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Counters
Counter words in the Japanese language are added directly after numbers. There are numerous counters and different counters are used depending on the kind or shape of nouns the adjectives describe.

For example;  -hiki is for “aninal and fish” ; -nin is for persons ,  -hon is for thin and long objects such as pens and bottles, -satsu is for books.

Counter for Rabbits
The counter for rabbits is -wa (羽), which is the same as the counter for birds. Usually, -hiki  (匹) is used for “small-to medium-size animals such as cats and dogs ," therefore, the counter for rabbits is an exception. There are many theories about why -wa (羽) is used for rabbits instead of  -hiki (匹).

One of the theories is that in Edo-era, eating four-legged animals was strictly forbidden by the government, and people were not allowed to consume rabbit meat .Then, people started to categorize rabbits as birds so that they can consume rabbit meat, and thus, the counter was also changed from  -hiki (匹) to  -wa (羽). Another theory is that taste of rabbit meat is similar to bird meat, and in addition, the rabbits were captured using a net just like birds. Takemitsu says that the origin of the word rabbit, 兎 (usagi), is 羽 (u) which describes birts feather, therefore, The counter, -wa (羽), is used for rabbits.

Rendaku in Tohoku dialects
In many Tohoku dialects, rendaku can be expressed in the form of prenasalized voicing. This prenasalized sound production was not uniformed at all, and depending on the speakers and the words pronounced, significant variations were observed.

There was a relationship between the rate of prenasalized voicing and the speakers’ age: older individuals display it at a higher rate than younger individuals. On the other hand, differences in the speakers’ gender and socioeconomic status did not affect the rate of prenasalized voicing.

Examples of allophonic variation
For example, “[kata] ‘shoulder’ and [haka] ‘tomb’ are pronounced [kada] and [haga]” in Tohoku dialect.

The extensive examples of allophonic variation in the Tohoku dialect are as follows :

Gender in the Japanese language
Depending on the speakers’ gender, different linguistic features might be used. The typical language used by females is called “joseego” and one used by males is called “danseigo”. The joseego and danseigo are different in various ways including self-reference terms (“watashi” or “atashi '' for women and “boku for men) and sentence-final particles (such as wa, nano, or kashira are typically added at the end of the sentence in joseigo while zo, da, or dayo are added in danseigo). In addition to these specific differences,expressions and pitch can also be different. For example, joseigo is more gentle, polite, refined, indirect, modest, and exclamatory, and often accompanied by raised pitch.

Kogal Slang
In the 1990s, the traditional female languages and stereotyped female behaviors were challenged, and “naughty” teenage girls called “Kogal” emerged. Their mischievous behaviors, the deviant language, the particular make-up called “ganguro,” and the fashion were focused on in the mainstream media. Although Kogal's slang was not appreciated by older generations, these girls kept creating novel vocabularies and expressions. “Kogal” culture changed Japanese norms of gender and the Japanese language as well.

Oral literature
A written form of the Ainu language did not exist in most of its history, and their literature was passed down to their descendants orally [1]. These Ainu’s tales include nonfiction, such as their history and “hunting adventures,” and fiction such as about their heroes, myth, spiritual avatars, and magics [11].

Oral Literature Reserch
Ainu’s oral literature was studied by Japanese and European researchers; thus, the literature was transcribed using letters such as Japanese katakana or Latin characters, and documented in the researcher’s languages [10]. One of the prominent researchers is Bronisław Piłsudski, a Polish anthropologist who lived in Sakhalin from 1886 to 1905 [10]. He published “Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore” in 1912 [11]. In addition, Piłsudski made audio recordings from 1902 to1903, which is believed to be the first attempt in the history of Ainu oral literature study [10]. Japanese linguist, Kyosuke Kindaichi is also famous for his works in Ainu oral literature [10], and he published  “Ainu monogatari : tsuketari Ainugo taii oyobi goi” in 1913 [12].

Speakers
In Hokkaido, a survey in Ainu language was done in 2011 by the government, and about 712 Ainu people participated in it [13]. In regard to fluency in Ainu language, 0.7 % of participants answered “be able to have a conversation,” 3.9％ answered  “be able to have a conversation a little,” 32.4％ answered “not be able to have a conversation but have a little knowledge of Ainu language,” and  61.2％ answered, “not be able to have a conversation or understand the language by listening” [13]. The survey showed that the generation who can speak  Ainu language is getting older compared to previous surveys done in 1995 and 1999 [13].

References (for Ainu Language)
[10]  Nowakowski, Karol et al. “Improving Basic Natural Language Processing Tools for the Ainu Language.” Information 10.11 (2019): 329–. Web.

[11] Piłsudski, Bronisław. Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore, Collected and Prepared for Publication by Bronisław Piłsudski, Ed. Under the Supervision of J. Rozwadowski. Poland: Imperial academy of sciences (Spasowicz fund) 1912, 1912. Print.

[12] Yamabe, Yasunosuke., and Kyōsuke. -     Kindaichi. Ainu monogatari : tsuketari Ainugo taii oyobi goi /. Tōkyō : Hakubunkan,, 2191. Print.

[13] 北海道環境生活部. 平 成 １８ 年 北海道環境生活部. 北海道アイヌ生活実態調査 報告書.