This is the revised, updated and enlarged second edition of the first detailed descriptive grammar in English dedicated to the Western Old Japanese. The grammar is divided into two volumes, with the first volume dealing with sources, script, phonology, lexicon, nominals and adjectives. The second volume focuses on verbs, adverbs, particles, conjunctions and interjections.

Together with Part 1 of the same grammar (Sources, Script and Phonology, Lexicon and Nominals), this two-volume set represents the most detailed and exhaustive description ever done of any language, including Japanese of the Old Japanese language of the Yamato region during the Asuka Nara period. It presents hundreds of examples drawn not only from the major Old Japanese texts such as the Man’yoshu, the Senmyo, the Kojiki kayo and the Nihonshoki kayo but also from all minor extant texts such as the Fudoky kayo, the Bussoku seki ka, and others. It also includes comparative material from Eastern Old Japanese once spoken in the area roughly corresponding to present-day southern Chubu and Kanto regions, as well as from Ryukyuan and occasionally from other surrounding languages. Part 2 is accompanied by exhaustive and cumulative indexes to both volumes, including separate indexes on all grammatical forms described, linguistic forms, personal names, as well as an index of all Old Japanese texts that are used as examples in the description.

"This is the revised, updated and enlarged second edition of the first detailed descriptive grammar in English (indeed, in any language other than Japanese and more complete than even any grammar in Japanese) dedicated to the Western Old Japanese, which was spoken in the Kansai region of Japan during the seventh and eighth centuries. The grammar is divided into two volumes, with the first volume dealing with sources, script, phonology, lexicon, nominals and adjectives. The second volume focuses on verbs, adverbs, particles, conjunctions and interjections. In addition to descriptive data, the grammar also includes comparisons between Western Old Japanese and Eastern Old Japanese and Ryukyuan, occasionally with a critical analysis of various external parallels"--

Together with Part 1 of the same grammar (Sources, Script and Phonology, Lexicon and Nominals), this two-volume set represents the most detailed and exhaustive description ever done of any language, including Japanese of the Old Japanese language of the Yamato region during the Asuka Nara period. It presents hundreds of examples drawn not only from the major Old Japanese texts such as the Man'yoshu, the Senmyo, the Kojiki kayo and the Nihonshoki kayo but also from all minor extant texts such as the Fudoky kayo, the Bussoku seki ka, and others. It also includes comparative material from Eastern Old Japanese once spoken in the area roughly corresponding to present-day southern Chubu and Kanto regions, as well as from Ryukyuan and occasionally from other surrounding languages. Part 2 is accompanied by exhaustive and cumulative indexes to both volumes, including separate indexes on all grammatical forms described, linguistic forms, personal names, as well as an index of all Old Japanese texts that are used as examples in the description.--Publisher's website.

Azuma Old Japanese is an areal term for the two major dialects of Eastern (‘Azuma’) Japan during the eighth century: Eastern Old Japanese and Töpo-Suruga Old Japanese. This volume is an exhaustive, comparative reference grammar based on the linguistic data contained in the Man’yōshū poetic anthology (759 CE). It contains chapters dedicated to the different lexical categories, the lexicon, the phonology, and the historical development. This volume serves to fill the last remaining gap in English language scholarship on the grammar of premodern Japanese dialects, and significantly contributes to our understanding of the historical development of the earliest attested Japanese dialects. It also contains an extensive reconstruction of Proto-Japanese.

Bjarke Frellesvig describes the development of the Japanese language from its recorded beginnings until the present day as reflected by the written sources and historical record. Beginning with a description of the oldest attested stage of the language, Old Japanese (approximately the eighth century AD), and then tracing the changes which occurred through the Early Middle Japanese (800–1200), Late Middle Japanese (1200–1600) and the Modern Japanese (1600–onwards) periods, a complete internal history of the language is examined and discussed. This account provides a comprehensive study of how the Japanese language has developed and adapted, providing a much needed resource for scholars. A History of the Japanese Language is invaluable to all those interested in the Japanese language and also students of language change generally.