Download or read book Japanese Language written by Haruhiko Kindaichi and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about the structure, history and evolution of the Japanese language. The Japanese Language is a classic study of one of the world's most widely used but least understood languages. Emphasizing the richness and complexity of Japanese as well as its limitations, this fine book provides a lively discussion about the uniqueness of the Japanese language. The relationship of Japanese to other languages is not well understood even by native speakers, and Professor Kindaichi sets out to define it. He concludes that Japanese is indeed only remotely related to other world languages although it shares many features in common with the languages of mainland Asia. Japanese shares with those languages a rich and detailed vocabulary for natural phenomena and an unusually complex and accurate way of expressing social relationships. Moreover, its capability to absorb innovations from abroad easily matches or exceeds that of English or German. The author, after briefly discussing the unique isolation of the Japanese language, moves on to consider the varieties of ordinary speech—dialects, jargon, sex—and role-based distinctions, and the difference between informal, formal, and literary language. He then examines the structure of Japanese pronunciations, its rhythm, and accent. The longest section of the book is devoted to the variety of the vocabulary, what can and cannot be said in Japanese. Readers who are just beginning their own study of Japanese will find this section especially fascinating, for each point is backed by examples from literature and everyday speech. Kindaichi also investigates the so-called vagueness of Japanese and traces it to its source–the unusual sentence order. This book includes: The highly debated origins of the Japanese language. Dialects, jargon, sex and role-based distinctions. Differences between informal, formal, and literary language. Structure, rhythm, and accent of pronunciation. What can and cannot be said in Japanese.
Download or read book A History of the Japanese Language written by Bjarke Frellesvig and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-29 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Structure of the Japanese Language written by Susumu Kuno and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 1973-01 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Conventional grammars tell us when we can use given grammatical patterns. However, they almost invariably fail to tell us when we cannot use them. Many of the chapters of this book are concerned with the latter problem. They attempt to explain why some sentences that should be grammatical according to the explanations given in conventional grammars are in fact ungrammatical. In this sense, the book can be called a grammar of ungrammatical sentences.... It deals only with those problems of Japanese—and only a handful of them—that are either completely ignored or erroneously treated in conventional grammars. For these features I hope that the book will give the reader a revealing account of a kind seldom found in other Japanese grammars or in grammars of any other languages." —from the author's Preface Some features of Japanese are peculiarities of the language, while others are shared by English and various other languages of the world. At times two features, one in Japanese and one, for example, in English, that may look totally unrelated on casual inspection turn out to be a manifestation of the same principle, either syntactic or semantic, which governs the two languages. Whenever possible each feature of Japanese that the book discusses is contrasted with the features in English that are overtly or covertly related to it, and the similarities and differences that exist between the two languages with respect to this feature are examined. Thus the book can also be called a contrastive grammar of Japanese and English. The book reveals a wide variety of semantic and syntactic factors (some of them not very well known to linguists working on English) that control the usage of certain grammatical patterns. It also shows what kinds of sentences the linguist working on a nonnative language should check with native speakers of the language to prove or disprove his initial hypothesis. So in a third sense, Professor Kuno's study might be called a textbook of field methods in linguistic analysis. Because The Structure of the Japanese Language is both descriptive and analytical (the generalizations given in the book have been developed within the framework of the theory of transformational grammar but are presented without recourse to the complex formalisms of the theory), it will prove useful both as a basic handbook of supplementary reading for second-year or more advanced courses in Japanese and as a source of material for students and researchers doing work in Japanese or non-Indo-European linguistics. This is volume three in the series, Current Studies in Linguistics.
Download or read book The Languages of Japan written by Masayoshi Shibatani and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1990-05-03 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of the two main indigenous languages of Japan includes the most comprehensive study of the polysynthetic Ainu language yet to appear in English as well as a comprehensive analysis of Japanese linguistics.
Download or read book The Phonetics of Japanese Language written by P M Suski and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-10-18 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives true characters of Japanese speech sounds in reference to European speech sounds. When it was first published in 1931, it was the first book of its kind. There are only 5 Japanese vowel elements as opposed to 18 in English, 13 in French and 8 in German. There are 15 Japanese consonants, 26 in English, 22 in French & 23 in German. Because of the lesser number of elements, it follows that the wider range in vowels and consonants is heard by Japanese ears, so this volume gives average sounds uttered by Japanese in the twentieth century in relation to the English sounds.
