 Analytic grammatical constructions acquired or transformed in Ainu were probably due to contact with the Japanese language.A large number of Japanese loanwords were borrowed into Ainu and to a smaller extent vice versa.There are also a great number of loanwords from the Japanese language in various stages of its development to Hokkaidō Ainu, and a smaller number of loanwords from Ainu into Japanese, particularly animal names such as "rakko" "sea otter" (Ainu "rakko"), "tonakai" "reindeer" (Ainu "tunakkay"), and "shishamo" (a fish, "Spirinchus lanceolatus") (Ainu "susam").