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<FONT FACE="Geneva">A new dictionary of Kesen language, a Northeast Japanese language.<BR>
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Title: Kesen~go Daďzitén [Kesenese Grand Lexicon]. Two volumes.<BR>
Author: Harutí~gu Yamáura [Harutsugu Yamaura]<BR>
ISBN 4-89544-241-1<BR>
Publisher: <BR>
Mumyosha Shuppan<BR>
112-1 Hiroomote Aza Kawasaki, Akita 010-0041, Japan<BR>
Phone 81-18-832-5680 Fax 81-18-832-5137<BR>
http://www.mumyosha.co.jp, info@mumyosha.co.jp<BR>
Date of Publication: July 30, 2000<BR>
Price: Japanese Yen 38,000<BR>
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TOC:<BR>
PART I GRAMMAR pp. 11-208<BR>
1.1 Letters and Pronunciations p.13<BR>
1.2 Word and Affix (General Introduction) p.31<BR>
1.3 Tone p.41<BR>
1.4 Word p.56<BR>
1.5 Affix p.122<BR>
1.6 Expressions p.170<BR>
1.7 Intonation p.200<BR>
PART II LEXICON pp. 209-2586<BR>
A p. 210; B p. 302; D p. 382; E p. 465; G p.483; ~G p. 547; H p. 551; I p. 786; K p. 870; M p. 1251; N p. 1452; O p. 1611; P p. 1720; R p. 1729; S p. 1774; T p. 2087; U p. 2337; W p. 2384; Y p. 2408; Z p. 2505; Symbols p. 2583<BR>
APPENDIX pp. 2587-2606<BR>
3.1 List of Toponyms in Kesen p. 2588<BR>
3.2 List of Family Names Commonly Found in Kesen p. 2594<BR>
3.3 List of 1511 Kesenese Compound Verbs p.2602<BR>
Japanese-Kesenese Index pp. 2607-2814<BR>
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<BR>
Dear colleagues,<BR>
<BR>
a long-awaited, new dictionary of the Kesen language (= Kesenese), Kesen~go Daďzitén (Kesenese Grand Lexicon), finally appeared in the last year of the 20th century.<BR>
This Grand Lexicon has been prepared by Dr. Yamaura for over 7 years.<BR>
Dr. Yamaura has already published other highly significant works on the Kesenese language and culture (Yamaura 1988, 1989, 1991; Sakitani & Yamaura 1999).<BR>
This is the first archievement of massive collection of vocabulary of a Tohoku language (= Northeast Japanese) with an introduction of the systematic description of its phonetics, phonology and grammar.<BR>
<BR>
This monumental work is characterized by following excellent features.<BR>
First, it is written by an author who is a Kesenese native speaker, and all the lexical entries have been directly scrutinized by the same author in his own long-term linguistic and cultural experience.<BR>
Second, one can find a plenty of examples of concrete usage for all the Kesenese lexical entries, all of which are translated into Common Japanese (= Tokyo Japanese).<BR>
Third, Kesenese in this dictionary is described in a Latin script system that has been elaborated by the author for over a quarter of a century, and this script system can quite accurately reproduce the Kesenese phonetic and phonological systems.<BR>
Fourth, all the entries are tonologically clarified by the Kesenese tone symbols that are invented by the same author. <BR>
<BR>
In conclusion, this is a first rate work on Northeast Japanese language. <BR>
Anyone who wants to describe scientifically valid, real linguistic phenomena of PLURAL Japanese languages must consult Dr. Yamaura's Kesenese Grand Lexicon.<BR>
<BR>
Unfortunately, there is a drawback. <BR>
This is written in Common Japanese. Its eccentric script system prevents most readers from studying Kesenese language, even though Kesenese is a quite important language in East Asia.<BR>
However, the same author has briefly summarized the Kesenese linguistic system in a commonly used language and has already published it - Sakitani & Yamaura (1999: 107-112).<BR>
Thus the Kesenese language that is the most standardized language in Northeast Japanese is also accessible to readers who cannot even understand Tokyo Japanese. <BR>
This article, Sakitani & Yamaura (1999), is available in the Adobe Acrobat file format (included in the 850 kb PDF file of Vox Propria 2).<BR>
If you are intersted in it, please don't hesitate to contact us at the Institute for Cross-Cultural Communication <iccc@ivy.or.jp>.<BR>
<BR>
Best regards,<BR>
<BR>
Dr. Mitsuru Sakitani <sacmit@ivy.or.jp><BR>
Director of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Communication <iccc@ivy.or.jp><BR>
<BR>
References:<BR>
€ Yamaura, Harutsugu (1988). Kesen-no uda [Kesenese songs]. Oofunato: Kyowa Insatsu Kikaku Center.<BR>
€ Yamaura, Harutsugu (1989). Kesen-go nyuumon [Introduction to Kesenese language]. 2nd edition. Oofunato: Kyowa Insatsu Kikaku Center.<BR>
€ Yamaura, Harutsugu (1991). Hitakami oogon-densetsu. Oofunato: Kyowa Insatsu Kikaku Center.<BR>
€ Sakitani, Mitsusu & Harutsugu Yamaura (2000). Essai de la traduction du texte religieux en langues japonaises régionales. Vox Propria 2: 105-134.<BR>
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