Irregular Phonological Marking of Japanese Compounds: Benjamin Smith Lyman’s Pioneering Research on Rendaku

Timothy J. Vance

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2022

Irregular Phonological Marking of Japanese Compounds

Benjamin Smith Lyman’s Pioneering Research on Rendaku

Timothy J. Vance

Volume 4 in the series The Mouton-NINJAL Library of Linguistics [MNLL]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110755107

Overview
Contents

About this book

Benjamin Smith Lyman (1835–1920) was an American geologist and mining engineer who worked for the Japanese government as a foreign expert in the 1870s. He is famous among linguists for an article about a set of Japanese morphophonemic alternations known as rendaku (sometimes translated as “sequential voicing”). Lyman published this article in 1894, several years after he returned to the United States, and it contains a version of what linguists today call Lyman’s Law. This book includes a brief biography of Lyman and explains how an amateur linguist was able to make such a lasting contribution to the field. It also reproduces Lyman’s 1894 article as well as his earlier article on the pronunciation system of Japanese, each followed by extensive commentary. In addition, it offers an English translation of a thorough critique of Lyman’s 1894 article, published in 1910 by the prominent Japanese linguist Ogura Shinpei. Lyman’s work on rendaku included much more than just Lyman’s Law, and the final chapter of this book assesses all his proposals from the standpoint of a modern researcher.

Author / Editor information

Timothy J. Vance, NINJAL (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics), Tokyo, Japan.

Reviews

“Through careful examination of historical documents, Vance demonstrates that ‘Lyman’s Law’ is a misnomer in two senses; neither is Lyman the first scholar to discover the law, nor is Lyman’s Law the only generalization that Lyman identified. Readers will learn why rendaku and Lyman’s Law will continue to be exciting topics for phonological inquiry.”
Prof. Shigeto Kawahara, Keio University, Tokyo

“The story of Benjamin Lyman is one that deserves to be heard, both in terms of the man and his contribution to Japanese linguistics. Tim Vance does the job admirably and has written a book that will be the standard text for decades to come.”
Dr. Mark Irwin, Yamagata University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Series preface Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
1 The Rendaku Alternations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Lyman’s Life and Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
3 Lyman’s 1878 Article Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
4 Commentary on Lyman’s 1878 Article Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
5 Lyman’s 1894 Article Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
6 Ogura’s 1910 Critique Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
7 Lyman’s Rendaku Research from a Modern Perspective Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Appendix Lyman’s Examples Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	449
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	523

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Scholars and students of Japanese Phonology; Phonologists interested in rendaku and Lyman’s Law
Pages
- Front matter: 17
- Main content: 525
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 15
- Tables: 52
Keywords: Morphonology; Morphophonemics; Japanese; Lyman; Benjamin Smith; Rendaku

eBook

Published: May 9, 2022
ISBN: 9783110755107

Hardcover

Published: May 23, 2022
ISBN: 9783110755015