Japanese: A Linguistic Introduction

by Yoko Hasegawa

This comprehensive introduction to the Japanese language consists of six parts. Following the introductory section, it explores the Japanese lexicon, grammatical foundations, major clause types, clause linkage, and language usage. The discussion of formal and structural properties of Japanese such as sound structure, vocabulary and grammar assist readers as they gain insight into historical and sociocultural aspects of Japanese; some are compared with those of English-speaking nations. An ideal choice for instructors, the book includes twenty-eight chapters, sufficient for approximately ninety hours of hands-on instruction. Each topic has been rigorously selected based on the author's experience of more than two decades teaching Japanese linguistics. The book's breadth and depth make it highly appropriate for learners of the Japanese language, for linguistics students interested in Japanese, and for researchers interested in Japanese linguistics. Online resources include exercises and supplementary multimedia materials to enhance the reader's comprehension and enjoyment.

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

414 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2014

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cambridge University Press’s “X: A Linguistic Introduction” series started off as a series of concise grammars that would allow any linguist to quickly get a gist of the given language. The series then changed, and later volumes were intended more as university textbooks by which e.g. students focusing on the philology of the given language could do a supplementary course in the linguistics of it.

This volume in the series, too, at least begins as such a textbook. And in fact, those initial chapters are maddening to read. In describing Japanese phonology and its interface with the writing system for a very general readership of people who have learned some Japanese, Hasegawa simplifies her treatment so much that even she (a recognized expert in this field) ends up sounding very tentative and uncertain about what she is saying. Timothy J. Vance’s The Sounds of Japanese is a much more thorough and enjoyable description of this aspect of the language.

This book gets much better when Hasegawa moves into morphology and other aspects of the language. It is handy to have a book that sets out the morphology of Japanese verbs all on one page, instead of dribbling them over many chapters as a course of Japanese would do. The middle section of the book consists of common sentence patterns and syntax. Then comes over a hundred pages just on pragmatics, which makes this the only reference of its kind that I know of, and I definitely should remember to go back and read this again if I ever decide to learn Japanese conversationally.

All Japanese examples here are given morpheme-by-morpheme glosses according to the Leipzig Glossing Rules. Only transliteration is used – the only place you’ll find hirangana, katakana and kanji is in the chapter expressly dealing with the writing system.

[Anja · Rating 4 out of 5]

very useful