Japanese 3441

Course Description
Language is the key to understanding the characteristics of a given society. Throughout the 3,000 year history of the Japanese people, shifts in physical environments, technological developments, and interactions with foreign cultures have affected patterns of people's lives and thinking. Since very few cultural entities remain constant over time, surface changes may obscure uniquely Japanese beliefs and values which are fundamental to the making of Japanese society. This course aims at inferring and reconstructing features of Japanese society through language forms and uses. Of all cultural artifacts language alone resists changes and gives clues to the common heritage of speakers in their way of living and communicatiion. Language is the only property of a society which is shared in common by all people across geographic areas, occupations, social classes, levels of intelligence, wealth, and education. For this reason, the study of linguistic behavior of a people should capture the form of a society in most general terms.

Complex honorific expressions, for example, are indicative of societal codes that dictate interpersonal relations which are based on relative status. Likewise, such central linguistic components as asymmetrical pronominal paradisms, complex levels of speech, devicesfor categorizing ner and old information, as well as semantic principles of verb classifications may have evolved to provide linguistic strategies for maneuvering or maintaining social order and cohesion. First we will look at how contemporary Japanese society is constructed and begin investigating any reflection of its cultural roots in the language. Our subsequent linguistic analysis will focus on how grammar and semantics are structured for the purpose of such interpersonal communication as that which is essential to maintaining the peculiar Japanese social system. The course will be conducted principally through lectures, but active interactions and discussions among the course participants are expected and encouraged.

Course Requirements
1) Self monitoring of progress and anticipated grades according to grading policy.
2) Becing responsible to occasional class schedule changes, office hour changes, test date changes, and other special announcements.
3) Regular class attendance.
4) Active class participation,
5) No make-up tests.
6) No late term papers.
7) No time or date changes for the final exam.
8) No incomplete grade requests.

Texts
Kindaichi, Haruhiko The Japanese Language
Kodansha International Japan profile of a Nation
Suzuki, Takao Words in Context

Supplementary Readings:
Umesao, Tadao The Roots of Contemporary Japan
Maynard, Senko An Introduction to Japanese Grammar and Communication Strategies

Grading
Required readings and classroom participation: 20%
Quizzes and assignments: 20%
Approximately 10-page term paper: 30%
Final exam: 30%