitely not a dialect, definitely still studyable but endangered for tragic reasons (Forced assimilation, and the language itself being entirely banned for a time. There are efforts to revive it to try and right these wrongs.)

I've read in a book that Ainu people are deeply integrated into Japanese culture to the degree that some ainu children understand that they are not Japanese only in school. Most souvenirs are fabric production now. The Marimo Holiday was invented in last century and some ainu dislike it because it doesn't make sense for them to celebrate a not-edible seaweed. Some Japanese toponymes were borrowed from Ainu people, but I doubt that a native speaker can distinguish them.