This paper attempts to show that in Ainu the number ‘one’ can be referred to by the proclitic ár which means ‘one of a pair’ (as-siki ← ar-siki ‘his eye’) or ‘half’ (ar-kewtemu ‘half of his heart’), and also functions as an intensifier (ar teynep ‘a true baby’). Although ár is qualified to be a numeral semantically, it has not been treated as such in traditional descriptions.

It is arguable that in general a numeral denoting ‘one’ can be derived from the concept of ‘a half of two’ and that a typical case of illustrating this process is observed in Ainu.

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This paper aims to describe the structure of compound nouns of Ainu. The author presents the major types of the compound nouns and discusses their structures, particularly “pseudo-modification structure” which is peculiar to compound nouns.
In this language verbs can modify nouns attributively and form noun phrases of “modification structure”, which retain the syntactic relationships of corresponding sentence structures. The pseudo-modification structure has a superficial resemblance to the modification structure, however differs essentially in that the former structure does not retain the syntactic relationships of the sentence structure. The modifying element of the pseudo-modification structure, which is either an intransitive verb or an object+transitive verb, is regarded as nominalized, so this structure is assigned to noun+noun construction which is in turn a type of compound nouns.

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Prof. IKEGAMI Jirō (Professor Emeritus, Hokkaido University; 1920-2011) is a linguist who conducted extensive studies on northern languages from the 1940s to the 2000s. He made remarkable contributions especially to the study of the Tungusic languages. Many of his published works are descriptive studies on Manchu and Uilta (formerly known as Orok) among the Tungusic languages.
Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples has a collection of Prof. IKEGAMI's former library materials, donated by his bereaved family. This collection is called Ikegami Bunko.
The present article provides a list of all 158 notebooks in the Ikegami Bunko that he used in his research and studies. In cases where the contents are related to Prof. IKEGAMI's publications, the references have been added so that they can be checked against them. This is the first step in making the contents of Prof. IKEGAMI's notebooks widely known, and it aims to provide clues for those who are interested to access the notebooks in future. It is hoped that further information will be added through future research and studies.

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Many of the minority languages are now disappearing without leaving sufficient documentation. In the present paper, after a brief review on language endangerment, the author discusses the realistic goal to "preserve" an endangered language. It is very difficult and often impossible to expect a declined language to be revitalized for daily use, and what has to be done first is to record it, as exhaustively as possible, for future generation, who will be able to recognize and inherit it as a symbol of ethnic identity. Though most minority languages enjoy no practical writing system, we can find local talents who are able to write words, sentences and stories (including their life history) in their own language. The Ainu has notably produced some talented writers. The author adds two other languages in which native writers were/are working: Uilta and Udihe (both Tungusic). The author emphasizes that the materials by such native writers, as well as by linguists, are important for the future of endangered languages. The written materials, together with the recorded voices, will contribute greatly to the next generation who has lost their own language but has a desire to learn something about it. Providing such materials for the next generation may be an only way for a vanishing language to "survive", just like classical written languages are conveying much information today.

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Prof. IKEGAMI Jirō (1920-2011 ; Professor Emeritus, Hokkaido University) is a linguist who conducted extensive studies on northern languages from the 1940s to the 2000s. He made remarkable contributions especially to the study of the Tungusic languages. Many of his published works are descriptive studies on Manchu and Uilta (formerly known as Orok) among the Tungusic languages. Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples has a collection of Prof. IKEGAMI’s former library materials, donated by his bereaved family. This collection is called Ikegami Bunko. The present article provides a list of all 286 sound materials in the Ikegami Bunko that he used in his research and studies. This list is not intended to present the audio contents recorded on each medium, but rather the (often handwritten) entries on the cases and labels. When the contents seem to be related to Prof. IKEGAMI’s publications and/or his notebooks, some references have been added so that they can be checked against them. The list of all 158 notebooks in the Ikegami Bunko was provided by the present author as a report “Prof. IKEGAMI Jirō’s Notebooks in the Collection of Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples (a List with References)” (Bulletin of the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples 31, pp.85-115. 2022).

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