This volume will be the first full-length exploration in any language of the details of the history of the Japanese language written by experts in the different subfields of linguistics. Overall, while including factual and background information, the volume will focus on presenting original research of lasting value. This includes presenting the latest research on better studied topics, such as segmental phonology, accent or focus constructions, as well as both introducing areas of study which have traditionally been underrepresented, such as syntax or kanbun materials, and showing how they contribute to a fuller understanding of all of the history of Japanese. Chapter titles Introduction
Part I: Individual Periods of the Japanese Language
Section 1: Prehistory and Reconstruction
Chapter 1: Comparison with other languages (John Whitman, NINJAL)
Chapter 2: Reconstruction based on external sources: Ainu, Chinese dynastic histories, and Korean chronicles (Alexander Vovin, University of Hawai'i at Manoa)
Chapter 3: Reconstruction from the standpoint of Ryukyuan (Thomas Pellard, CNRS)
Chapter 4: (Morpho)phonological reconstruction (Teruhiro Hayata)
Chapter 5: Morpho(phono)logical reconstruction (Bjarke Frellesvig, University of Oxford)
Chapter 6: Towards the accentual reconstruction of Japanese (Akiko Matsumori, NINJAL)
Section II: Old Japanese
Chapter 7: Word order and alignment (Yuko Yanagida, University of Tsukuba)
Chapter 8: What mokkan can tell us about Old and pre-Old Japanese (Takashi Inukai, Aichi Prefectural University)
Chapter 9: Eastern Old Japanese (Kerri Russell)
Section III: Early Middle Japanese
Chapter 10: Morphosyntax (Yoshiyuki Takayama, Fukui University)
Chapter 11: Varieties of kakarimusubi in Early Middle Japanese (Charles Quinn, The Ohio State University)
Chapter 12: Linguistic variation (Takuya Okimori)
Section IV: Late Middle Japanese
Chapter 13: The morphosyntax of Late Middle Japanese (Hirofumi Aoki, Kyushu University)
Chapter 14: Late Middle Japanese phonology, based on Korean materials (Sven Osterkamp, Bochum University)
Chapter 15: Phonology, based on Christian materials (Masayuki Toyoshima)
Section V: Modern Japan
Chapter 16: The social context of materials on Early Modern Japanese (Michinao Morohoshi, Kokugakuin University)
Chapter 17: Meiji language, including what sound recordings can tell us (Yasuyuki Shimizu)
Chapter 18: Syntactic influence of European l