Word-Prosodic Systems of Japonic Languages

How diverse can a single language family's prosody be? Word-Prosodic Systems of Japonic Languages answers this by offering the first-ever comparative overview in English of the highly diverse word-prosodic systems of the Japonic languages. Through accessible descriptions couched in a unified framework, this volume dismantles long-standing barriers in a field whose publications are almost exclusively in Japanese and whose descriptive tradition is shaped by idiosyncratic terminology and theory. Covering nine Japanese and eight Ryukyuan varieties, and featuring the definitive typological introduction to Japonic prosody, the book reveals surprising typological facts--such as systems that require positing novel prosodic units. It is essential reading for linguists interested in prosody, typology, and the often-overlooked diversity of East Asian languages.