FAQ FOR SCI.LANG.JAPAN - BOOKS WITH FOCUS ON GRAMMAR

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Particles Plus - A Complete Guide to the Usage of Particles in Modern Japanese, by Atsuko Kawashima

General Information: Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Japan Publishers Tokyo, 1992. ISBN: 4-8337-5105-4, 3800 yens (tax included), 350pp, English and Japanese. Main Features: It presents a detailed study of the use of modern particles (tenioha) in Modern Japanese, with some examples of the use of each one, and translations/approximations on English. Examples in Japanese came with Furigana but are simple phrases, easy to read. Indicated for upper-beginner or intermediate study, since the topics are presented as in a dictionary.

All About Particles (Power Japanese series) by Naoko Chino

General Information: Publisher: Kodansha International. 1991. ISBN 0-87011-954-0 Price: $6.95/1000 yen/4.95 pounds Main Features: Explanation of particles with examples in kanji/kana and romaji. It provides examples and tells what other particles would be similar or related to the one you are looking up.

A Handbook of Japanese Usage by Francis G. Drohan

General Information: Publisher: Charles E. Tuttle. 1992. ISBN 0-8048-1610-7 Price: 12.95 pounds
Main Features: Function words (prefixes, suffixes, particles and conjunctions)

Handbook of Modern Japanese Grammar by Yoko M. McClain

General Information: Publisher: Hokuseido Press. 1981. ISBN 4-590-00570-0 Price: 12.10 pounds/2300 Yen Main Features: Good coverage of phrasal verbs, conjunctions,adverbs etc.

Essential Japanese Grammar by Everett F. Bleiler

General Information: Publisher: Dover/Constable. 1963. 0-486-21027-8 Price: $2.95/2.35 pounds
Main Features: Good for beginners

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Seiichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui

General Information: Publisher: Japan Times. 1986/89. ISBN 4-7890-0454-6 Price: 2890 yen
Main Features: Particles and verb constructions, good explanations with lots of examples in kana-kanji and romaji. This book lists a great number of forms and particles and has a wonderful appendix. It's in dictionary format so it's easy to look things up and it not only provides detailed explanations with examples but tells what other forms are similar and when is best to use each kind.

A reference grammar of Japanese by Samuel E. Martin

General Information: Publisher: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1988 (originally Yale University, 1975) 1198 pages including index, $62.95. ISBN 0-8048-1550-X
Main Features: The absolute number-one grammar book for Japanese. A comprehensive, monumental reference work that so far has answered every single one of my queries on the Japanese grammar. Contains many examples from everyday speech, including the language's many dialects. Special sections on literary language, epistolary language, and other stylized or formal grammatical forms. Review by Nico A.F.M. Poppelier (N.POPPELIER@ELSEVIER.nl) (edited)

Handbook of Japanese grammar by Harold G. Henderson

General Information: Publisher: George Allen & Unwin 1945 (but check out Hughton Mifflin Company, who published a revised edition at some point).
Main Features: Consists of two parts. Part I is an introduction to the grammar of the classical language (not very good). Part II is a dictionary of particles, suffixes and other connectives, and this part is the best part of the book: very handy to have around when you're reading books, stories and diaries from the Heian period and later.
Review by Nico A.F.M. Poppelier (N.POPPELIER@ELSEVIER.nl) (edited)

An historical grammar of Japanese by Sir George Sansom

General Information: Publisher: Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1928 (reprinted in 1946, 1960 and 1968).
Main Features: Old, but still the best book in English that I know, which deals with the grammar of classical Japanese. [Note: if someone has a better reference, I'm interested!] Review by Nico A.F.M. Poppelier (N.POPPELIER@ELSEVIER.nl) (edited)

Click Rafael Santos (santos@mickey.ai.kyutech.ac.jp) Last Update: April 10, 1995