Introduction to Japanese Linguistics

Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics

by Tsujimura Tsujimura

This is the first textbook on the structure of Japanese written in the framework of generative linguistics. It serves both as an introduction to Japanese Linguistics for those who have no prior knowledge of linguistics, and as a reference book on Japanese for linguists in general. The book gives a comprehensive account of Japanese linguistics covering phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, language change, dialect variation, and gender differences. The author introduces linguistic notions and terminology, and discusses theoretical analyses of linguistic phenomena in the language. A major focus is on phonology and syntax, where the formal approach of generative grammar is adopted. To aid the student's learning, chapters are supported by exercises exploring descriptive and theoretical issues, and by reading lists which introduce students to the research literate. Besides its value to students taking courses in Japanese linguistics, and as a reference on the structure of the language, the book will also be a benefit to instructors of Japanese who wish to enhance their linguistic knowledge of the language.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Academic, Language, Academics

Paperback

First published December 18, 1995

Reviews

[Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent & pretty approachable - she explains every linguistics concept referenced so I think you could go in knowing nothing about linguistics and understand it well. Learned so many cool things about Japanese from this, and was also a great overview of the basics of how Japanese works. I guess the one downside would be that it doesn't go fully in-depth on some subjects; for example, she doesn't go over every verb form. But I think that's kind of to be expected since this isn't intended to be comprehensive.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book while I was studying Japanese. While it is hardly intended to be a supplementary textbook to a language class, I found that many of its topics clarified gaps and longstanding questions that I've had about Japanese. I also found this book fairly approachable for my background with only minor linguistic training, and I think it would still be comprehensible and interesting for someone with no linguistic background at all, though some parts could likely be skipped.

[Anie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is an excellent textbook chockfull of information; I did not assign it to my class, but found it useful for data mining. Unfortunately, I disagree strongly with some of the analytical points, and could it not give it a full 5.

[Chase · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dont like linguistics, but this was pretty interesting to think about japanese in a different way than I am used to.

[Silvina]

this book is very important to me..because can help me to make my paper.