Japanese
A language of Japan
| Population | 121,000,000 in Japan (1985). Population total all countries: 122,080,100. |
| Region | Widespread. Also in American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Guam, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States. |
| Language map |
Japan |
| Dialects | Western Japanese, Eastern Japanese. Possibly related to Korean [kor]. The Kagoshima dialect is 84% cognate with Tokyo dialect. |
| Classification | Japonic |
| Language use | National language. 1,000,000 L2 speakers. |
| Language development | Fully developed. Bible: 1883–1987. |
| Writing system | Han, Hiragana, and Katakana scripts. |
| Comments | SOV; postpositions; demonstrative, numeral, adjective, possessive, relative clause, proper noun precede noun head; adverb precedes verb; sentence final question particle; CV. Buddhist, Shintoist. |
Also spoken in:
Taiwan
| Language name | Japanese |
| Language use | Trade language. 10,000 L2 users in Taiwan (1993). A few older adult aboriginals. |
Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:
Academic Publications
Cormo, Christiane. 1997. "Towards a constructivist approach to the Japanese ‘passive’."
![]()
Hari, Anna Maria, editor; Toba, Sueyoshi, translator. 1977. Neparugo kaiwa dokuhon.
Martin, Dorothy J. 1992. A text-based study of clause chaining in Japanese.
Toba, Sueyoshi, compiler. 1980. Neparugo kisogoìshu.
Toba, Sueyoshi. 1983. Neparugo kaiwa.
Toba, Sueyoshi. 1998. Review of: Nepaarugo jiten (Nepali-Japanese dictionary), by Saigusa Reiko.
Toba, Sueyoshi. 1999. "A typological comparison of Nepali and Japanese."
Yadava, Yogendra P. and Warren W. Glover, editors. 1999. Topics in Nepalese linguistics.

