Proto-Japanese
Issues and Prospects
Published on 13. March 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
229 pages
978-90-272-4844-2 (ISBN)
Description
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.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Weight
435 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-4844-2 (9789027248442)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
1. Acknowledgements; 2. Introduction (by Frellesvig, Bjarke); 3. Abbreviations; 4. Part I. Reconstructing the basic phoneme inventory; 5. Evidence for seven vowels in proto-Japanese (by Frellesvig, Bjarke); 6. Early Japanese lexical strata and the allophones of /g/ (by Unger, J. Marshall); 7. Part II. Use of dialects in reconstruction; 8. Proto-Japanese and the distribution of dialects (by Onishi, Takuichiro); 9. The uses of Ryukyuan in understanding Japanese language history (by Serafim, Leon A.); 10. Part III. Reconstructing accent; 11. On the reconstruction of the proto-accentual system of Japanese (by Matsumori, Akiko); 12. A reconstruction of proto-Japanese accent for disyllabic nouns: Focusing on the problem of subclasses (by Shimabukuro, Moriyo); 13. Proto-Japanese beyond the accent system (by Vovin, Alexander); 14. Part IV. Reconstructing morphology and syntax; 15. The source of the bigrade conjugation and stem shape in pre-Old Japanese (by Whitman, John); 16. On reconstruction of proto-Japanese and pre-Old Japanese verb inflection (by Frellesvig, Bjarke); 17. The Nominal and Adnominal forms in Old Japanese: Consequences for a reconstruction of pre-Old Japanese syntax (by Wrona, Janick); 18. References; 19. Index