Making Room for Japonic in General Linguistics

要旨

The year 2022 saw the launch of Endangered and Lesser-Studied Languages and Dialects, a new series by Brill with an aim to focus on the description and documentation of "poorly studied languages and dialects around the world", with a particular focus on Japan and the Asia-Pacific region (https://brill.com/display/serial/ELSL).The first installment of the series is dedicated to the Japonic family.Its release was funded by Japan's NINJAL (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics), and it is available under an open access licence, which is its genuine asset, especially considering the subject matter of the series as concerned with "endangered and lesser-studied languages".Edited by Michinori Shimoji, an accomplished Japonic typologist and documentalist, the volume is composed of ten chapters: one serving as a general introduction and the remaining nine comprising short grammatical sketches representing individual regional varieties -or topolects, as I personally like to call them -of Japonic.The content of the volume has been planned so that it reflects the two major division units of Japonic, Mainland and Ryukyuan.Chapters 2-6 are dedicated to Ryukyuan languages, providing descriptions of three North (Tokunoshima, Iheya and Kin) and two South (Aragusuku and Shiraho) Ryukyuan topolects.Chapters 7-10 consist of descriptions of Mainland Japanese varieties: Nambu in Aomori (Tōhoku, Eastern Japanese), Izumo in Shimane (western Honshu, Western Japanese), Yanagawa (Fukuoka, Kyushu) and Shiiba (Miyazaki, Kyushu).All chapters were prepared by descriptive linguists, mostly at early stages of their career, but already with sizeable experience of working in the field with the subject languages.The data utilized as the basis of the descriptions is therefore raw and can be trusted to reflect actual linguistic behaviors of the speakers of the varieties in question.All chapters are structured according to a unified descriptive layout, which permits an easy comparison of the content between individual chapters.Each chapter is supplemented by a fully glossed and translated sample text representing the topolect in question.The sendoff of the volume are three serviceable and well-considered indeces (language, person, and subject) which increase the volume's user-friendliness.

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