LHL 18: A Handbook of Japanese Grammar

A Handbook of Japanese Grammar

Hiroko Storm

This book is intended for students who study Japanese as a second language, and teachers of the language. It is designed for those who seek a comprehensive understanding of multiple areas of Japanese.

Chapter 1 deals with pronunciation discussing syllable structures and accent. Chapter 2 deals with the writing system. Romanization and Japanese writing-kana and kanji are discussed. Chapter 3 discusses vocabulary including mechanisms of word formation. Chapter 4 deals with parts of speech. Especially, verbs, adjectives and particles are detailed. Chapter 5 examines various counters. There are numerous counters in Japanese, and which counter is used depends on the features of the items. Chapters 6 through 15 deal with sentences--word order, conditionals, double-nominative constructions, sentences with noun modifiers, comparatives and superlatives, causatives, passives, imperatives, potentials, and purpose expressions. These are explained with various example sentences. Chapter 16 discusses honorifics. Japanese is one of the languages which are rich in honorifics. Chapter 17 compares male and female speeches. In spoken Japanese, there are various differences between the two sexes.

Each topic is presented with a number. The numbers are consecutive from Chapter 1 through Chapter 17. Readers can locate a topic by the number shown in the detailed index.

ISBN 9783895867088. LINCOM Handbooks in Linguistics 18. 200pp. 2003.