This page provides you with additional secondary sources (i.e., books, book chapters and articles). I will regularly update this page.

Our Librarian

Japanese Studies Librarian: Carrie Macfarlane, Davis Family Library 209. Carrie can guide you through any stage of library research, from choosing and refining a topic, to revising search terms, to identifying, selecting and citing sources. To make an appointment or send a message, look for the “Schedule Appointment” and “Email me” buttons at: http://go.middlebury.edu/japnguide.

• Middlebury Library Japanese page
• Middlebury Library Japanese Guide

Glossary and References

SILS Glossary of Linguistics Terms

Find scholarly articles

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)

Interested in English in Japanese, Japanese in English?

[Journal] English Today “English Today provides accessible cutting-edge reports on all aspects of the language, including style, usage, dictionaries, literary language, Plain English, the Internet and language teaching, in terms of British, American and the world’s many other Englishes.”

[Journal] World Englishes. “World Englishes is an international journal committed to empirical research on Englishes in their cultural, global, linguistic and social contexts.”

General introduction to Japanese language/linguistics

Hasegawa, Y. (2015). Japanese: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. [JAPN/LNGT210 textbook]

• Our main textbook. Detailed introduction on the structure and usage of Japanese. Suitable for undergraduate、 graduate students and researchers.)

Cipriš, Ž., H, S., & Hamano, S. (2002). Making Sense of Japanese Grammar: A clear guide through common problems. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. (ACCESS)

• A concise and practical intro to Japanese.

Iwasaki, S. (2013). Japanese (Rev., Vol. 17). Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ACCESS.

• A comprehensive introduction on the sound system, words, grammar rules and discourse. This books goes in depth into discourse and pragmatics, which explain complex grammatical phenomena.)

Shibatani,M. (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge.

• A classic must-read intro to the languages of Japan, including Ainu. Gives us insights into what Japanese is like from a cross-linguistic perspective. Suitable for undergraduate, graduate students and researchers–including readers with no background in Japanese.)

Maynard, S. K. (1997). Japanese Communication: Language and Thought in Context. University of Hawaii Press.

Tsujimura, N. (2013). Introduction to Japanese Linguistics. Wiley-Blackawell.

• Provides a solid understanding of Japanese structure and linguistic rules. Has good exercises, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, and more.

Yamaguchi, T. (2007a). Japanese Linguistics: An introduction. Continuum.

• Accessible to non-linguists and relatable to Japanese learners. Contains many authentic examples [such as manga and novel excerpts]  and exercises. Uses kana and kanji for examples.

Yamaguchi, T. (2007b). Japanese Language in Use. Continuum.

• Focuses on pragmatics [study of meaning in context] and discourse. The format and organization are similar to Yamaguchi [2007a].

References on various languages

Comrie, B. (2018). The World’s Major Languages. London: Routledge. (Checkout various chapters for various languages.)

East Asian Languages

Goddard, C. (2005). The languages of East and Southeast Asia: an introduction. Oxford, N.Y: Oxford University Press. ACCESS

Kadar, D. and Mills, S. (eds.) 2011. Politeness in East Asia . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [East Asia] 

Korean Linguistics

Shin, J., Kiaer, J., & Cha, J. (2012). The Sounds of Korean. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Sohn, Ha. (1999). The Korean Language. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chinese Linguistics

Li, C. and Thompson, S. A. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. University of California Press.

Norman, J. (1988). Chinese. Cambridge University Press.