Download or read book Japanese Language and Soft Power in Asia written by Kayoko Hashimoto and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-26 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This cutting edge collection considers how the Japanese language functions as a key element of Japanese soft power in Asia. Within Japanese culture itself, the promotion of language has been an area of ambivalence. This interdisciplinary book looks across the fields of language policy, language teaching, socio-linguistics, cultural studies and history to identify the links between Japan’s language policies and broader social, economic and political processes. It examines the challenges that undermine Japan’s potential soft power by identifying a gap between the “official Japan” portrayed by the Japanese government and the “cultural Japan” that foreigners perceive. It also reveals historical continuity in the way Japanese language is perceived and promoted by policy makers and how the current practices of Japanese language teaching in Asian countries have been shaped within the framework of “international exchange”, which has been a key concept in Japanese foreign policies since the 1970s. It particularly considers the concept of ‘Cool Japan’ as a symbol of Japan’s interpretation of its cultural power and offers a thoughtful assessment of the future of Japanese as a form of soft power in Asia as the country prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Download or read book The Book of Japanese Language written by Alex Adler and published by Alexadler. This book was released on 2021-03-28 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Japanese Language is the combination of four parts in one with the aim of gathering in a single volume the necessary knowledge so that any student of Japanese can organically learn the grammatical rules of the language, the most common words, and at the same time be able to consult the great majority of grammatical forms that are used in Japanese on a daily basis.The four parts of the book are Vocabulary, Grammar Explanations, Expressing Yourself in Japanese, and Grammar Dictionary. In Vocabulary, you will find the most common Japanese words with detailed explanations. In Grammar Explanations, you will find the most important conjugations and grammatical forms along with examples to help you understand them. Expressing Yourself in Japanese lists these grammatical forms according to their usage. Finally, in Grammar Dictionary you can find summarized explanations of most Japanese grammatical forms ordered alphabetically.
Download or read book Japanese Language Composition Notebook written by Tuttle Publishing and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beautiful notebook makes studying a pleasure! Each double page spread has squared paper on the right-hand side for practicing formation of the Japanese characters, and lined paper on the left-hand side for note-taking. A ten-page reference section at the back of the notebook gives hiragana and katakana charts, a list of the 100 most common kanji; key vocabulary, and basic grammar tips. Contents: Pages 1-118 Alternate Pages of lined and squared paper for note-taking and handwriting practice Pages 119-120 Hiragana alphabet charts Pages 121-122 Katakana alphabet charts Page 123 100 most common kanji Pages 124-125 Key vocabulary lists Pages 126-128 Basic grammar tips
Download or read book Language and Citizenship in Japan written by Nanette Gottlieb and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-12 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between language and citizenship in Japan has traditionally been regarded as a fixed tripartite: ‘Japanese citizenship’ means ‘Japanese ethnicity,’ which in turn means ‘Japanese as one’s first language.’ Historically, most non-Japanese who have chosen to take out citizenship have been members of the ‘oldcomer’ Chinese and Korean communities, born and raised in Japan. But this is changing: the last three decades have seen an influx of ‘newcomer’ economic migrants from a wide range of countries, many of whom choose to stay. The likelihood that they will apply for citizenship, to access the benefits it confers, means that citizenship and ethnicity can no longer be assumed to be synonyms in Japan. This is an important change for national discourse on cohesive communities. This book’s chapters discuss discourses, educational practices, and local linguistic practices which call into question the accepted view of the language-citizenship nexus in lived contexts of both existing Japanese citizens and potential future citizens. Through an examination of key themes relating both to newcomers and to an older group of citizens whose language practices have been shaped by historical forces, these essays highlight the fluid relationship of language and citizenship in the Japanese context.
Download or read book The Social Life of the Japanese Language written by Shigeko Okamoto and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-04 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are different varieties of the Japanese language used differently in social interaction, and how are they perceived? How do honorifics operate to express diverse affective stances, such as politeness? Why have issues of gendered speech been so central in public discourse, and how are they reflected and refracted in language use as social practice? This book examines Japanese sociolinguistic phenomena from a fascinating new perspective, focusing on the historical construction of language norms and its relationship to actual language use in contemporary Japan. This socio-historically sensitive account stresses the different choices which have shaped Japanese and Western sociolinguistics and how varieties of Japanese, honorifics and politeness, and gendered language have emerged in response to the socio-political landscape in which a modernizing Japan found itself.
