ABSTRACT

The Languages of Japan and Korea provides detailed descriptions of the major varieties of languages in the region, both modern and pre-modern, within a common format, producing a long-needed introductory reference source. Korean, Japanese, Ainu, and representative members of the three main groupings of the Ryukyuan chain are discussed for the first time in a single work.

The volume is divided into language sketches, the majority of which are broken down into sections on phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax and lexicon. Specific emphasis is placed on those aspects of syntactic interest, such as speech levels, honorifics and classifiers, which are commonly underplayed in other descriptions of Modern Japanese and Korean. Each language is represented in Roman-based transcription, although its own script (where there is such an orthography) and IPA transcriptions are used sparingly where appropriate.

The dialects of both the modern and oldest forms of the languages are given extensive treatment, with a primary focus on the differences from the standard language.

These synchronic snapshots are complemented by a discussion of both the genetic and areal relationships between languages in the region.

part I|38 pages

Preliminaries

part II|147 pages

Korean

chapter 3|32 pages

Old Korean

chapter 4|50 pages

Middle Korean

chapter 5|45 pages

Modern Korean 1

chapter 6|18 pages

Korean Dialects: A General Survey

part III|162 pages

Japanese

chapter 7|23 pages

Old Japanese

chapter 8|34 pages

Classical Japanese *

chapter 9|22 pages

Late Middle Japanese

chapter 10|45 pages

Modern Japanese

part IV|109 pages

Ryukyuan

chapter 12|30 pages

Northern Ryukyuan

chapter 13|31 pages

Southern Ryukyuan *

chapter 14|46 pages

Yonaguni *

part V|51 pages

Ainu

chapter 15|49 pages

Southern Hokkaido Ainu *