| Kuril Ainu | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Russia,Japan |
| Region | Kuril Islands, laterKamchatka andHokkaidō |
| Ethnicity | Kuril Ainu |
| Extinct | 1962 |
Ainu
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
ain-kur | |
| Glottolog | kuri1271 |
 Kuril Ainu is classified as Extinct by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger [1] | |
Kuril Ainu is an extinct and poorly attestedAinu language of theKuril Islands.[2][3] The main inhabited islands wereKunashir,Iturup andUrup in the south, andShumshu in the north. Other islands either had small populations (such asParamushir) or were visited for fishing or hunting. There may have been a small mixed Kuril–Itelmen population at the southern tip of theKamchatka Peninsula.
The Ainu of the Kurils appear to have been a relatively recent expansion from Hokkaidō, displacing an indigenousOkhotsk culture, which may have been related to the modernItelmens. When the Kuril Islands passed to Japanese control in 1875, many of the northernKuril Ainu evacuated toUst-Bolsheretsky District in Kamchatka, where about 100 still live. In the decades after the islands passed to Soviet control in 1945, most of the remaining southern Kuril Ainu evacuated to Hokkaidō, where they have since been assimilated.[citation needed]
| Chukotko-Kamchatkan |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yeniseian |
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| Yukaghir | ||||||
| Nivkh | ||||||
| Ainu | ||||||
| Eskaleut | ||||||
| Proposed groupings | ||||||
Italics indicateextinct languages | ||||||