Download or read book Handbook of Japanese Syntax written by Masayoshi Shibatani and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-10-23 with total page 972 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies of Japanese syntax have played a central role in the long history of Japanese linguistics spanning more than 250 years in Japan and abroad. More recently, Japanese has been among the languages most intensely studied within modern linguistic theories such as Generative Grammar and Cognitive/Functional Linguistics over the past fifty years. This volume presents a comprehensive survey of Japanese syntax from these three research strands, namely studies based on the traditional research methods developed in Japan, those from broader functional perspectives, and those couched in the generative linguistics framework. The twenty-four studies contained in this volume are characterized by a detailed analysis of a grammatical phenomenon with broader implications to general linguistics, making the volume attractive to both specialists of Japanese and those interested in learning about the impact of Japanese syntax to the general study of language. Each chapter is authored by a leading authority on the topic. Broad issues covered include sentence types (declarative, imperative, etc.) and their interactions with grammatical verbal categories (modality, polarity, politeness, etc.), grammatical relations (topic, subject, etc.), transitivity, nominalizations, grammaticalization, word order (subject, scrambling, numeral quantifier, configurationality), case marking (ga/no conversion, morphology and syntax), modification (adjectives, relative clause), and structure and interpretation (modality, negation, prosody, ellipsis). Chapter titles Introduction Chapter 1. Basic structures of sentences and grammatical categories, Yoshio Nitta, Kansai University of Foreign Studies Chapter 2: Transitivity, Wesley Jacobsen, Harvard University Chapter 3: Topic and subject, Takashi Masuoka, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Chapter 4: Toritate: Focusing and defocusing of words, phrases, and clauses, Hisashi Noda, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics Chapter 5: The layered structure of the sentence, Isao Iori, Hitotsubashi University Chapter 6. Functional syntax, Ken-Ichi Takami, Gakushuin University; and Susumu Kuno, Harvard University Chapter 7: Locative alternation, Seizi Iwata, Osaka City University Chapter 8: Nominalizations, Masayoshi Shibatani, Rice University Chapter 9: The morphosyntax of grammaticalization, Heiko Narrog, Tohoku University Chapter 10: Modality, Nobuko Hasegawa, Kanda University of International Studies Chapter 11: The passive voice, Tomoko Ishizuka, Tama University Chapter 12: Case marking, Hideki Kishimoto, Kobe University Chapter 13: Interfacing syntax with sounds and meanings, Yoshihisa Kitagawa, Indiana University Chapter 14: Subject, Masatoshi Koizumi, Tohoku University Chapter 15: Numeral quantifiers, Shigeru Miyagawa, MIT Chapter 16: Relative clauses, Yoichi Miyamoto, Osaka University Chapter 17: Expressions that contain negation, Nobuaki Nishioka, Kyushu University Chapter 18: Ga/No conversion, Masao Ochi, Osaka University Chapter 19: Ellipsis, Mamoru Saito, Nanzan University Chapter 20: Syntax and argument structure, Natsuko Tsujimura, Indiana University Chapter 21: Attributive modification, Akira Watanabe, University of Tokyo Chapter 22: Scrambling, Noriko Yoshimura, Shizuoka Prefectural University
Download or read book The Social Life of the Japanese Language written by Shigeko Okamoto and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-04 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the historical construction of language norms and its relationship to actual language use in contemporary Japan.
Download or read book The Japanese Language written by Anthony Edgar Backhouse and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1993 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese Language: An Introduction is a book that offers a systematic overview of Japanese from the perspective of the English-speaking learner.
Download or read book I m Learning Japanese written by Christian Galan and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a fun and entertaining beginner level children's Japanese language book (9 years old and up) that is also appropriate for adults. I'm learning Japanese takes a light-hearted approach to the Japanese language by using fun anime–style manga characters to teach Japanese. However, it does not scrimp on content and covers everything from Japanese kanji, kana and grammar to Japanese culture and customs. The book starts out with the main characters, Emily, Nico and Teo sitting on the grass after school, minding their own business, when—unbelievable!—a giant talking fox dressed in a kimono appears. Explaining that he knows magic, speaks 3,000 languages and is respected as a sensei (master), he wonders if the three kids are ready to learn Japanese from him. During the next 128 amusing pages, the three friends learn to speak Japanese, read Japanese and write Japanese…along with taking breaks to try Japanese hot-spring baths, sumo wrestling, Zen meditation and more. Focusing on exactly what the 9 to 13-year-old learner wants to know, this book is carefully set up to allow them to learn Japanese independently, at their own speed, without an adult's help. Every page of I'm Learning Japanese! is in full color and the illustrated comic book-approach, with its speech bubbles and funny side remarks, makes the learning seem to fly. It gives preteens a fun grounding in the language and one that's accurate and practical. Nothing they learn here is "watered down" or will ever need to be unlearned, should they continue on with their Japanese language studies in school or later in life.
Download or read book Japanese Stories for Language Learners written by Anne McNulty and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A great story can lead a reader on a journey of discovery—especially if it's presented in two languages! Beautifully illustrated in a traditional style, Japanese Stories for Language Learners offers five compelling stories with English and Japanese language versions appearing on facing pages. Taking learners on an exciting cultural and linguistic journey, each story is followed by detailed translator's notes, Japanese vocabulary lists, and grammar points along with a set of discussion questions and exercises. The first two stories are very famous traditional Japanese folktales: Urashima Taro (Tale of a Fisherman) and Yuki Onna (The Snow Woman). These are followed by three short stories by notable 20th century authors: Kumo no Ito (The Spider's Thread) by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927) Oborekaketa Kyodai (The Siblings Who Almost Drowned) by Arishima Takeo (1878-1923) Serohiki no Goshu (Gauche the Cellist) by Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933) Reading these stories in the original Japanese script--and hearing native-speakers read them aloud in the accompanying free audio recording--helps students at every level deepen their comprehension of the beauty and subtlety of the Japanese language. Learn Japanese the fun way—through the country's rich literary history.
Download or read book Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching written by Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-02-03 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching is a timely guide for Japanese language teachers and anyone interested in language pedagogy. The book outlines an innovative approach to language instruction which goes beyond the communicative approach and encourages a global view of language education and curriculum development through the use of social networking. It showcases diverse examples of how social networking can be harnessed and incorporated into everyday language classes to increase learners’ curiosity and engagement in real cultural and global interactions. While the focus is on Japanese language teaching, the concepts explored can be applied to other languages and teaching contexts. This book will benefit teachers of any language as well as linguists interested in language pedagogy.
Download or read book Learning Japanese as a Second Language written by and published by Cambria Press. This book was released on with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: