THIS COURSE WAS LAST OFFERED IN WINTER 2007.

Japanese Historical Linguistics

JAPAN 681 History of the Japanese Language
Call No. 20803-7
Time:  MW, 1:30-3:18
Classroom:  UH 0066

Click here for helpful links at Cornell University, including hand-outs by Bjarke Frellesvig on Old Japanese.

1. Overview

This course is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate students; some knowledge of Classical Japanese (bungo) is desirable.

The twin goals of the course are to introduce the concepts and procedures of historical linguistcs and to apply them to the Japanese language. Along the way, we will situate the modern standard language taught in American universities, heard on NHK, etc. in the context of Japanese dialects and discuss the origins of Japanese culture and language.

2. Basic Plan

The course consists of two parts.  After the first meeting on Wednesday, 4 January, nine sessions will be lectures based on selected chapters in Lyle Campbell's Historical Linguistics:  an Introduction (MIT Press, 1999) and The Languages of Japan by Masayoshi Shibatani (Cambridge, 1990).  (N.B. Use Campbell as a guide to basic concepts -- this course is primarily about Japanese; examples from other languages are for illustrative purposes only.)  During this period, students will be given examples of premodern Japanese manuscript, with commentaries in Japanese, about which they will prepare class presentations to be given during the following nine sessions of the course.

Grades will be determined by class participation, which may include written quizzes (35%), the mid-term (25%), and final paper (40%).  Final grades will be assigned to convey the instructor’s assessment of the student’s success and readiness to proceed to the next higher level of study:  D or E means the student is unready to take a more advanced course in the same subject, the difference being that a D recognizes effort by conferring credit; higher grades show that a student is qualified for more advanced study, and that the instructor believes s/he will easily excel (A), do well with effort (B), or experience considerable difficulty (C) if s/he chooses to do so.  Grades and quantitative evaluations of performance correspond as follows:

Points         Grade                     Points               Grade

92–100      A                           76–79              C+

89–91        A–                         72–75              C

86–88        B+                         69–71              C–

82–85        B                            66–67              D+

79–81        B–                          62–65              D


3. Detailed Syllabus

0

W

4-Jan

Business meeting

1

M

9-Jan

Fundamentals of historical linguistics:  emics/etics, dialects, methods

2

W

11-Jan

3

M

16-Jan

Analysis of Old Japanese texts

4

W

18-Jan

5

M

23-Jan

Internal reconstruction

6

W

25-Jan

7

M

30-Jan

Comparing Japanese and other languages

8

W

1-Feb

9

M

6-Feb

Role of non-linguistic evidence in the study of Japanese ethnogenesis

10

W

8-Feb

MIDTERM exam

11

M

13-Feb

 

12

W

15-Feb

 

13

M

20-Feb

Early Middle Japanese to the modern language:

14

W

22-Feb

student presentations of representative texts

15

M

27-Feb

 

16

W

1-Mar

 

17

M

6-Mar

 

18

W

8-Mar

 

The following additional reference works have been placed on reserve in the Library.

Croft, William

Explaining language change:  an evolutionary approach

P142 .C76 2000

Martin, Samuel E.

A reference grammar of Japanese

PL612 .M37

Martin, Samuel E.

The Japanese language through time

PL525 .M275 1987

 

4. General Reminders 

Disability Services

Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should inform the instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services is located in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue (telephone 292-3307, TDD 292-0901). For additional information, access

http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu

 

 

Academic Misconduct

“It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term ‘academic misconduct’ includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee.”  (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487) For additional information, access the Code of Student Conduct at

http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp

 


 
Last Updated 25 October 2007 by J. Marshall Unger