The Accentual History of the Japanese and Ryukyuan Languages

ISBN: 9781901903638

出版社: Univ of Hawaii Pr

页数: 373

定价: $ 197.75

装帧: HRD

内容简介

This book looks into the accentual history of the Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages. Applying the comparative method, the author has reconstructed the accentual history of the Japonic languages. The reconstruction is based on modern dialects of Japanese and Ryukyuan, and also on historical materials. The investigation of 'natural accent changes' has allowed the author to formalize rules for accent change. Using these rules, the developments of the accent systems of descendant dialects or languages are explained. The development of typologically different accent systems is also explored. The volume is divided in to eight chapters: (1) Introduction; (2) Previous Scholarship: A Critical Review; (3) Historical Linguistic Methods; (4) Accent Change; (5) Reconstruction of Proto-Ryukyuan Accent; (6) Reconstruction of Proto-Mainland Japanese Accent; (7) Reconstruction of Proto-Japonic Accent; (8) Conclusion, followed by References and Appendix: Japonic Cognates and Reconstructed Forms.