MASAYOSHI SHIBATANI
The languages
of Japan
This book is a detailed survey of the two main
indigenous languages of Japan: Japanese
and Ainu No genetic relationship has been
establis
dent parts. The frst is the most comprehensive
study of the polysynthetic Ainu language yet to
appear in English, and includes data and texts
from both classical and colloquial materials
“The second part deals extensively with
Japanese. It di from the evolution
of the writing sy
tween men’s and women’s speech, to issues of
‘greater theoretical complexity, such as phonol-
y; including tone-analysis, the lexicon and
mation, and the syntax of agglutinative
morphology.
‘Asan American-trained scholar in Japan, the
authors ina unique position that affords hima
dual perspective on language deriving from
‘Western linguistic scholarship and the Japanese
grammatical tradition, which has a his
over 200 years. Professor Shibatani critically
the first time some modern anal
of such prominent features of Japanese as,
topic construction and verb inflection in the
light of traditional scholarship.
The languages of Fapan will appeal not only to
fa basic survey, butalso to.ad-
‘vanced students and Japanese specialists in-
terested in the theoretically problematic areas,
of the two languages, and to those working on
Japan generally. Like other language surveys in
this series, it makes a considerable contribution
to descriptive linguistics and language typology.CAMBRIDGE LANGUAGE SURVEYS
General Editors: B. Comrie, CJ. Fillmore, R. Lass, D. Lightfoot,
J. Lyons, P.H. Matthews, R. Posner, 8. Romaine, N.V. Smith,
NN. Vineent, A. Zwieky
“This series offers general accounts ofall the major language fails of the
worl. Some volumes ate organized on a purely genetic bass, others on 3
se0graphical basis, whichever yields the most convenient and incigible
brouping in each cate. Sometimes, as withthe Australian volume, the two in
any cas coincide,
Ech volume compares and contrats the typological features ofthe
languages it deals with, 1¢ also teats the rlevant genetic relationships,
historical development, and sociolinguistic sues arising from their role and
tse inthe world today, The intended readership ithe student ofingisties
or general linguist, but no special knowledge ofthe languages under
consideration is assumed. Some volumes albo havea wider appeal, like those
fn Australia and North America, where the future ofthe languages and their
speakers rises important social und politcal issues
Already published:
‘The languagss of Australia R.MLIV..Dixon
‘The languages ofthe Soviet Union Bernard Comvie
‘The Mesoamerican Indian languages Jorge 4. Sure
‘The Papuan languages of New Guinea William: A. Fley
Chinese Jerry Norman
Pidgins and crcolrs, volume I Theory and structure Job 4. Holos
Pidgins and ercoles, volume Il: Reference survey John 4. Holm
Forthcoming tls inelude:
‘The Indo-Aryan languages Colin P. Masca
Korean Ho-min So
‘The languages of South-East Asia J. Martoff
Austconesian languages R. Blast
Slavonic languages R. Sussex:
Germanic languages R. Last
Cte languages D. Maclay ea
Romance languases R, Posner
‘The languages of Native North America Marianne Miter
‘The languagss ofthe Andes Willem FH Adelar and Pieter C. Msken
THE LANGUAGES
OF JAPAN
MASAYOSHI SHIBATANI
Faculty of Letters,
Kobe University
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge
‘New York Port Chester Melbourne SydneyPublished by the Press Syndicate ofthe Universiy of Cambridge
‘The Pitt Building, Trumpington Steet, Cambridge CB2 1RP
40 West 2th Sree, New York, NY 10011, USA
10 Stamford Road, Ouklegh, Melbourne 166, Australia.
Cambridge University Press 1990
First published 1990
Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridee
British Library cataloguing in publication data
‘Shibata, Masayoshi
“The languages of Japan. (Cambridge language surveys)
[Japan Languages
Lite
409.52
Library of Congress cataloging n publication data applied for
ISBN 0 521 36070 6 hard covers
ISBN 0 521 36918 5 paperback
Ao
For Naomi