Ainu languages

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The Ainu languages ( EYE-noo), sometimes known as Ainuic, are a family of languages traditionally spoken by the Ainu people of northern Japan, southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The primary varieties of Ainu are alternately considered a group of closely related languages or divergent dialects of a single language isolate. Toponymic evidence suggests Ainu was once spoken in northern Honshu and that much of the historically attested extent of the family was due to a relatively recent expansion northward. No genealogical relationship between Ainu and any other language family has been demonstrated, despite numerous attempts. Kuril Ainu was declared extinct in 1962 and Sakhalin Ainu in 1994. Hokkaidō Ainu was declared critically endangered in 2009.