A Tale of Two Isolates-Ainu Paradigm

Volume 3 - Issue 1

Seun Ayoade*

Received: December 31, 2018;   Published: January 09, 2019

DOI: 10.32474/PRJFGS.2019.03.000154

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Abstract

“I hope, however, it will be a long time before any other supersedes the MUSICAL Yoruban tongue” [1] REV. R. H. STONE. ‘Yoruba is a tonal language. The same combination of vowels and consonants has different meanings depending on the pitch of the vowels. For example, the same word -ARO can mean ‘cymbal’, ‘indigo dye’, ‘lamentation’ and ‘granary’ depending on intonation’. -Junior World mark Encyclopaedia of World Cultures. In linguistics there is a phenomenon called a “language isolate”. This is when a group of people speak a language which is totally unrelated to the language or languages spoken by the peoples surrounding them.

Opinion| Differences Between the Ainus and the Other Japanese| Differences Between the Yorubas and the Other Nigerians and West Africans| Conclusion| Greenberg’s Great Gaffe| References|