The Old Japanese Complement System

The present study is the first large-scale investigation of the syntax of Old Japanese (mainly eighth-century Japanese). It gives a detailed account of complement clauses and related constructions in Old Japanese, based on an exhaustive investigation of the extant text corpus.

The present study is the first large-scale investigation of the syntax of Old Japanese (mainly eighth-century Japanese). It gives a detailed account of complement clauses and related constructions in Old Japanese, based on an exhaustive investigation of the extant text corpus. The aim is twofold: first, to give a synchronic description of the types of complementation which are found in this period and of the system they are part of. Second, to address the diachronic issues of the origin of the Old Japanese complement system and more widely the pre-history of complementation in Japanese. Janick Wrona's study will be of interest to historical linguists and Japanologists alike.

Bjarke Frellesvig describes the development of the Japanese language from its recorded beginnings until the present day as reflected by the written sources and historical record. Beginning with a description of the oldest attested stage of the language, Old Japanese (approximately the eighth century AD), and then tracing the changes which occurred through the Early Middle Japanese (800–1200), Late Middle Japanese (1200–1600) and the Modern Japanese (1600–onwards) periods, a complete internal history of the language is examined and discussed. This account provides a comprehensive study of how the Japanese language has developed and adapted, providing a much needed resource for scholars. A History of the Japanese Language is invaluable to all those interested in the Japanese language and also students of language change generally.

Proto-Japanese is the reconstructed language stage from which all later varieties of Japanese, including Ryukyuan, descend. It has been studied both as an end in itself (as the genetic code of the Japanese language) and as part of endeavors to clarify the genetic affiliation of Japanese. Based on the state of the field, especially as represented in Samuel E. Martin's seminal work The Japanese Language Through Time (1987), this volume singles out key areas in the reconstruction of proto-Japanese where salient progress has been or promises to be made since Martin. Contributions were invited from scholars working on the following areas: segmental phonology, use of dialect evidence, accent, morphology, and syntax. While the book first of all presents new research which advances our understanding of proto-Japanese, it also gives an overview over the state of the art in the field and its main issues.

The UNESCO atlas on endangered languages recognizes the Ryukyuan languages as constituting languages in their own right. This represents a dramatic shift in the ontology of Japan’s linguistic make-up. Ryukyuan linguistics needs to be established as an independent field of study with its own research agenda and objects. This handbook delineates that the UNESCO classification is now well established and adequate. Linguists working on the Ryukyuan languages are well advised to refute the ontological status of the Ryukyuan languages as dialects. The Ryukyuan languages constitute a branch of the Japonic language family, which consists of five unroofed Abstand (language by distance) languages.The Handbook of Ryukyuan Languages provides for the most appropriate and up-to-date answers pertaining to Ryukyuan language structures and use, and the ways in which these languages relate to Ryukyuan society and history. It comprises 33 chapters, written by the leading experts of Ryukyuan languages. Each chapter delineates the boundaries and the research history of the field it addresses, comprises the most important and representative information.

This book presents Lars Johanson’s Code-Copying Model, an integrated framework for the description of contact-induced processes. The model covers all the main contact linguistic issues in their synchronic and diachronic interrelationship. The terminology is kept intuitive and simple to apply. Illustrative examples from a wide range of languages demonstrate the model’s applicability to both spoken and written codes. The fundamental difference between ‘take-over’ copying and ‘carry-over’ copying is given special value. Speakers can take over copies from a secondary code into their own primary code, or alternatively carry over copies from their own primary code into their variety of a secondary code. The results of these two types of copying are significantly different and thus provide insights into historical processes.