What Do Eels, Teeth and Counting People Have in Common? On the “Nimak Rule” in Ainu

Abstract This brief contribution focuses on a subset of Ainu items exhibiting the so-called “ n movable” (the phenomenon whereby the segment /n/ alternates with Ø across dialects). It argues that at some point in its history, Ainu *ni, which was realized as [ɲi], might have been reduced via lenition to /ji/ in unstressed position (/nĭ/ → [ɲĭ] > **ji), but because this sequence is disallowed according to Ainu phonotactics, it was further reduced to ĭ . This rule (the “ nimak rule”), though sporadic, has the potential to account for a significant number of hitherto unconnected problematic etymologies that include, among others, the words for ‘eel’ and ‘teeth’, and the allomorphic distribution of the human classifier.