Publisher's Synopsis
In this collection of papers on syntax, semantics and pragmatics, linguists specialising in the study of Japanese and Chinese offer fresh ideas and insights on the theme of grammatical categories and structure from a comparative perspective. Against the background of theoretical developments in recent years and individual studies of Japanese, Chinese and English grammar, the papers in this volume are devoted to new in-depth treatments of distinctive aspects of Chinese and Japanese grammar informed by influential theoretical frameworks of the day, including cognitive grammar, construction grammar, information structure, grammaticalization theory, and linguistic typology. Topics of investigation include compounding, verb complementation, tense and aspect, as well as a range of word order phenomena, such as passive constructions, focus-fronting, and right dislocation.
