The Cambridge Handbook of Japanese Linguistics

A comprehensive yet concise survey of Japanese linguistics, from leading scholars in the field.

Yoko Hasegawa (Edited by)

9781316636411, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 September 2020

776 pages, 51 b/w illus. 5 maps 47 tables
24.4 x 17 x 3.9 cm, 1.218 kg

'In summary, [The Cambridge Handbook of Japanese Linguistics] serves as an excellent reference book for both established and aspiring linguists … All in all, the editor, Yoko Hasegawa, as well as the 27 other contributors recruited from around the world, should be congratulated and thanked for their excellent work in producing this impressive handbook.' Junko Mori, The Journal of Japanese Studies

The linguistic study of Japanese, with its rich syntactic and phonological structure, complex writing system, and diverse sociohistorical context, is a rapidly growing research area. This book, designed to serve as a concise reference for researchers interested in the Japanese language and in typological studies of language in general, explores diverse characteristics of Japanese that are particularly intriguing when compared with English and other European languages. It pays equal attention to the theoretical aspects and empirical phenomena from theory-neutral perspectives, and presents necessary theoretical terms in clear and easy language. It consists of five thematic parts including sound system and lexicon, grammatical foundation and constructions, and pragmatics/sociolinguistics topics, with chapters that survey critical discussions arising in Japanese linguistics. The Cambridge Handbook of Japanese Linguistics will be welcomed by general linguists, and students and scholars working in linguistic typology, Japanese language, Japanese linguistics and Asian Studies.

Part I. Overview: 1. Introduction Yoko Hasegawa
2. The history of the language Bjarke Frellesvig
3. Layered structure, positional shifts, and grammaticalization Rumiko Shinzato
4. Linguistic typology and the Japanese language Kaoru Horie
5. Dialects Michinori Shimoji
6. Writing and literacy in modern Japan Florian Coulmas
Part II. Sound System and Lexicon: 7. Moras and syllables Timothy J. Vance
8. Pitch accent Haruo Kubozono
9. Intonation Yosuke Igarashi
10. Semantics and morphosyntax of mimetics Kiyoko Toratani
11. Events and properties in morphology and syntax Taro Kageyama
Part III. Grammatical Foundation: 12. Case Wataru Nakamura
13. Subjects and topics Yoko Hasegawa
14. Negation Hideki Kishimoto
15. Tense and aspect Wesley M. Jacobsen
16. Modality Heiko Narrog
17. Logophoricity, viewpoint, and reflexivity Yukio Hirose
18. Word order and extraction: a functional approach Mitsuaki Shimojo
Part IV. Grammatical Constructions: 19. Nominalization Masayoshi Shibatani
20. Clausal noun modification Yoshiko Matsumoto
21. Internally headed relativization and related constructions Kyoko Hirose Ohara
22. Benefactives Nobuko Hasegawa
23. Passives Shoichi Iwasaki
24. Conditionals Seiko Fujii
Part V. Pragmatics/Sociolinguistics: 25. Sentence-final particles Emi Morita
26. Linguistic politeness Michael Haugh
27. Speech style shift Haruko Minegishi Cook
28. Discourse/conversation analysis Polly Szatrowski
29. Japanese language, gender, and sexuality Shigeko Okamoto.

Subject Areas: Language acquisition [CFDC], Sociolinguistics [CFB], Language [C]