Overview

Interest in Japanese has grown explosively since the 1980's - as a language to be learned and as a language to be investigated in linguistics. This book aims to provide a systemic functional interpretation of the grammar of Japanese, describing it as a resource for making meaning rather than as a set of formal rules. Offering a general overview of all the major systems of Japanese grammar, Dr Teruya covers the three major functions of language - the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual functions. The account of the grammar of Japanese is based on an extensive corpus material and throughout the book the account is shown at work in Japanese discourse analysis. In addition to the general aim of presenting an account of Japanese grammar as a resource for making meaning, this book is also intended to extend our understanding of the semiotic potential of Japanese. But also of language in general - for making meanings - taking into account both grammatical and lexical resources and linking them in a unified description of the lexicogrammar of Japanese.

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9780826455239

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Reviews

"""SFG has been overwhelmingly applied to the description of the English language, and many of its features seem to be intricately bound to the peculiarities of the English language structure (Halliday also had profound knowledge of Chinese, which is, however, in crucial respects a language structurally similar to English). Thus, Teruyo undertook a formidable intellectual challenge in applying the theory to a language, which is not only genetically unrelated but also structurally very different. No substantial description of Japanese in SFG existed before...This book will doubtlessly be a guideline for all future researchers who might follow Teruya in taking a SFG approach to Japanese."" Heiko Narrog, Tohoku University, Japan, The Linguist List, 2008--Sanford Lakoff"

SFG has been overwhelmingly applied to the description of the English language, and many of its features seem to be intricately bound to the peculiarities of the English language structure (Halliday also had profound knowledge of Chinese, which is, however, in crucial respects a language structurally similar to English). Thus, Teruyo undertook a formidable intellectual challenge in applying the theory to a language, which is not only genetically unrelated but also structurally very different. No substantial description of Japanese in SFG existed before...This book will doubtlessly be a guideline for all future researchers who might follow Teruya in taking a SFG approach to Japanese. Heiko Narrog, Tohoku University, Japan, The Linguist List, 2008--,

Author Information

Kazuhiro Teruya is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen is Chair Professor and Head in the Department of English at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.

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