Principles of Japanese Discourse

Principles of Japanese Discourse offers the first detailed description in English of the structure and rhetorical effects observed in various genres of Japanese discourse. Drawing on Japanese bunshooron and incorporating results of Western discourse studies, the book covers principles of overall rhetorical organisation including ki-shoo-ten-ketsu, topic structure, danraku, and sentence chaining, and presents a variety of rhetorical strategies frequently used in contemporary Japanese texts. After presenting these principles in thirty compact entries, Professor Maynard invites the reader to apply the knowledge gained to the comprehension of contemporary authentic Japanese text. Seven selected readings are presented with vocabulary lists, discourse notes, and other tasks. Translations are provided in the appendix. In this book Professor Maynard has created a new category in the area of Japanese language learning and provided an excellent reference source not only for students but for instructors of the Japanese language worldwide.

"There is little doubt that, as a textbook, this volume not only admirably helps fill some pedagogical gaps, but also makes an interesting reader. However, this significant book is actually much more than a mere language text; it is also of great value for anthropological linguistics or sociolinguistics. The book is well written and its organization is generally straightforward and logical (in the sense of English). It is easily accessible for linguists and anthropologists, even those who are not especially familiar with Japanese...this book on Japanese discourse analysis is of great value... Those in the fields of discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and communications studies will also find much of interest in this important book, regardless of their theoretical orientation or geographical specialization." Anthropological Linguisitics