The course aims to provide a systematic treatment of modern Japanese grammar for intermediate/advanced students of the language. All major aspects will be covered, ranging from inflection and grammatical word classes (particles, etc), to grammatical derivation (causative, passive, etc) and clause and sentence construction. Lectures will be supplemented by regular exercises, with the objective of consolidating and extending students' grammatical knowledge and proficiency. Some theoretical aspects of Japanese grammar will also be discussed.

Following the course, students will be able to discuss and analyse the major grammatical items of Japanese, as well as gain sound knowledge of other related issues. It is also expected that the course will provide a solid basis for futher use of Japanese language, such as its practical use in teaching Japanese or analytic use in research of Japanese language.

In-class quizzes (30%), written tests (45%) and essay (25%) for postgraduate students. The length of the essay is 3000-3500 words.

Three hours per week

Successful completion of Written Japanese A (JPNS6114) and Spoken Japanese 2 (JPNS6113) is required to enroll in this course. Students may be exempted from this prerequisite if they have passed the required level in the Japanese placement test, or have been permitted by the course convenor. Those who have completed the Year-in-Japan program or those who are eligible for admission to third-year level Japanese language courses are not permitted to enroll in the course.

 Lee, D-Y (2006). ‘Involvement and the Japanese interactive particles ne and yo’, Journal of Pragmatics.

 Lee, D-Y., 2002. ‘The function of the zero particle with special reference to spoken Japanese’, Journal of Pragmatics 34(6): 645-682.

 Lee, D-Y and A. Yoshida (2002). ‘A study of –nda-kedo in Japanese conversation’, Sekaino Nihongo Kyoiku (Journal of the Language Institute of the Japan Foundation) 12: 223-237.

Tsujimura, N., 1999. The handbook of Japanese linguistics. Blackwell.

Backhouse, A. E., 1993. The Japanese Language: An Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Shibatani, M., 1990. The Language of Japan. Cambridge University Press.

Kuno, S., 1988. The Structure of Japanese Language. MIT Press.

Martin, S. E., 1975. A Reference Grammar of Japanese. Yale University Press.